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Animal songs

Estaba el señor Don Gato

The traditional Spanish song about Don Gato (Mr. Cat), who falls off the roof when a letter arrives, with a happy ending: the neighbors look after him, he smells the sardines and jumps right up. A cat has nine lives (in Spanish, seven)!

Lyrics in Spanish with English translation

The English meaning is under each line.

Estaba el señor Don Gato,Mister Don Gato (Mr. Cat) wassentadito en su tejado.sitting on his rooftop.Marramiau, miau, miau,Meow-meow, meow, meow,mirando desde lo alto.looking down from up high.

Ha recibido una carta,He has received a letterque si quiere ser casado.asking if he wants to marryCon una gatita parda,a little brown cat,sobrina de un gato pardo.the niece of a brown cat.

Al recibir la noticia,When he got the news,se ha caído del tejado.he fell off the roof.Se lastimó las costillas,He hurt his ribsy la puntita del rabo.and the little tip of his tail.

Los vecinos lo encontraron,The neighbors found him,y con cuidado lo alzaron.and they lifted him up carefully.Le prepararon una cama,They made him a bed,y con cariño lo cuidaron.and they took care of him lovingly.

Ya lo llevan por la calle,Now they carry him down the street,por la calle del pescado.down the fish market street.Muy quietecito iba el gato,The cat was very still,con su bigote agachado.with his whiskers drooping.

Al olor de las sardinas,At the smell of the sardines,el gato se ha levantado.the cat got up.Dio un salto de alegría,He gave a jump for joy,y muy contento ha maullado.and meowed very happily.

Por eso dice la gente,That's why people saysiete vidas tiene un gato.a cat has seven lives.Don Gato volvió a su casa,Don Gato went back homecon el bigote peinado.with his whiskers combed.

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How to say it

Spanish vowels are short and clear: a (ah), e (eh), i (ee), o (oh), u (oo). Capital letters mark the stressed syllable.

tejado
teh-HAH-doh · rooftop
una carta
OO-nah KAHR-tah · a letter
las costillas
lahs kohs-TEE-yahs · the ribs
rabo
RAH-boh · tail
las sardinas
lahs sahr-DEE-nahs · the sardines
bigote
bee-GOH-teh · whiskers

Off-screen

How to play

  1. Everyone plays Don Gato: sit «en el tejado» (“on the rooftop”) and look down from up high with a hand on your forehead. On «marramiau, miau, miau», meow!
  2. On «ha recibido una carta» (“he has received a letter”), open your hands as if reading a letter.
  3. On «se ha caído del tejado» (“he fell off the roof”), let yourselves fall to the floor very slowly and touch your ribs and «la puntita del rabo» (“the little tip of his tail”).
  4. If you play in a group, some children are the neighbors: they lift Don Gato up carefully and tuck him in as if in bed.
  5. Down «la calle del pescado» (“the fish market street”), walk very quietly, heads down.
  6. At the smell of the sardines, sniff the air… and give a jump for joy with a big, loud meow!
  7. At the end, everyone combs their whiskers with their fingers.
Singing together:
Slow the story down at the fall, and pause before «tejado» (“rooftop”) or «gato» (“cat”) so your child can say it.
Good for practicing:
Acting out a story in order, moving slowly and quickly, and naming body parts.
Other versions:
It’s also known as «El señor Don Gato» (“Mr. Don Gato”) or simply «Don Gato».

More ideas for singing with your child

All the lyrics in the songbookLesson plan for the classroomMore circle games and how to play them

Where it comes from

«Estaba el señor Don Gato» (“Mister Don Gato was…”) is a traditional Spanish ballad by an unknown author. The earliest printed text we found is from 1857: the writer Fernán Caballero included it in «Cosa cumplida… solo en la otra vida» (Madrid), and in 1859 the scholar Ferdinand Wolf reprinted it, noting that it could just as well be counted among children’s rhymes. In that version the cat dies and the mice dress in red to celebrate. The happy ending, where the cat comes back to life at the smell of sardines because «siete vidas tiene un gato» (“a cat has seven lives”), appears in 20th-century versions, such as the one Kurt Schindler collected in Soria, Spain, and published in 1941. It has been collected all over Spain, in Portugal, among the Sephardic Jews of Morocco and across most of Latin America.

Sources: