If you dance tango, you almost certainly know this song. To me, it always had an upbeat, celebratory sound that made me happy—and it still does. I guessed that "compadrón" was some sort of laudatory appellation, like calling someone Big Guy, or the equivalent. Finally I ran the lyrics through the Tango Decoder, and what came out is a whole different story. Our English version (below) tells the tale.
The song has quite a history, too. Its composer, Luis Visca, also wrote "Muñeca Brava" and he preceded Rodolfo Biagi at the piano in D'Arienzo's orchestra. Its lyricist, noted poet and novelist Enrique Cadícamo (right) was author of over five hundred tango lyrics including "Muñeca Brava," "Nunca Tuvo Novio," "Los Mareados," and "Madame Ivonne." The song was recorded by the orchestras of D'Arienzo, De Angelis, Canaro, and Fresedo, and it was sung by Carlos Gardel, Carlos Dante, and Héctor Mauré, among others.
Other Tango Decoder versions by Enrique Cadícamo:
Argañaraz • Muñeca brava • El cuarteador • No vendrá • Si la llegaran a ver • Tres esquinas • Tu llamado • Un dilema
Our subtitled video of COMADRÓN is below. Scroll down for full text in Spanish and English.
Compadrón*
Tango
1927
Music: Luis Visca
Lyric: Enrique Cadícamo
Tango Decoder version Copyright © 2013
Good-for-nothing wiseguy,*
if Johnny Badass* catches up with you
it'll be a shame* what happens to you.
You’re less than a speck of spattered mud*
To the local boys.
You count for nothing
In their back-alley aristocracy.*
Your little circle of buddies
have already abandoned you, no doubt,
And you know why!
Compadrón, parasitic small-time hood,
And that’s what your friends call you,
To me, though it might hurt when I say it, you’re
just an ignorant lug, a big shot’s soiled handkerchief.*
When you get to be old and alone [Spoken: Fool!*]
And you get a load of yourself in the mirror, [Spoken: No account!*]
You will see that you’ve achieved nothing...
Your shattered illusions
Will crumble before your eyes.
In the gamble of life
You’re a point without a trump
on the discarded suit.
The world’s a boxing ring
And you’re a feeble right hook*
in words and in love.
Though you talk a lot of shit
To puff yourself up,
Under my breath I say to myself,
“May God help you,
My papier-mâché wiseguy!”
*compadrón: In Lunfardo, the underworld slang of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, a compadrón is a fool, a conceited person, a braggart, a loudmouth, a show-off, or all of the above.
*good-for-nothing wiseguy: The original is, compadrito a la violeta. A compadrito (Lunfardo) is a typical character of the barrio, a prideful, quarrelsome person, highly affected in his manner of dress and action. A la violeta (Ar. slang) means vacant, unoccupied, idle, unemployed.
*Johnny Badass: Juan Malevo. A malevo is a tough-guy, a criminal, an offender, a “badass.” “Juan Malevo” is the personification of a barrio crime boss.
*not even a speck of mud on their shoe: No tenés siquiera un cacho de ese barro chapaleado por los mozos del lugar. Even my Argentine friends scratched their heads when I asked about this expression! Un cacho (Lunf.) is a small speck or fragment. Barro (Lunf.) is mud. Chapaleado means splashed or sloshed, from the verb chapalear. "You’re not even a speck of splattered mud" seems like a good guess. It has the virtue of being congruent with the line that follows.
*count for nothing their back-alley aristocracy: El escudo de los guapos no te cuenta entre sus gules. The image is of a coat of arms (escudo) displaying the heraldic color red (gules). The compadrón is not represented in the "heraldry" of the guapos (a complex term with many shades of meaning, but in this context, "local tough guys" is close enough).
*a big shot’s soiled handkerchief: retazo de bacán. A bacán is a big shot, a high roller, a guy who has a kept woman. A retazo is a remnant of cloth, a snippet, bits and pieces of something. The soiled hankerchief was my idea.
*shame: (Lunf.) calor.
*parasitic small-time hood: Prontuariado de vivillo. Prontuariado denotes a known offender, someone with a record of prior arrests (prontuario). A vivillo is an opportunist or self-serving person; a scrounger, a parasite.
*Colo! (Vesra) loco. In Vesra slang, the letters of a word are transposed to disguise its meaning.
*Gato! (Lunf.) a person of little worth.
*Biabazo: Lunf. right hook.
Compadrito a la violeta,
si te viera Juan Malevo
qué calor te haría pasar.
No tenés siquiera un cacho
de ese barro chapaleado
por los mozos del lugar.
El escudo de los guapos
no te cuenta entre sus gules
por razones de valer.
Tus ribetes de compadre
te engrupieron, no lo dudes.
¡Ya sabrás por qué!
Compadrón
prontuariado de vivillo
entre los amigotes que te siguen,
sos pa' mí, aunque te duela,
compadre sin escuela, retazo de bacán.
Compadrón,
cuando quedes viejo y solo (¡Colo!)
y remanyes tu retrato (¡Gato!),
notarás que nada has hecho...
Tu berretín deshecho
verás desmoronar.
En la timba de la vida
sos un punto sin arrastre
sobre el naipe salidor,
y en la cancha de este mundo
sos un débil pa'l biabazo,
el chamuyo y el amor.
Aunque busques en tu verba
pintorescos contraflores
pa' munirte de cachet,
yo me digo a la sordina
¡Dios te ayude, compadrito
de papel maché!
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