"Loca" Talks!

We've all seen that terrific video of Juan D'Arienzo's orchestra performing an instrumental version of "Loca" for Uruguayan TV in the 60s. It's top-notch, high-energy tango music and a priceless documentation of one of tango's greatest orchestras.

But what about the song itself? It had lyrics once upon a time, when it was composed in 1922 and recorded by Carlos Gardel, and they're powerful. They tell the sad tale of a young woman from the provinces who runs away to Buenos Aires and gets trapped in the sex trade.

The song was also performed by Libertad Lamarque in Luis Buñuel's 1947 film, Gran Casino. (Not to be confused with La Loca, another Lamarque vehicle directed by Miguel Zacarías in '52.) Lamarque's performance is seen below, with subtitles by Tango Decoder and our side-by-side full-text Spanish-English translation. I think you'll agree, the song has a strong emotional punch and Lamarque makes the most of it. The performance could easily have lapsed into melodrama, but I don't think it does. It's strong stuff, though.

(NOTE: If you do not see the subtitles at the start of the video, please click the "CC" button on the control strip at the bottom of the YouTube screen to toggles subtitles "on.")

By the way, the word loca means an emotionally unbalanced female, a crazy woman, but it's also a slightly less blunt way of saying "prostitute" or "whore," which is clearly what is meant here. I chose the word "tramp" as a translation because, like the Spanish word loca, it's a word with a double meaning. It could have been "trollop," "harlot," or "slut," but "tramp" seemed closest in feel to the original. See if you don't agree.

LOCA (Tramp)
Tango, 1922
Words: Manuel Jovés
Music: Antonio Vergol

Spanish-English translation by Tango Decoder:

Loca, me llaman mis amigos, que sólo son testigos de mi liviano amor. Loca... ¿Qué saben lo que siento, ni qué remordimiento se oculta en mi interior? Yo tengo, con alegrías, que disfrazar mi tristeza, y que hacer de mi cabeza las pesadillas huir. Yo tengo que ahogar en copas la pena que me devora... Cuando mi corazón llora, mis labios deben reír. Yo, si a un hombre lo desprecio, tengo que fingirle amores; y admiración, cuando es necio; y si es cobarde, temores. Yo que no he pertenecido al ambiente en que ahora estoy, he de olvidar lo que he sido y he de olvidar lo que soy. Loca, me dicen mis amigos, que sólo son testigos de mi liviano amor. Loca, ¿Qué saben lo que siento, ni qué remordimiento se oculta en mi interior? Allá muy lejos, muy lejos, donde el sol cae cada día, un tranquilo hogar había y en el hogar unos viejos. La vida y su encanto era una muchacha que huyó sin decirles dónde fuera... y esa muchacha soy yo. Ya no existe más la casa, ya no existen más los viejos y una muchacha muy lejos, sufriendo la vida pasa. Y al caer todos los días en aquella tierra el sol, caen con él mis alegrías y muere mi corazón.

Tramp, they call me, my friends, they who see only my easy virtue. Tramp... What do they know of what I feel Or what terrible remorse Is hidden inside of me. I have to disguise my sadness with gaiety and make my worries flee from my mind. I have to drown in drink the sorrow that devours me.... When my heart weeps My lips have to laugh. Though I despise a man, I have to pretend to love him; to admire him if he’s a fool; and to fear him if he’s a coward. I wasn’t always part of this scene I’m in now, so I have to forget what I have been and forget what I am. Tramp, they call me, my friends, they who see only my easy virtue. Tramp... How can they know who I am Or what remorse Is hidden inside of me? There, far, far away Where the sun sets each day, There was a peaceful home And in that home, some old folks. Their life and their darling was a girl who ran away Without saying where she was going... And that girl was me. Today that house no longer exists. Today those old folks no longer exist Today the girl, far away, Passes her life in suffering. And as the sun sinks each day In that land, My happiness sinks with it And my heart dies.