Tango Time Machine — Tango Decoder

Subtitled Tango #37: EL YACARÉ ("The Alligator") D'Agostino/Vargas 1941

EL YACARÉ ("The Alligator")
Tango, 1941
Music: Alfredo Attadia
Lyrics: Mario Soto

For me, tangos by the Two Angels--bandleader Angel D'Agostino and singer Angel Vargas (right)--always have an uplifting feeling, even when they sing of sadness or loss. Sometimes the atmosphere at a milonga can feel really heavy, and then Tres Esquinas or Madreselva comes on, and everything changes. I feel like I'm getting a second wind, and I could dance all night. 

Here's one of my favorite D'Agostino songs, the bouncy, oft-heard "El Yacaré." The title, which means The Alligator, refers not to the fearsome marine reptile but to the nickname of a wildly popular jockey of the 40s, Eliás Antúnez, so called because he used to ride in the pack until the very last minute, then pounce on the finish line like an alligator on its prey. Remember, not all tango lyrics are about lost love or duels to the death! Some are about drinking, gambling, mother, flowers, the sea, or tango itself. And then there's this one, all about a jockey.

Subtitled video in Spanish and English, followed by face-to-face text with notes. English language version and notes Copyright © 2016 by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com. All Rights Reserved.

Es domingo, Palermo resplandece de sol, cada pingo en la arena llevará una ilusión. En las cintas los puros alineados están y a la voz de “¡Largaron!” da salida un afán. En el medio del lote, conteniendo su acción, hay un jockey que aguarda con serena atención, ya se apresta a la carga... griterío infernal. Emoción que desborda en un bravo final. ¡Arriba viejo Yacaré! Explota el grito atronador. Todos castigan con rigor, pero no hay nada que hacer, en el disco ya está Antúnez. Sabés sacar un perdedor, ganar un Premio Nacional... Muñeca brava y al final el tope del marcador siempre es tu meta triunfal. Un artista en las riendas, con coraje de león, tenés toda la clase que consagra a un campeón. Dominando la pista con certera visual el camino del disco vos sabés encontrar. Las tribunas admiran tu pericia y tesón y se rinde a tu arte con intensa emoción. Se enronquecen gargantas en un loco estallar, cuando a taco y a lonja empezás a cargar.

It's Sunday, Palermo* glitters in the sun, Hope rides on every horse* in the ring. The thoroughbreds line up at the ribbon And at the shout of “They’re off!” they leap out of the gate. In the middle of the pack, biding his time, A jockey waits with quiet poise. Now he's getting ready to charge...an infernal outcry... He hits the home stretch and the crowd goes wild. "Come on, Alligator!" The deafening cry explodes. They all flog like crazy But it’s no use: Antúnez* is already in the winner’s circle. You sure know how to pick a loser To win a Grand National... "Wild Angel"* and at the end the top of the scoreboard, is always your triumphant finish line. An artist at the reins, the courage of a lion, All the marks of a true champion. Surveying the track like a sharpshooter, The path to the winner’s circle is in your sights. In the grandstand they all marvel at your tenacity and skill, Your winning ways have got them all wound up. In one crazy outburst they yell themselves hoarse When hell for leather* you start your furious charge.

Notes:
*Palermo: El Hipodromo Argentino de Palermo, Buenos Aires' main racetrack.
*Horse: Pingo, Arg. slang for a good horse.
*Antúnez: Eliás Antuñez (b. 1907), legendary jockey known as El Yacaré, won the Gran Premio Pellegrini in 1941 and 1950 and the Gran Premio Nacional in 1949.
*Wild Angel: Muñeca Brava. I don't see any evidence that this really was one of Antúnez's horses. The name may be fanciful.
*Hell for leather: The original is a taco y lonja, literally, by heels and by leather strap. Sounds like "hell for leather" to me. Could this be the origin of the English phrase?

Subtitled Tango #36: DOS FRACASOS ("Two Disasters," Caló/Podestá)

DOS FRACASOS ("Two Disasters")
Tango, 1941
Music by Miguel Caló
Words by Homero Expósito

Performed by Orquesta Típica Miguel Caló with vocal by Alberto Podestá, 31 July 1941.

Subtitled video in Spanish with English-language version. (Titles begin immediately; if you don't see them, click the "CC" button.)

Full, face-to-face text of the lyrics in Spanish and English follows the video.

 

Me sorprendí Cuando te hallé Como un dolor sin palabras. La voz mareada de copas Se me anudó en la garganta. Quise gritar, Pero pa´ qué Si al fin yo estoy igual.   Sueños... Que gastamos conversando, Cuando... Nos hablábamos de amor. Horas... Que ya están en el olvido, Sensación de haber perdido La esperanza en el adiós. Rabia... De sabernos tan cambiados, Miedo... De gritar esta verdad, Somos... Dos fracasos que se amaron Y partieron y olvidaron, Y hoy se miran asombrados De morder la realidad.   Vuelve otra vez A tu rincón Que yo ya me voy con los años. Ya llueve plata en mis sienes Y hay un dolor en tus manos. Pa´ qué llorar Todo el ayer Si ya no puede ser.

I was surprised, when I found you like a pain, dumbstruck. Your voice dizzy with drink, tied a knot in my throat. I wanted to scream, but what for if in the end I’m just like you? Dreams... that we spent discussing. When... we used to talk of love. Hours... that are now forgotten, the feeling of having lost the hope of our farewell. Rage, seeing how much we've both changed, fear, of crying out that truth. We are... two failures that loved each other and parted and forgot and today we find ourselves astonished to take in the reality. [Go back again to your corner that I'm already leaving with the years. Now silver rains on my temples and there’s a pain in your hands. Why weep for all that went before, if now it cannot be?]

 Spanish lyrics courtesy of hermanotango.com.

Subtitled Tango #36: DOS FRACASOS ("Two Disasters")

DOS FRACASOS ("Two Disasters")
Tango, 1941
Music by Miguel Caló
Words by Homero Expósito

Performed by Orquesta Típica Miguel Caló with vocal by Alberto Podestá, 31 July 1941.

Muñeca Brava: One hell of a woman...!

Enrique Cadícamo in 1941.

Here's another well-known tango from Luis Visca and Enrique Cadícamo (authors of Compadrón, featured in an earlier post). Carlos Gardel recorded it in 1929 with the original Lunfardo-rich lyrics intact. A bowdlerized, de-Lunfardized version was recorded by Alberto Castillo with Ricardo Tanturi's orchestra (1942), and subsequent versions seem to follow the Castillo pattern. An exception is Lalo Martel's 1959 version with De Angelis, which is fairly faithful to the original. Tango Decoder's English-language version of Muñeca Brava is below, followed by our notes.

Muñeca brava*
(Femme Fatale)
Tango
1929
Music: Luis Visca
Lyric: Enrique Cadícamo

Che madam que parlás en francés y tirás ventolín a dos manos, que escabiás copetín bien frapé y tenés gigoló bién bacán... Sos un biscuit de pestañas muy arqueadas... Muñeca brava bien cotizada. Sos del Trianón... del Trianón de Villa Crespo... Milonguerita, juguete de ocasión... Tenés un camba* que te hacen gustos y veinte abriles que son diqueros, y muy repleto tu monedero pa´ patinarlo de Norte a Sud... Te baten todos Muñeca Brava porque a los giles mareás sin grupo, pa´ mi sos siempre la que no supo guardar un cacho de amor y juventud. Campaneá la ilusión que se va y embrocá tu silueta de rango, y si el llanto te viene a buscar escurrí tu dolor y reí... Meta champán que la vida se te escapa, Muñeca Brava, flor de pecado... Cuando llegués al final de tu carrera, tus primaveras verás languidecer

Hey* madame who parlez-vous français* And spends money hand over fist,* Who drinks her cocktails well iced* And keeps a gigolo in high style.... You’re a sweet biscuit, Eyelashes well curled.... Muñeca Brava, femme fatale, High-priced. You’re from the Trianon... The Club Trianon in the Villa Crespo,* Foxy milonguera Dangerous toy.... You’ve got a loverboy to pleasure you And twenty good years to brag about.* Your purse is full enough To gamble it away North and South. They all call you Muñeca Brava, Because you get the chumps* all dizzy, and that’s no lie, To me you’ll always be the gal who didn’t know How to preserve even a speck* of love and youth. See the dream that eluded you, And take a good look at your imposing silhouette. And if the tears ever manage to catch up with you Give pain the slip, and laugh it off.... Swill* champagne as life slips away, Muñeca Brava, flower of sin, When you reach the end of your career Then you’ll see your primroses wilt.

*Muñeca Brava: Muñeca (Lunf.) denotes an attractive young woman (literally “doll”). Brava (Lunf.) denotes a sexually provocative woman. Hence Muñeca Brava is more or less equivalent to the French/English femme fatale.

*Che: Interjection used to get someone's attention. "Che, pibe, traeme un café."

*madame who parlez-vous français: The original is madam que parlás en francés. Parlás is from the French verb parler, to speak, but with the Spanish inflection -ás. The narrator/singer is imitating the sound of French. French women were highly prized as prostitutes, mistresses, singers, etc., and many who were not French assumed Frenchified identities.

*spends money hand over fist: tirás ventolín a dos manos, literally, “you throw money (ventolín, Lunf.) with both hands.”

*drinks her cocktails well iced: escabiás copetín bien frapé. Escabiás, from escabiar (Lunf.), verb of Italian origin, means to drink alcoholic beverages, usually with the intention to get drunk. Frapé from the French, frappé, iced.

*Trianon...Trianon in Villa Crespo: A double-entendre referring to the Trianon palace at Versaille and, in thinly veiled form, the Petit Trianon, a notorious brothel located on Pichincha Street, a red-light district in Rosario.

*twenty good years to brag about: veinte abriles que son diqueros. Abriles (Lunf.) are years (literally, Aprils) and a diquero (Lunf.) is a show-off, one who brags.

*chumps: giles are chumps or marks (Lunf.)

*sin grupo: grupo (Lunf.) is a deception or a lie.

*speck: un cacho (Lunf.), a speck or fragment. 

*swill: Meta (Lunf.)

Other Tango Decoder versions by Enrique Cadícamo:
Argañaraz  •  Compadrón  •  El cuarteador  •  No vendrá  •  Si la llegaran a ver  •  Tres esquinas  •  Tu llamado  •  Un dilema

 

 

 

 

 

SOY MUCHACHO DE LA GUARDIA (avec sous-titres en français)

SOY MUCHACHO DE LA GUARDIA
(« Je suis un gars de la vieille garde »)
Tango de 1942
Musique d'Agustín Irusta
Paroles d’Héctor Marcó

Interprété par la Orquesta Típica Aníbal Troilo avec Francisco Fiorentino au chant. Enregistrement du 15/06/1942.

New Banner: Lucio Demare and Raul Beron at the Palermo Palace (1943)

I hope you like our new banner photo (above)! Its one of the nicest ads from the "El Mundo" newspaper's "Dance Guide." The ad announces a series of shows by bandleader Lucio Demare and his new singer, Raúl Berón at the Palermo Palace in early 1943.

The Palace is a bit of a mystery. It hosted many important acts like Demare with Berón, Angel D'Agostino, Alberto Castillo, Orlando Goñi, Roberto Rufino, and many others, yet I haven't found anyone who knows anything about the place. And the building itself is long gone...

I've seen two pictures taken at the Palace, but none of them are reveal much except that the audience was overwhelmingly male! You'll have to look really hard to find the female faces in the picture shown here, which was taken during the debut of the singer Carlos Tagle in 1945. Women were admitted free, but the incentive doesn't seem to have had much effect. It might be that, like the cabarets of the time, the place employed coperas, that is, women whose main job was to get male customers to buy expensive drinks for them (which usually consisted of nothing more than iced tea). In that case, respectable women would have been loath to attend without an escort, and even then, it was considered questionable. The few women we see in the photo may be coperas, or they may be free-spirited milongueras who were plucky enough to go wherever they like.

Subtitled Tango Video #35: TRES AMIGOS ("Three Friends") in Spanish and English

TRES AMIGOS ("Three Friends")
Tango, 1942
Words and music by Enrique Cadícamo

Recorded here by Orquesta Típica Aníbal Troilo
with vocal by Alberto Marino 1944-04-11.
Subtitles and English-language version by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com