TIEMPOS VIEJOS: Without cocaine or hair gel

"They knew nothing of cocaine and morphine; the guys back then didn’t even use hair gel!"

TIEMPOS VIEJOS/Te acordás, hermano?
(Old Times/Do you remember, brother?)
Tango, 1926
Music: Francisco Canaro
Lyrics: Manuel Romero

Tiempos Viejos on YouTube:

Orquesta Francisco Canaro with Antonio Maida
Rafael Canaro with Aldo Campoamor
Carlos Gardel
Charlo
Osvaldo Pugliese with Abel Cordoba
Armando Pontier with Julio Sosa

[Illus.: Gomina Brancato was a type of hair gel popularized by Carlos Gardel and other tango musicians of the Golden Age.]

¿Te acordás, hermano? ¡Qué tiempos aquellos! Eran otros hombres, más hombres los nuestros No se conocía cocó, ni morfina, Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina. ¿Te acordás, hermano? ¡Qué tiempos aquellos! ¡Veinticinco abriles que no volverán! ¡Veinticinco abriles! ¡Volver a tenerlos! ¡Si cuando me acuerdo, me pongo a llorar! ¿Dónde están los muchachos de entonces? Barra antigua de ayer ¿Dónde está? Yo y vos solos quedamos, hermano, Yo y vos solos para recordar... ¿Dónde están las mujeres aquellas, minas fieles, de gran corazón, que en los bailes de Laura peleaban cada cual defendiendo su amor? ¿Te acordás, hermano, la rubia Mireya que quité en lo de Hansen, al guapo Rivera? ¡Casi me suicido una noche por ella... y hoy es una pobre mendiga harapienta! ¿Te acordás, hermano, lo linda que era? Se formaba rueda pa´ verla bailar... Cuando por la calle la veo tan vieja Doy vuelta la cara y me pongo a llorar...

Do you remember, brother? What times those were! They were other men, more manly, those men of ours. They knew nothing of cocaine and morphine, the guys back then didn’t even use hair gel.* Do you remember, brother? What times those were! Twenty-five years that will never return! Twenty-five years! To hear of them again! When I remember, it makes me cry. Where are the guys from back then? Old gang of yesteryear, where is it? You and I are the only ones left, brother. You and I alone are left to remember... Where are the real women, faithful girls, all heart, who used to mix it up at Laura’s dances,* each one defending her man? Do you remember, brother, that blonde Mireya, who I stole from the guapo Rivera at Hansen's place?* I almost killed myself one night on her account, and today she’s a ragged beggar. Do you remember, brother, what a looker she was? They used to form a circle to watch her dance... When I saw her on the street so old and shabby I turned away and started to cry.

NOTES:

* Hair gel: Gomina Brancato was a type of hair gel popularized by Carlos Gardel and other tango musicians of the Golden Age. A similar preparation could be made at home using gum tragacanth.

* Laura's dances: "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 in Recoleta 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.

* el guapo Rivera: The name of is given differently in different versions of the song: "el loco Cepeda," "el loco Rivera," or "el guapo Rivera." Stealing the girlfriend of a lunatic (possibly just a kook, a nut, or a person of low social standing) would have been of minor significance, but stealing the girlfriend of a guapo would have been a big deal, because a guapo was a highly respected, influential figure in the arrabal, and would have been very good with a knife.

Hansens's place: The narrator recalls stealing the girl Mireya from someone at Lo de Hansen, a well known restaurant and dance hall sometimes credited as the birthplace of tango. The mention of both Laura and Hansen place the action of the song clearly in the period around the end of the nineteenth century, twenty-five years "abriles" (years) before the song was written.