Here's an odd bird: a hopeful tango, "Como el hornero." Appearing in early 1944, with radio censorship in full sway, the song has not a hint of the forbidden Lunfardo slang. And despite a healthy shot of tango melancholia, there's a ray of hope at the end. However, that last, hopeful verse—a kind of Hollywood ending—isn't sung in any of the recorded versions I know, neither D'Agostino w/ Vargas, Biagi w/Amor, nor Laurenz w/Podestá. That's tango for ya.
About the bird of the title: "Rufous Hornero (Furnarius rufus) is a medium-sized ovenbird in the family Furnariidae. It occurs in eastern South America, and is the national bird in Argentina and Uruguay....The species is monogamous and the pair bond is long term, sometimes for life. The nest of the species is typical for the genus, a large thick clay "oven" placed on a tree, or man made structures such as fenceposts, telephone poles or buildings." (text and pic from Wikipedia)
For this post, I'll trying alternating the Spanish and English on each stanza. See what you think. (Typepad doesn't offer side-by-side, two-column layouts as far as I can tell, so I'm still searching for the right format.) Full lyrics from TodoTango.com plus Tango Decoder's English version after the bump.
Note: An improved, updated version of this post is here.
Here's another well-known tango, Muñeca Brava, from Luis Visca and Enrique Cadícamo (authors of Compadrón, featured in my last post). Carlos Gardel recorded it in 1929 with the original Lunfardo-rich lyrics intact. A bowdlerized, de-Lunfardized version was recorded by Alberto Castillo with Ricardo Tanturi's orchestra (1942), and subsequent versions seem to follow the Castillo pattern. An exception is Lalo Martel's 1959 version with De Angelis, which is fairly faithful to the original.
Tango Decoder's English version of Muñeca Brava is below, followed by my notes.
Hey* madame who parlez-vous français* And spends money hand over fist,* Who drinks* her cocktails well iced And keeps a gigolo in high style.... You’re a sweet biscuit, Eyelashes well curled.... Muñeca Brava, femme fatale, Highly prized. You’re from the Trianon... The Club Trianon in the Villa Crespo,* Foxy milonguera Dangerous toy....
You’ve got a loverboy to pleasure you And twenty good years to brag about.* Your purse is full enough To gamble it away North and South. They all call you Muñeca Brava, Because you get the chumps* all dizzy, and that’s no lie, To me you’ll always be the gal who didn’t know How to preserve even a speck* of innocence.*
See the dream that eluded you. Take a good look at your imposing silhouette. And if the tears ever manage to catch up with you Give pain the slip, and laugh it off.... Swill* champagne as life slips away, Muñeca Brava, flower of sin, When you reach the end of your career Then you’ll see your primroses wilt.
*Muñeca Brava: Muñeca (Lunf.) denotes an attractive young woman (literally “doll”). Brava (Lunf.) denotes a sexually provocative woman. Hence Muñeca Brava is more or less equivalent to the French/English femme fatale.
*Che: Interjection used to get someone's attention. "Che, pibe, traeme un café."
*madame who parlez-vous français: The original is madam que parlás en francés. Parlás is from the French verb parler, to speak, but with the Spanish inflection -ás. The narrator/singer is imitating the sound of French. French women were highly prized as prostitutes, mistresses, singers, etc., and many who were not French assumed Frenchified identities.
*spends money hand over fist: tirás ventolín a dos manos, literally, “you throw money (ventolín, Lunf.) with both hands.”
*drinks her cocktails well iced: escabiás copetín bien frapé. Escabiás, from escabiar (Lunf.), verb of Italian origin, means to drink alcoholic beverages, usually with the intention to get drunk. Frapé from the French, frappé, iced.
*Trianon...Trianon in Villa Crespo: A double-entendre referring to the Trianon palace at Versaille and, in thinly veiled form, the Petit Trianon, a notorious brothel located on Pichincha Street, a red-light district in Rosario.
*twenty good years to brag about: veinte abriles que son diqueros. Abriles (Lunf.) are years (literally, Aprils) and a diquero (Lunf.) is a show-off, one who brags.
*chumps: giles are chumps or marks (Lunf.)
*sin grupo: grupo (Lunf.) is a deception or a lie.
*speck: un cacho (Lunf.), a speck or fragment.
*innocence: amor y juventud, literally, love and youth.
*swill: Meta (Lunf.)
[Castellano]
Che madam que parlás en francés y tirás ventolín a dos manos, que escabiás copetín bien frapé y tenés gigoló bién bacán... Sos un biscuit de pestañas muy arqueadas... Muñeca brava bien cotizada. Sos del Trianón... del Trianón de Villa Crespo... Milonguerita, juguete de ocasión...
Tenés un camba* que te hacen gustos y veinte abriles que son diqueros, y muy repleto tu monedero pa´ patinarlo de Norte a Sud... Te baten todos Muñeca Brava porque a los giles mareás sin grupo, pa´ mi sos siempre la que no supo guardar un cacho de amor y juventud.
Campaneá la ilusión que se va y embrocá tu silueta de rango, y si el llanto te viene a buscar escurrí tu dolor y reí... Meta champán que la vida se te escapa, Muñeca Brava, flor de pecado... Cuando llegués al final de tu carrera, tus primaveras verás languidecer
If you dance tango, you almost certainly know this song. To me, it always had an upbeat, celebratory sound that made me happy—and it still does. I guessed that "compadrón" was some sort of laudatory appellation, like calling someone Big Guy, or the equivalent. Finally I ran the lyrics through the Tango Decoder, and what came out is a whole different story. Our English version (below) tells the tale.
The song has quite a history, too. Its composer, Luis Visca, also wrote "Muñeca Brava" and he preceded Rodolfo Biagi at the piano in D'Arienzo's orchestra. Its lyricist, noted poet and novelist Enrique Cadícamo (right) was author of over five hundred tango lyrics including "Muñeca Brava," "Nunca Tuvo Novio," "Los Mareados," and "Madame Ivonne." The song was recorded by the orchestras of D'Arienzo, De Angelis, Canaro, and Fresedo, and it was sung by Carlos Gardel, Carlos Dante, and Héctor Mauré, among others.
Good-for-nothing wiseguy,* if Johnny Badass* catches up with you it'll be a shame* what happens to you. You’re less than a speck of spattered mud* To the local boys. You count for nothing In their back-alley aristocracy.*
Your little circle of buddies have already abandoned you, no doubt, And you know why! Compadrón, parasitic small-time hood, And that’s what your friends call you, To me, though it might hurt when I say it, you’re just an ignorant lug, a big shot’s soiled handkerchief.*
When you get to be old and alone [Spoken: Fool!*] And you get a load of yourself in the mirror, [Spoken: No account!*] You will see that you’ve achieved nothing... Your shattered illusions Will crumble before your eyes. In the gamble of life
You’re a point without a trump on the discarded suit. The world’s a boxing ring And you’re a feeble right hook* in words and in love. Though you talk a lot of shit To puff yourself up, Under my breath I say to myself, “May God help you, My papier-mâché wiseguy!”
*compadrón: In Lunfardo, the underworld slang of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, a compadrón is a fool, a conceited person, a braggart, a loudmouth, a show-off, or all of the above.
*good-for-nothing wiseguy: The original is, compadrito a la violeta. A compadrito (Lunfardo) is a typical character of the barrio, a prideful, quarrelsome person, highly affected in his manner of dress and action. A la violeta (Ar. slang) means vacant, unoccupied, idle, unemployed.
*Johnny Badass: Juan Malevo. A malevo is a tough-guy, a criminal, an offender, a “badass.” “Juan Malevo” is the personification of a barrio crime boss.
*not even a speck of mud on their shoe: No tenés siquiera un cacho de ese barro chapaleado por los mozos del lugar. Even my Argentine friends scratched their heads when I asked about this expression! Un cacho (Lunf.) is a small speck or fragment. Barro (Lunf.) is mud. Chapaleado means splashed or sloshed, from the verb chapalear. "You’re not even a speck of splattered mud" seems like a good guess. It has the virtue of being congruent with the line that follows.
*count for nothing their back-alley aristocracy: El escudo de los guapos no te cuenta entre sus gules. The image is of a coat of arms (escudo) displaying the heraldic color red (gules). The compadrón is not represented in the "heraldry" of the guapos (a complex term with many shades of meaning, but in this context, "local tough guys" is close enough).
*a big shot’s soiled handkerchief: retazo de bacán. A bacán is a big shot, a high roller, a guy who has a kept woman. A retazo is a remnant of cloth, a snippet, bits and pieces of something. The soiled hankerchief was my idea.
*shame: (Lunf.) calor.
*parasitic small-time hood: Prontuariado de vivillo. Prontuariado denotes a known offender, someone with a record of prior arrests (prontuario). A vivillo is an opportunist or self-serving person; a scrounger, a parasite.
*Colo! (Vesra) loco. In Vesra slang, the letters of a word are transposed to disguise its meaning.
*Gato! (Lunf.) a person of little worth.
*Biabazo: Lunf. right hook.
Compadrito a la violeta, si te viera Juan Malevo qué calor te haría pasar. No tenés siquiera un cacho de ese barro chapaleado por los mozos del lugar. El escudo de los guapos no te cuenta entre sus gules por razones de valer. Tus ribetes de compadre te engrupieron, no lo dudes. ¡Ya sabrás por qué!
Compadrón prontuariado de vivillo entre los amigotes que te siguen, sos pa' mí, aunque te duela, compadre sin escuela, retazo de bacán. Compadrón, cuando quedes viejo y solo (¡Colo!) y remanyes tu retrato (¡Gato!), notarás que nada has hecho... Tu berretín deshecho verás desmoronar.
En la timba de la vida sos un punto sin arrastre sobre el naipe salidor, y en la cancha de este mundo sos un débil pa'l biabazo, el chamuyo y el amor. Aunque busques en tu verba pintorescos contraflores pa' munirte de cachet, yo me digo a la sordina ¡Dios te ayude, compadrito de papel maché!
