
Lyrics - Spanish
(Mexican folk song)
1. ¿Que quiere usted? Matarile, rile, rile, ron.
2. Quiero saltar,
3. Quiero marchar,
4. Quiero bailar,
English Translation
1. What do you want? Matarile, rile, rile, ron.
2. I want to jump…
3. I want to march…
4. I want to dance…
Game
Formation: Students stand in a circle. One student will be “Matarile,” or “It.”
Verse 1 – Matarile walks around the outside of the circle, and on the last syllable (“ron”) taps the closest person.
Verse 2 – Both students jump on the steady beats in the middle of the circle (“saltar” = “jump”) and choose new students to join them on the last word.
Verse 3 – All four students march around the inside of the circle and tap new people to join them.
Verse 4 – All eight students dance around the room, but need to return to the circle by the end of the verse.
Choose a new student to be “Matarile” and play the game again.
Recorder Notes G, A, B, D'

See also
- Country: Mexico
- Activities: circle singing games
- Harmony: chords I & V
- Melody: D,E,F#,A / G,A,B,D’
- Meter: 2
- Scale: tetratonic
- Tones: drms
- Source: Sing ‘Round the World, Vol. 2, Shirley McRae, 1995
- Similar song: Ambos a dos
YouTube
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody


2 thoughts on “Matarile”
I love this song and game idea! How much more fun it is when there are 8 going around the circle! Thank you for sharing this! You have an amazing collection!
Thanks for sharing! I’m so glad you like it! – Beth