Subtitled Tango No. 13: AVE DE PASO (D'Agostino/Vargas)

"Release me from my vow, brown-skinned girl.
 Forget the madness of my loving you.
Buenos Aires compels me to leave you,
and under her skies I’ll dream of you...."

The story behind the song: In 1936 the renowned singer Charlo is headed for a series of gigs in Río de Janeiro aboard the luxury liner Conte Biancamano. He is accompanied by his friend, noted poet and tango lyricist Enrique Cadícamo, and José Razzano, guitarist and business partner of the late Carlos Gardel. During the week-long voyage they meet the Miranda Sisters, Carmen and Aurora, a locally known duo returning to Río from a gig in Buenos Aires. Charlo conducts a torrid, fleeting, shipboard romance with Carmen (shown, right), who was soon after to become a Hollywood sensation.

[Scroll down for Tango Decoder's subtitled video and text translation of Ave De Paso.]

Charlo is a great success in Río, though unfortunately his agent deposits most of the proceeds at the gaming tables of the casino.

A certain Heriberto Muraro, a highly regarded Argentine pianist who has lived in Río for many years, is a frequent visitor at the flat rented by Charlo and company on the Avenida Atlántica. One afternoon, Muraro engages Cadícamo to write a tango lyric for him to set to music. "And I'm not going to budge from this spot until it's done," jokes the pianist.

"No problem," says Cadícamo, eager to complete the assignment. He borrows Charlo's portable typewriter and finishes the job in record time. At that moment, Charlo reads the lyric of AVE DE PASO over the poet's shoulder. "That's for me," says the singer, ripping the paper out of the machine. "Write another one for Muraro." The astonished Muraro is left without the promised lyric. Cadícamo promises to send him another one, but later forgets all about it.

Charlo composes a beautiful musical accompaniment to AVE DE PASO on his accordion. He not only sings and records it brilliantly, but makes it the prelude to all his later performances, a kind of theme song.

 

[Source: Tangos al bardo]

 

AVE DE PASO (Bird of passage)
Tango, 1936
Words by Enrique Cadícamo; music by Charlo.
Performed 1944-11-02 by Orquesta Angel D'Agostino, vocal Angel Vargas.

Bilingual Spanish/English subtitles and English-language translation by Tango Decoder. All Rights Reserved.

Full text translation:

Ha llegado el momento querida, de ausentarme quién sabe hasta cuándo. En mis labios se asoma temblando una mueca que dice el adiós... Nuestro amor fue un amor del momento, mi cariño fue un ave de paso y tus besos de miel y de raso fue un vaso sagrado que no olvidaré. ¡Adiós, muñequita de cobre! Muchacha morena, tu amor tropical exhala en mi alma su risa salobre como una canción sentimental. La luna de Río se queda para que en las noches le cuente que yo pasé por tu lado, viajero incansable, pasé por tu lado y dejé el corazón. Mi destino es andar en la vida... Hice mal en soñar a tu lado. Se ha teñido ese cielo rosado... al conjuro de darte esta adiós... Perdoná mi promesa, morena. Olvidá mi locura de amarte. Buenos Aires mi obliga a dejarte y bajo esos cielos con vos soñaré...

The time has come, dear, for me to go away ’til who knows when. My trembling lips start to show an expression that says goodbye. Our love was a passing fancy, my affection was a bird of passage, and your kiss of honey and satin was a sacred vessel that I won’t forget. Goodbye, copper-colored cutie!* Brown-skinned girl, your torrid love*... breathes its lusty laughter into my soul* like a sentimental song. The Rio moon remains as a nightly reminder that I passed by your side, tireless traveler, passed by your side and left my heart. My destiny is to wander in this life... I was wrong to dream at your side. This sky has been dyed pink under the spell of giving you this farewell. Release me from my vow, brown-skinned girl. Forget the madness of my loving you. Buenos Aires compels me to leave you, and under her skies I’ll dream of you....

 NOTES:

* copper-colored cutie: muñequita de cobre. There was a flat, round, hot-water bottle made of copper that was used to warm a bed on cold winter nights, that was also called a muñequita de cobre. Make of it what you will.

*torrid love: amor tropical. In the Southern Cone, the word tropical means "tropical, melodramatic, or high-colored." With a little poetic license, "torrid."

* breathes its lusty laughter into my soul: Charlo's 1950 recording of the song renders this line as "exhala un perfume de brisa salobre," which means "gives off a perfume of salty breeze(s)."