SACALE PUNTA (Sharpen it up)*
Milonga tangueada, 1938
Music: Osvaldo Donato
Lyrics: Sandalio Gómez
These lyrics were transcribed exactly from a copy of the sheet music in the collection of the Asociación General de Autores de Uruguay (AGADU), Montevideo, Uruguay. English-language version by Michael Krugman for Tango Decoder, Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.
Tango Decoder's special thanks go to the staff at AGADU for providing the text, and to Montevideo's Julio and Dina "Vinoblanco" and to Willi N. for their invaluable assistance in interpreting the lyric.
Also by Tango Decoder: Subtitled Tango Video #9: SACALE PUNTA by Edgardo Donato y sus Muchachos (with subtitles in Spanish and English)
I
Sacale punta a este milonga
Que ya empezó.
Sentí esos fueyes que rezongen
De corazón
Y las pebetas se han venido
De truco y flor.
El tango es rey que da a la vida
Y en sus notas desparrama
Su amor.
Sharpen up this milonga
that already started.
Check out these bellows that murmur*
from the heart
And the girls who've come,
wildly eager (to start dancing).*
The tango is king who gives to life
and spreads his love
with every note.
II
Tango lindo de arrabal
Que yo,
No lo he visto desmayar
Triunfó.
Tango que a contar
Volcó,
Su fé, su amor, varón,
Tenés que ser.
Beautiful tango of the arrabal,
That I,
have never seen it falter.
It triumphed!
Beautiful tango that in song
Expressed
Its faith, its love,
A man, you've got to be!
III
Nada hay que hacer al meta y ponga
Del bandoneón.
Oreja a oreja los parejas
Bailan al son.
De un tango curda de recuerdos
Que no cayó.
Si desde los tiempos de Laura
Se ha sentido primer agua
Y brilló.
You don't have to do anything
To the steady cadence of the bandoneón.*
Ear to ear the couples*
Dance to the sound
Of a tango drunk on memories
That never fell down,
But, since the times of Laura*
Felt diamond-bright*
and it sparkled.
NOTES:
* Sacale punta a este milonga: The phrase refers literally to the act of sharpening of a pencil, i.e., put a point on it. The singer urges someone--perhaps the other musicians, or perhaps the males in attendance--to sharpen up, or put a point on the milonga, that is, to do their best to make it a stimulating experience. The phrase also has a sexual connotation suggesting the priming of the penis for intercourse.
* bellows: The word fueye (or fuelle) means bellows, and is often used as another name for the bandoneón.
* girls... wildly eager to start dancing: se han venido de truco y flor. Truco and flor are plays in the popular, high-spirited game of truco. Here, the expression truco y flor is intended to convey the excitement and urgency of the game. The pebetas in attendance are, like truco players, wildly eager (in this case, to start dancing). The reflexive verb venirse, to come, may also have a sexual connotation.
* steady cadence. The Lunfardo expression meta y ponga is derived from two verbs with nearly the same meaning, meter (to put in) and poner (to put). It signifies something that happens repeatedly, again and again, without stopping. Here, it suggests the unceasing opening and closing movement of the bellows of the bandoneón. It may also have a sexual connotation, as in the movie A Clockwork Orange: "the old in-out."
* ear to ear: probably a reference to the canyengue style of tango, in which both partners face forward in the line of dance, their heads side by side, ear to ear. Thanks to Dirk Steinkampf for questioning my translation of the line, and thanks to Dina "Vinoblanco" for the final revelation.
* since the times of Laura: "Lo de Laura" was an early tango dance hall hosted by "la morocha" Laura Montserrat in the last years of the nineteenth century. It was located at Paraguay 2512. Laura's was luxurious, had a select clientele, and often featured the pianist "el negro" Rosendo Medizábal (1868-1913), composer of "El entrerriano," believed to be the oldest tango in the modern repertoire.
* felt diamond-bright: Se ha sentido primer agua. Primer agua ("first water") is a term used in the diamond trade to denote stones of the highest clarity and brilliance.
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