Historical Evolution
The origins of "La Cucaracha" are obscure; because the refrain's lyrics make no explicit reference to historical events, it is difficult if not impossible to date. Because verses are improvised according to the needs of the moment, however, they often enable a rough estimate of their age by mentioning contemporary social or political conditions (thus narrowing a version's possible time of origin to periods in which those conditions prevailed) and/or referring to specific current or past events (thus setting a maximum boundary for a version's age).
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