A song from the zarzuela (a kind of Spanish operetta) "El Cóndor Pasa" by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles written in 1913 and based on traditional Andean folk tunes. The opening tune is based on a traditional quechua love song called Huk urpichatam uywakarkani. This song was also included in the gold disc sent inside the Voyager space probe designed to be part of the musical heritage to represent human music before a possible extraterrestrial culture.

This is Simon & Garfunkel's version of the ballad "El Condor pasa" (= The Condor flies by").

There is also an English lesson working with this song:

English through songs: El Condor Pasa

And this is the original Spanish version in the voice of Placido Domingo:

El Cóndor Pasa

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied to the ground,
he gives the earth
its saddest sound,
its saddest sound.

I'd rather be a forest than a street.
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet,
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

I'D RATHER= I prefer

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail = I prefer to be a sparrow than to be a snail

I SURELY WOULD = Of course I would.