Tango Time Machine — Tango Decoder

Subtitled Tango Video No. 9: SACALE PUNTA (Sharpen it up!)

Ear to ear, the couples
Dance to the sound
Of a tango drunk on memories
That never fell down,
But, since the times of Laura,
felt as bright as a diamond
and sparkled.

SACALE PUNTA (Sharpen it up)
Milonga tangueada, 1938
Music: Osvaldo Donato
Lyrics: Sandalio Gómez

Full text of lyrics with Tango Decoder's notes and commentary.

Bilingual tango lyrics in Spanish and English: SACALE PUNTA (Sharpen it up!)

SACALE PUNTA (Sharpen it up)*
Milonga tangueada, 1938
Music: Osvaldo Donato
Lyrics: Sandalio Gómez

These lyrics were transcribed exactly from a copy of the sheet music in the collection of the Asociación General de Autores de Uruguay (AGADU), Montevideo, Uruguay. English-language version by Michael Krugman for Tango Decoder, Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Tango Decoder's special thanks go to the staff at AGADU for providing the text, and to Montevideo's Julio and Dina "Vinoblanco" and to Willi N. for their invaluable assistance in interpreting the lyric.

Also by Tango Decoder: Subtitled Tango Video #9: SACALE PUNTA by Edgardo Donato y sus Muchachos (with subtitles in Spanish and English)

I

Sacale punta a este milonga
Que ya empezó.
Sentí esos fueyes que rezongen
De corazón
Y las pebetas se han venido
De truco y flor.
El tango es rey que da a la vida
Y en sus notas desparrama
Su amor.

Sharpen up this milonga
that already started.
Check out these bellows that murmur*
from the heart
And the girls who've come,
wildly eager (to start dancing).*
The tango is king who gives to life
and spreads his love
with every note.

II

Tango lindo de arrabal
Que yo,
No lo he visto desmayar
Triunfó.
Tango que a contar
Volcó,
Su fé, su amor, varón,
Tenés que ser.

Beautiful tango of the arrabal,
That I,
have never seen it falter.
It triumphed!
Beautiful tango that in song
Expressed
Its faith, its love,
A man, you've got to be!


III

Nada hay que hacer al meta y ponga
Del bandoneón.
Oreja a oreja los parejas
Bailan al son.
De un tango curda de recuerdos
Que no cayó.
Si desde los tiempos de Laura
Se ha sentido primer agua
Y brilló.

You don't have to do anything
To the steady cadence of the bandoneón.*
Ear to ear the couples*
Dance to the sound
Of a tango drunk on memories
That never fell down,
But, since the times of Laura*
Felt diamond-bright*
and it sparkled.

NOTES:

* Sacale punta a este milonga: The phrase refers literally to the act of sharpening of a pencil, i.e., put a point on it. The singer urges someone--perhaps the other musicians, or perhaps the males in attendance--to sharpen up, or put a point on the milonga, that is, to do their best to make it a stimulating experience. The phrase also has a sexual connotation suggesting the priming of the penis for intercourse.

* bellows: The word fueye (or fuelle) means bellows, and is often used as another name for the bandoneón.

* girls... wildly eager to start dancing: se han venido de truco y flor. Truco and flor are plays in the popular, high-spirited game of truco. Here, the expression truco y flor is intended to convey the excitement and urgency of the game. The pebetas in attendance are, like truco players, wildly eager (in this case, to start dancing). The reflexive verb venirse, to come, may also have a sexual connotation.

* steady cadence. The Lunfardo expression meta y ponga is derived from two verbs with nearly the same meaning, meter (to put in) and poner (to put). It signifies something that happens repeatedly, again and again, without stopping. Here, it suggests the unceasing opening and closing movement of the bellows of the bandoneón. It may also have a sexual connotation, as in the movie A Clockwork Orange: "the old in-out."

* ear to ear: probably a reference to the canyengue style of tango, in which both partners face forward in the line of dance, their heads side by side, ear to ear. Thanks to Dirk Steinkampf for questioning my translation of the line, and thanks to Dina "Vinoblanco" for the final revelation.

* since the times of Laura: "Lo de Laura" was an early tango dance hall hosted by "la morocha" Laura Montserrat in the last years of the nineteenth century. It was located at Paraguay 2512. Laura's was luxurious, had a select clientele, and often featured the pianist "el negro" Rosendo Medizábal (1868-1913), composer of "El entrerriano," believed to be the oldest tango in the modern repertoire.

* felt diamond-bright: Se ha sentido primer agua. Primer agua ("first water") is a term used in the diamond trade to denote stones of the highest clarity and brilliance.

Subtitled tango no. 7: Barrio De Tango (Calo with Ortiz)

"A bit of barrio, there in Pompeya, falling asleep on the side of the embankment. A lantern swinging on the railway barrier and the train sowing its mysteries of farewell.... That's how I remember your nights, tango barrio, with the wagons pulling into the timber yard, the moon splashing in the mud, and in the distance, the voice of the bandoneón."

BARRIO DE TANGO (Barrio of Tango, 1942)
Lyrics: Homero Manzi
Music: Aníbal Troilo

Performed here by Miguel Caló with vocal by Jorge Ortiz. Bilingual subtitles by Michael Krugman for Tango Decoder, Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.

Related posts:
• BARRIO DE TANGO side-by-side text in Spanish and English.
• BARRIO DE TANGO subtitled video with performance by Orquesta Típica Aníbal Troilo and Francisco Fiorentino.

Subtitled tango #6: Barrio de tango (Troilo/Manzi with Fiorentino)

Subtitled Video #6: BARRIO DE TANGO: Memories and mysteries from Manzi

"A bit of barrio, there in Pompeya, falling asleep on the side of the embankment. A lantern swinging on the railway barrier and the train sowing its mysteries of farewell.... That's how I remember your nights, tango barrio, with the wagons pulling into the timber yard, the moon splashing in the mud, and in the distance, the voice of the bandoneón."

Barrio de tango (1942)
Music: Aníbal Troilo
Words: Homero Manzi (pictured)

Our subtitled video is below. Our face-to-face text in Spanish and English is below the video.

Un pedazo de barrio, allá en Pompeya, durmiéndose al costado del terraplén. Un farol balanceando en la barrera y el misterio de adiós que siembra el tren. Un ladrido de perros a la luna. El amor escondido en un portón. Y los sapos redoblando en la laguna y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón. Barrio de tango, luna y misterio, calles lejanas, ¡cómo estarán! Viejos amigos que hoy ni recuerdo, ¡qué se habrán hecho, dónde estarán! Barrio de tango, qué fue de aquella, Juana, la rubia, que tanto amé. ¡Sabrá que sufro, pensando en ella, desde la tarde que la dejé! Barrio de tango, luna y misterio, ¡desde el recuerdo te vuelvo a ver! Un coro de silbidos allá en la esquina. El codillo llenando el almacén. Y el dramón de la pálida vecina que ya nunca salió a mirar el tren. Así evoco tus noches, barrio tango, con las chatas entrando al corralón y la luna chapaleando sobre el fango y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.

A bit of barrio, there in Pompeya,* falling asleep on the side of the embankment. A lantern swinging on the railway barrier and the train sowing its mysteries of farewell. Dogs barking at the moon. Love hidden behind a gate. A crescendo of croaking in the pond, and in the distance the voice of the bandoneón. Barrio of tango, moonlight and mystery, faraway streets, where can they be? Old friends I still remember now, What happened to them, where have they gone? Barrio of tango, what about “that” girl, Juana, the blonde I loved so? She must know that I’ve been suffering, thinking of her, since the evening I left her! Barrio of tango, moonlight and mystery, In memory I see you again! [A chorus of whistles out on the corner. A shop crowded with gamblers. And the melodrama of the pallid neighbor lady who never again went to meet the train.] That's how I remember your nights, tango barrio, with the wagons pulling into the timber yard, the moon splashing in the mud, and in the distance, the voice of the bandoneón.

* Pompeya: "Nueva Pompeya is a neighbourhood in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the South side, it has long been one of the city's proletarian districts steeped in the tradition of tango and one where many of the first tangos were written and performed.

"The legendary tango composer Homero Manzi set three very popular tangos, Sur, Barrio de tango, and Manoblanca, in Nueva Pompeya, describing a melancholy landscape (“Pompeya and beyond the flood”) that, even today, defines much of the district's physiognomy." (Wikipedia)