In our small tango community, some of our best dancers jump to their feet upon hearing the opening bars of Canaro's 1937 tango, CONDENA; that's their long-awaited chance to dance that old-time canyengue with the guapo or guapa of their arrabalero dreams. But what's the meaning behind that slow, somber, arrastre-drenched rhythm? What is it meant to evoke? Let's see what composer/lyricist Enrique Santos Discépolo and his co-lyricist Francisco Pracánico had in mind....
CONDENA (Life sentence)*
Tango 1937
Música: Enrique Santos Discépolo / Francisco Pracánico
Letra: Enrique Santos Discépolo*
Yo quisiera saber
qué destino brutal
me condena al horror
de este infierno en que estoy...
Castigao como un vil,
pa' que sufra en mi error
el fracaso de un ansia de amor.
Condenao al dolor
de saber pa' mi mal
que vos nunca serás,
nunca... no para mi.
Que sos de otro... y que hablar,
es no verte ya más,
es perderte pa' siempre y morir.
I’d like to know
what brutal fate
condemns me to the horror
of this hell I’m in...
Whipped like a cur
in order that I may suffer, for my misdeed,
the ruin of love’s longing.
Condemned to the pain
of knowing that, for my trespasses,
you’ll never be,
not ever...mine.
That you belong to another...and that to speak out
is to never see you again,
is to lose you forever and to die.
[Remaining lyrics and my notes are below the video...]
He arrastrao llorando
la esperanza de olvidar,
enfangando mi alma
en cien amores, sin piedad.
Sueño inútil. No he podido
No, olvidar...
Hoy como ayer
ciego y brutal me abraso
en ansias por vos.
I’ve dragged the hope
of forgetting you, weeping,
through a hundred pitiless love affairs,
muddying my soul.
Worthless dream! I couldn’t,
no, I couldn’t forget...
As always,
blindly, brutally, I burn
with longing for you.
Y lo peor, lo bestial
de este drama sin fin
es que vos ni sabés
de mi amor infernal...
Que me has dao tu amistad
y él me brinda su fe,
y ninguno sospecha mi mal...
¿Quién me hirió de este amor
que no puedo apagar?
¿Quién me empuja a matar la razón
como un vil?
¿Son tus ojos quizás?
¿O es tu voz quien me ató?...
¿O en tu andar se estremece mi amor?*
And the worst of it, the beastly part
of this never-ending drama,
is that you know nothing of
my infernal love...
That you’ve given me your friendship
and he offered me his faith,
and no one suspects my transgression...
Who wounded me by this love
that I cannot extinguish?
Who drives me to recklessly abandon
all reason like a fiend?
Could it be your eyes?
Or is it your voice that bound me?...
Or is it in your very being that my love shudders?
Notes:
*Condena: The title denotes condemnation, a prison sentence, or both. "Condemnation" would be a nice enough title, a first-cousin to Infamia, Humillación, Indiferencia; "Prison sentence," not so much. I took a little artistic license and made it "Life sentence." See whether that matches your own interpretation of the lyric or not.
*Discépolo: This is Tango Decoder's third version of an Enrique Santos Discépolo lyric. The others are INFAMIA and EL CARILLÓN DE LA MERCED. Discépolo had a very unique way of expressing himself that becomes more transparent to me with each new version—at least I imagine so! I look forward to tackling other songs of his, and to gaining a greater understanding of this key tango composer and lyricist. As always, your comments are welcome. Feel free to chime in in the comments section!
*your very being: tu andar. The literal meaning is simply "your walk," but the verb andar is used very broadly in Spanish to indicate a variety of behaviors, including the most general behavior of all, "being." The phrase could mean either "the way you walk" or "your very being." I chose the latter.
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