by Zac Salem
The Homestead is glad to offer a second post by Zac Salem, a musician, collector and historian with a long-standing interest in Mexican music during the 1920s and other periods, on this popular 1930 corrido, the lyrics of which are powerfully evocative of the migrant experience and definitely relevant in our time nearly a century later:
Much has been written about the history and significance of traditional Mexican narrative ballads known as “corridos”. The golden age of the Mexican-American corrido, roughly 1900-1940, a period encompassing both the Mexican Revolution and the Great Depression, produced many fascinating phonograph recordings of these ballads in the 78rpm format (typically filling both sides of a 78rpm record and lasting about seven minutes in total). The lyrics of these songs provide a window on the rich world of folk and popular culture for those interested in studying this tumultuous period of struggle for Mexican Americans. Many of the best of these recordings have been painstakingly re-issued over the years on LP and CD format with extensive notes and translations by scholars, collectors and enthusiasts in both Mexico and the United States, none more dedicated than the late Chris Strachwitz, founder of Arhoolie Records and the Frontera Collection housed at UCLA.
Still, some of the stories behind the writers and performers of these significant cultural documents have been lost to history, at times their creations undergoing a long process of folk transformation. The writers of these corridos were seldom credited for these compositions that are genuine examples of popular entertainment, sung at social gatherings and parties, around campfires, at protests and celebrations. Here is the story of one popular Mexican-American ballad titled “El Lavaplatos”, first recorded in 1930, and the man who is credited on that record as its composer, Jesús Osorio.
Briefly, “El Lavaplatos” (“The Dishwasher”) is an evocative ballad that tells of the trials and tribulations of a struggling Mexican immigrant to the United States, his fantasy of one day becoming a Hollywood movie star, his disillusionment and failure at one menial job after another, and finally, his resolve to return to Mexico. The tragic-comic tone of the corrido, its witty narrative form (i.e. the “innocent” who becomes “wise” through painful experience), it’s catchy melody, and its plain truth telling established it at once as a “hit” in the Mexican community in Los Angeles and beyond. The song has a timeless quality and is still amazingly relevant today. Contemporary to the 1930 release of this record was the beginning of the Great Depression, which led to the infamous repatriations of more than four hundred thousand Mexicans living in the Southwest, as well as their American-born children. While the song does not directly address the subject of repatriation, it clearly defines the direful labor conditions and scarcity of work which Mexican immigrants continued to experience for decades after the song was written.
The probable author of “El Lavaplatos”, based on this research, was singer and songwriter Jesús Osorio, a musician who emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico in the 1920s, and who at first led a life not too unlike the protagonist of the corrido. Settling eventually in Los Angeles with his wife Elena, he made several Columbia records with her in 1929 as part of the “Cancioneros Acosta” consortium, before making his hit record “El Lavaplatos” for Victor records in 1930, in duet with Manuel Camacho. Osorio was the first to record the song (on May 19, 1930) and he is listed as composer on that record. The song was soon covered by other artists in Los Angeles for different labels, all attributing authorship of the song to Osorio. An unusual coincidence is that the song appears to have been recorded three separate times on the same day (July 1, 1930) for three different record labels by two different Los Angeles duets: the Bañuelos Brothers, and Gomez y Romano. This is a clear indication of the song’s growing popularity shortly after its initial release.
In addition to “El Lavaplatos”, Osorio wrote a half dozen or so songs which he recorded as duets in Los Angeles, some with his wife Elena (as “Dueto Del Bajío”) and some with Manuel Camacho, Lupe Posada, and Elena Ramírez. Another recorded corrido titled “Los Mandamientos Matrimoniales” (advice to people contemplating marriage) also credits Jesús Osorio as composer, but this corrido, though socially progressive and well performed, did not meet with the same success as did “El Lavaplatos”. Both of these corridos are imaginative and original in conception, and have strong melodies that are able to hold up under the necessary repetition inherent in the song form. Both are somewhat radical for their time, the one decrying economic injustice and the other advocating marital equality. Both seek to impart helpful advice to the listener with wit and humor.
In the 1990s I became friends with a man who was Osorio’s musical partner for many years, who asserted that Osorio was indeed the composer of the corrido “El Lavaplatos”, and who gave me some background information about Jesús Osorio and his musical career in Los Angeles and San Francisco. This was Mr. José Rocha. (Mr. Rocha informed me that at one time he remembered seeing song sheets that Osorio had made advertising “El Lavaplatos” which he sold for ten cents apiece, but I have not come across any of these). Jesús Osorio relocated to San Francisco in the mid 1930s, and struggled to find work as a musician. There he met singer and guitarist José Rocha, and, together with Adela Zambrano and Francisca Flores, formed a musical act. They performed regularly at the “Club Sinaloa”, a well known and popular Mexican entertainment venue located at 1416 Powell St, and other clubs such as the “Xochimilco” and the “Rancho Grande”. Rocha recalled that in San Francisco they were all required to join the Musicians Union, and that Mexican musicians often worked together with Italian musicians in the days before World War II.
In 1936 Rocha and Osorio signed up for union jobs in a salmon canning factory in Alaska where Osorio composed another ballad titled “El Corrido De Alaska”. According to Rocha, this became a popular rallying song at Union gatherings, and led to another song titled “Flores De Revolución” (“Flowers Of The Revolution”). After the war, Jesus Osorio remarried and continued on in the San Francisco Bay Area. José Rocha joined the Longshoreman’s Union and had a full career there, ending as a Crane Operator and retiring in the 1980s. When I would visit José Rocha at his Potrero Hill home in the early 1990s, he would always delight in reminiscing about those days, and his association with Jesús Osorio. We would try out his collection of beautiful vintage Martin guitars, which were his pride and joy, arranged around the room on stands, like a group of old friends. According to José Rocha, Jesús Osorio had strong progressive political views, and continued to write songs in support of progressive social ideals. I am not aware that he ever recorded again, but in the mid 1990s I invited Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records and Professor James Nicolopulos of the University of Texas to interview José Rocha with me, where he repeated many of the stories he had previously told me for posterity, and sang some of Jesús Osorio’s songs, including, of course, “El Lavaplatos”.
© Zac Salem 2025
Included here is a transcription and translation of the original 1930 Victor recording of “El Lavaplatos” by Jesús Osorio. Each verse is followed by the English translation. (Transcribed and translated by Zac Salem).
Soñaba allá en mi juventud
ser un estrella de cine
y un día de tantos me vine
a visitar Hollywood.
Back in my youth I would dream
Of being a movie star.
And one day I came
to visit Hollywood.
Un día muy desesperado
de tanta Revolución
me pasé pa’ este lado
sin pagar la imigración.
One day, very fed up
with so much Revolution,
I passed over to this side of the
border without paying immigration.
Que vacilada,
que vacilada,
¡me pasé sin pagar nada!
What a laugh,
what a joke,
I crossed over without paying anything!
Al llegar a la estación
me tropecé con un cuate
que me hizo la invitación
de trabajar en el “traque”.
When I arrived at the station
I ran into a buddy who invited me
to go work with him
on the “track”.
Yo el “traque” me suponía
que sería algún almacén,
y era componer la vía
por donde camina el trén.
I supposed that the “track”
might be some sort of a warehouse,
but it turned out to be
repairing the railroad tracks.
¡Ay que mi cuate!
¡Ay que mi cuate!
¡Como me llevó pa’l traque!
Oh my buddy,
Oh my friend,
You sure took me to the “track”.
Cuando me enfadé del “traque”
me volvió a invitar aquél
a la pisca del tomate
y a desahijar betabel.
When I got sick of working on the track,
he invited me again
to try harvesting tomatoes,
and cultivating beets.
Allí me gané indulgencias
caminando de rodillas
como cuatro o cinco millas
me dieron de penitencia.
There I earned indulgences,
crawling on my knees,
about four or five miles
they gave me as penance.
¡Ay que trabajos
tan mal pagados
por andar arrodillado!
Oh what work
so poorly paid
for having to crawl on one’s knees!
Mi cuate que no era mage
se siguió dandole guerra
y al completar su pasaje
se devolvió pa’ su tierra.
My buddy, who was no fool,
kept sticking to his work,
and when he had made enough
he bought a ticket and travelled home.
Yo hice cualquier bicoca
y me fuí para Sacramento,
cuando no quedó ni soca,
tuve que entrarle al cemento.
I strung along,
and I went to Sacramento.
When I ran out of money,
I had to go work in cement.
¡Ay que tormento!
¡Ay que tormento!
Es el mentado cemento.
What a torment,
what a torment,
is that damned cement!
Echale tierra y arena
a la máquina batidora,
cincuenta centavos hora,
hasta que el pito nos suena.
Shovel earth and sand
into the cement mixer.
Fifty cents per hour,
until the whistle blows.
En la carrucha mentada
se rajaron más de cuatro
y yo pos como aguantaba,
mejor me fuí a lavar platos.
More than four of us quit,
pulling on that damned winch,
and since I couldn’t take it,
I got a job washing dishes.
Que arrepentido,
Que arrepentido,
estoy de haberme venido.
Oh how repentant,
Oh how repentant
I am for ever having come here.
Es un trabajo decente
que lo hacen muchos chicanos
aunque con la agua caliente
se hinchan un poco las manos.
Its a decent enough job
that is taken up by many Mexicans,
although with the hot water
the hands swell up a little.
Pa’ no hacerse las cansadas
me enfadé de tanto plato,
y me alcanzé la puntada
de trabajar en el teatro.
Not to bore you with the whole story,
I got fed up with all of those dishes,
And I finally reached my goal
of working in the theater.
¡Ay que bonito!,
¡ay que bonito!,
circo, maroma, teatrito.
Oh what a pleasure!
Oh what a pleasure!
Circuses and traveling tent shows.
Yo les pido su licencia
pa’ darles estos consejos
a los jóvenes y viejos
que no tengan experiencia.
I ask you all for permission
to give you this advice,
to the young and old alike
that may not have experience.
Aquel que no quiera creer
que lo que digo es verdad
si se quiere convencer
que se venga para acá.
He who doesn’t believe
that what I am saying is the truth,
If he wants to find out for himself,
then he should come on up here.
Y que se acuerde
de este corrido
es lo único que les pido.
But the only thing I ask
Is that you remember
this song.
Ya el esteche va a salir,
ya empezamos a correr.
Ojos que te vieron ir,
¿cuando te verán volver?
Now the train is pulling out,
now we are starting to roll.
Eyes that saw you go,
will they ever see you return?
Adiós sueños de mi vida
adiós estrellas del cine.
Vuelvo a mi pátria querida
más pobre de lo que vine.
Goodby to my life-long dreams,
goodby to the movie stars,
I’m returning to my beloved homeland,
poorer than when I left there.
Adiós paisanos,
Nos despedimos,
pos ‘ora si ya nos vamos.
Goodby countrymen,
now we must part,
‘cause now we are moving along.
Chronology of known 78rpm recordings of the corrido “El Lavaplatos” as listed in Richard K. Spottswood’s discography “Ethnic Music On Records 1893-1942”, University Of Illinois Press 1990. (Composer credits appear as listed in the discography). Note: The Frontera Collection at UCLA is a prime repository for many of these extremely rare phonograph recordings of early twentieth century Mexican corridos, and the DAHR discography at UC Santa Barbara is home to additional discographical information.
“El Lavaplatos”-corrido- (Jesus Osorio) Parts 1 and 2
Artists: Jesús Osorio and Manuel Camacho
Victor 46944 Recorded: Hollywood, CA May 19, 1930
“El Lavaplatos”-corrido- (Jesus Osorio) Parts 1 and 2
Artists: Hermanos Bañuelos (David N. and Luis M.)
Vocallion 8349 Recorded: Los Angeles, CA July 1, 1930
“El Lavaplatos”-corrido- (Jesus Osorio) Parts 1 and 2
Artists: Hermanos Bañuelos (David N. and Luis M.)
Brunswick 41063 Recorded: Los Angeles, CA July 1, 1930
“El Lavaplatos”-corrido- (Jesus Osorio) Parts 1 and 2
Artists: Gomez y Romano
Okeh 16716 and Vocallion 8688 Los Angeles, CA July 1, 1930
“El Lavaplatos”-corrido- (Jesus Osorio) Parts 1 and 2
Artists: Chavez y Lugo
Columbia 4218-X Recorded: Los Angeles, CA September, 1930
Editor’s note: Check out the Rumbo a California webpage for El Lavaplatos, as well as the Arhoolie Foundation’s Frontera YouTube Channel.