Subtitled Tango #50: SON COSAS DE BANDONEÓN ("It's the bandoneón's thing")

"Let's lift this bubbling glass of champagne...
Laughter will sound its cheery jingle bell and a smile will hang on our lips.
And if a sob wells up unintentionally,
don't worry, friends....
It's the bandoneón's thing
he, who of his own accord,
on this night of celebration,
has started to cry."

SON COSAS DEL BANDONEÓN
("It's The Affair Of The Bandoneón")
Music by Enrique Rodriguez
Words by Enrique Cadícamo

[Bandoneón stencil art by unknown artist, San Telmo, Buenos Aires. Photo: Ian Gallagher, 2007 (via Flickr).]

 

Son cosas del bandoneón que se ha puesto a rezongar, no son mías las tristezas de esta noche de champán… No tengo que ocultar ningún amor de ayer ni tengo penas que desenterrar. Si algún dolor está flotando sin querer sépanlo todos, compañeros, que… son cosas del bandoneón, que por gusto, nada más, esta noche de verbena, se le ha dado por llorar. Bandoneón de triste rezongar: tu lamento me hace mal, bandoneón, tu funeral compás es un réquiem compadrón… Hay que reír… Hay que cantar… Mejor será mentir nuestro penar… Yo, como vos… sufro también, hermano bandoneón, no llores más… Muchachos, quiero brindar: “Por la vida que se va”… Levantemos esta copa burbujeante de champán… La risa lucirá su alegre cascabel y en nuestras bocas colgará un reír. Y si el sollozo está flotando sin querer, no se preocupen compañeros, que… Son cosas del bandoneón que, por gusto nada más, en la fiesta de esta noche se le ha dado por llorar.

It's the bandoneón's thing, he, who's set to moaning. Grief is not for me on this night of champagne. I don't have to hide yesterday's loves, I've no sorrows to dig up. If any pain is unintentionally welling up, be aware, my friends, that... it's the bandoneón's thing, he, who of his own accord, nothing else, on this night of dancing under the stars, has started to cry. Bandoneón moaning of sadness: your lament makes me ill, bandoneón, your funereal rhythm is an arrogant requiem...* One's got to laugh... One's got to sing... It's better to lie about our suffering... I, like you... I suffer too, brother bandoneón, stop crying... Boys, I want to make a toast: "To life that goes on..." Let's lift this bubbling glass of champagne... Laughter will sound its cheery jingle bell and a smile will hang on our lips. And if a sob wells up unintentionally, don't worry, friends.... That's the bandoneón's thing, he who of his own accord, on this night of celebration, has started to cry.

NOTES:

* It's the bandoneón's thing: Son cosas del bandoneón, literally, "they are things of the bandoneón." A similar expression in English is, "Do your own thing." The central irony of the song is that the protagonist denies his own feelings, attributing them instead to the inanimate instrument. Everyone's celebrating but the bandoneón is crying; he's "doing his own thing."

* arrogant requiem: réquiem compadrón. The word compadrón appears in countless tangos, and has numerous possible meanings. As a noun, it can mean a friend, but it more often means a person who's arrogant or a braggart. The word provides an ironic counterpoint to the solemn mass for the dead. Compadrón is the opposite of solemn.