El Cocherito: A streetcar named Tango

"I swear! How peacefully I'd die, if one day while dancing a tango my heart would just give out."

EL COCHERITO (The Streetcar Conductor)
Tango, 1944
Letra de Santiago Adamini
Musica de Ángel D'Agostino
Musica de Alfredo Attadia

Song data at Tango.info 
Listen on YouTube

Bailando!  Empezó a vivir la vida De muchacho paseandero Bailarín de los primeros. Gabino!  Un mentado cocherito Que vivía sus andanzas En el barrio Caballito. Silbando!  Noche a noche en una esquina A la luz de un farolito Esperaba al organito. Y luego Cuando el tango le invitaba A bailarlo se entregaba Empleando el corazón. Bailando en las calles llegó el cocherito a ser en el barrio un gran bailarín;  Soñaba los tangos que el viejo organito Llevaba al suburbio a hacerlo feliz. En todos los bailes que el mozo llegaba Bailando ganaba algún corazón, Su estampa porteña que tanto gustaba Por donde él bailaba, recuerdos dejó. [Sabiendo Que su nombre cotizaban Tomó rumbo para el centro A buscar otro elemento. Y pronto Consiguió lo que él quería El aplauso que anhelaba Desde sus primeros días.] Pasaron Muchos años y una noche Entre amigos y algo en copas El muchacho les decía: ”Les juro que tranquilo moriría, si bailando un tango, un día me fallara el corazón”

Dancing! One of the best dancers,  He started to live the life Of a footloose youth.*  Gabino! A well liked streetcar conductor Who met his fate* in the barrio of Caballitos.* Whistling! Night after night on a corner By the light of a streetlamp He used to wait for the organito.  And then, When the tango moved him, he gave himself up to the dance, surrendering his heart. Dancing in the streets the streetcar conductor became a great dancer of the barrio;  He dreamed of the tangos  that the old organito  Used bring to the slum,*  to make it merry. At every dance the lad went to, Dancing, he won someone’s heart. His porteño style  was so well liked That wherever he danced  he left memories behind. [Knowing That he'd made a name for himself  He set course for the centro Seeking another audience. And soon He got what he wanted,  The applause he'd yearned for For as long as he could remember.] Many years went by, and one night, among friends and a little tipsy, Gabino told them, "I swear! How peacefully I'd die, if one day while dancing a tango  my heart would just give out."

NOTES:

* footloose youth: muchacho paseandero. A paseandero is a person fond if strolling; also someone who goes out every night.

* met his fate: vivía sus andanzas. Andanzas are adventures, deeds, or fate, derived from the verb andar, to walk. An alternate rendering of the phrase might be, "had his adventures" or "lived his deeds."

* Caballitos: A large barrio at the geographical center of Buenos Aires. The barrio was named after a tavern (pulpería) that stood on the corner of El Camino Real del Oeste (present day Avenida Rivadavia) and El Camino del Polvorín (now Emilio Mitre). The tavern owner had erected a pole with a weather-vane in the form of a horse. The tavern, which came to be known "La pulpería del caballito," eventually gave its name to the barrio as a whole.  

* slum: ie., the barrio of Caballitos.

Comments

[Leonardo]

Hi, I'm new to your site. Great idea ! Allow me to disagree about "cocherito" can being translated as "street car conductor". In my opinion it is more a self-employed free-lance horse powered taxi cab owner. And the name of the neighbourhood is spelled "Caballito". No "s". Thanks.