“Ni el dinero ni nada” is a Mexican counterpart of “Down in the Boondocks” (last week’s post) and “Mansion on the Hill,” a song in the voice of a poor boy speaking to the rich girl he loves and cannot win.

Because I am as I am, without reason you disdain me
Because you live among people who say, “He is not on your level.”
You don’t let me sing at your window grill, as others sing,
Nor let me cry out that I love you with deep tenderness.

It was composed by the grand master of ranchera songwriting, José Alfredo Jiménez, who was also one of Mexico’s most loved and respected singers. There is no real Anglo equivalent; maybe Hank Williams, but it’s bigger than that: imagine Frank Sinatra had not only recorded a definitive portion of the American songbook, but composed a large proportion of the songs — by some counts over a thousand — and you’ve got something like the idea.

José Alfredo wrote many kinds of songs, about many subjects, but for many fans his specialty was songs about guys drinking to forget and celebrate the ups and downs of their lives — the most famous example  is “El Rey,” and if you were looking for a Mexican parallel to “One for My Baby and One for the Road,” an obvious nominee would be “El ultimo trago” (“the last swallow,” as in “have this bottle with me, and with the last swallow we’ll leave”);  instead of singing to the bartender about the woman who has left him, he is drinking a last drink with her, but a classic photo shows him alone at the bar, and that’s the image that lingers.

I learned “Ni el dinero ni nada” from the same Flaco Jiménez album that gave me “Gritenme piedras del campo” and “Tu nuevo cariñito” — it was my basic introduction to the great Mexican songbook, and a very good beginning. At that point I had never heard of José Alfredo, or Paulino Vargas, or even Los Tigres del Norte… it was back in the 1980s, before I’d spent any time traveling around Mexico, and I learned those songs before hitching down there in 1986, a story I’ve told in a previous post.

As for this song, here’s my rough translation of the other verses, giving the sense, if not the poetry:

Because I am as I am, I am losing your affection
Because I have made no money, they disparage me
I have no right to anything, because I am a vagabond
But I know that in the depth of your heart, you still adore me

I cannot think that your love for me will end
Neither money, nor anything, or anyone can separate us
Some memories can never be erased, and ours are like that
To be able to forget so many things, they would have to kill us.

If you are truly leaving, tell me in person
If you are thinking of sending me a letter, better not even to write it
Your goodbye, my heart, I demand looking you in the face
And if now there is no love in your eyes, I’ll go out of your life.