"As a composer Juan Carlos Cobián is, alongside Enrique Delfino, the creator of the so-called tango-romanza; in 1917 the latter composed "Sans Souci", and Cobián wrote "Salomé", with which they paved the road for avant-garde tango. Cobián was an evolutionist to such an extent that the publishers did not accept his early tangos because they regarded them as «wrongly composed». The truth is that they were far beyond the popular music of the time."--Todotango.com
Cobián's Salomé has never been recorded, to my knowledge. Perhaps someone more musical than I am—a modern orquesta típica, perhaps—will procure the partitura one day, and let us hear the composition in some form. Any takers? The best I can do is to offer my English-language version of Enrique Cadícamo's lyrics to the song. I hope you enjoy them!
NEWS FLASH! In response to our request above, Julian Rowland has recorded a lovely version of Salomé for the piano. Hear it now.
[Salomé, 1899 by Jean Brenner (1836-1906).]
Salomé
Tango
Music: Juan Carlos Cobián
Words: Enrique Cadícamo
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Por llamarte Salomé
quizá yo te encontré
distinta a otras mujeres...
Por llamarte Salomé
quizá toleraré
lo altiva y mala que eres...
Qué me importa si al sufrir
tu risa angelical
dulcísima me hiere...
Tienes mujer
un encanto fatal
y el perfume de una flor sensual.
Cuando llegué hasta ti
temblando de emoción
por tu belleza...
Ardientemente te imploraba,
indiferente me escuchabas...
Abrí por fin
tu corazón, mujer,
y entonces pude ver
la bruma de tu esplín...
En cada beso yo sentí el sabor
de tu fatal
influencia de amor...
Frente a tu imagen, Salomé,
la bayadera surgirá
y entonces yo te cantaré
el tema de mi viejo mal...
Tu danza erótica sabrá pulsar
el ritmo loco de mi palpitar...
¡Piedad!...
¡Piedad... mi Salomé!
Si es que el fin ha de ser
el bautista San Juan.
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By calling you Salomé
perhaps I’ll find you
different from other women...
By calling you Salomé
perhaps I’ll be able to tolerate
your haughty, evil ways.
What the use if upon bearing
your angelic laughter,
very sweetly you wound me...
You have, woman,
a fatal charm
and the perfume of a sensual flower.
When I came before you
shaking with emotion
at your beauty...
Ardently I implored you,
indifferently you listened...
I opened at last
your heart, woman,
and then I could see
the mists of your melancolia...
in each kiss I tasted
your fatal
amorous influence.
Gazing your picture Salomé
the dancing girl appears
and then I must sing to you
the song of my old malady...
Your erotic dance knows how whip
me into a crazy, throbbing rhythm...
Pity!...
Pity... my Salomé!
For the end must be
John the Baptist.
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