Una vieja vale un real
y una muchacha dos cuartos,
[y yo, como]1 soy tan pobre
me voy a lo más barato.

Con el vito, vito, vito,
con el vito, vito, va.
No me haga 'usté' cosquillas,
que me pongo 'colorá'.
No me mires¡ ay! chiquilla,
que me voy desmoroná.

Cuatro curas, se la llevan
se la llevan a enterrar.
Cuatro curas se la llevan 
con el vito, vito, va.
Se la llevan y es mi suegra.
¡Ay! ¡la risa que me dá!
Con el vito, vito, vito.
¡Ay! que no la veré más!

J. Nin sets stanzas 1, 2 (lines 1-4)

View original text (without footnotes)

Note for line 7: "usté" is short for "usted"

¹ Obradors: "pero como"

Text Authorship:

• by Anonymous / Unidentified Author [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Joaquín Nin y Castellanos (1879 - 1949), "El vito", stanzas 1, 2 (lines 1-4), from Veinte cantos populares españoles [sung text checked 1 time]
• by Fernando J. Obradors (1897 - 1945), "El vito" [ voice and piano ], from Canciones clásicas españolas, vol. 3, no. 6 [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "The vito", subtitle: "Canción popular. Madrid ", copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Le vito", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Ted Perry , Guy Laffaille [Guest Editor] , Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 18
Word count: 94