La Cigarra

La cigarra is the cicada. The song was written by Ray Pérez y Soto, and Lola Beltrán, whom Ronstadt named as an influence on the album, had recorded it earlier with Mariachi Guadalajara de Silvestre Vargas for Peerless. Ronstadt's version is the fourth track on Canciones de Mi Padre, arranged and conducted by Rubén Fuentes and recorded in Los Angeles in 1987.

In December 1987 she sang it on Saturday Night Live with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, alongside Los Laureles, and one reviewer singled out its long held notes. It was part of the Canciones stage show, and setlist.fm also logs it at the Big Fresno Fair in October 1989. The upload in the hypersongs web is a performance from the PBS Great Performances special of the Canciones de Mi Padre stage show, taped in San Francisco with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán and the Ballet Folklórico de la Fonda.