Ríu Ríu Chíu: The Monkees

Who remembers the Monkees? Today’s selection is a 16th century Spanish carol from their 1967 Christmas show. Ríu Ríu Chíu is thought to be either the song of a nightingale or a shepherd calling his sheep.

Refrain
Ríu ríu chíu, riverside guardian;
God has kept the wolf from our precious lambkin.
God has kept the wolf from our precious lambkin.

Rabid wolf had tried our Lady’s neck to bite;
But almighty God could make the wolf take flight.
God made Mary such that nothing could be her sin;
Even Adam’s sin could never touch this virgin.

He who’s just been born is the mighty monarch;
Dressed in flesh now, Christ, behold our patriarch.
To redeem us all he became an infant so slight;
Though he had been infinite he made himself now finite.

Translation by Gene Keyes ©2012

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