Subtitled Video #49: EL FLETE ("Nag") OTP/Ernesto Fama, 1930

EL FLETE ("Nag") recorded by the Orquesta Típica Porteña with vocal by Ernesto Famá, 16 September 1930. Music by Vicente Greco; lyrics by Gerónimo Gradito.

Famá sings only a very brief estribillo (refrain). Our subtitled video contains the full lyrics by Gerónimo Gradito. Part of the last verse does not fit the meter of the music. We've done our best! An alternate lyric by Pascual Contursi was never recorded.

Photo credit:breathless-dk.deviantart.com

Parejero, zaino escarceador Por tu pinta y color, Y por tu sangre sos Todo un flete de mi flor. ¡Porque es tu corazón difícil de empardar! En las canchas no tenés rival, Y en una ocasión Que has de recordar, Ganaste a un pangaré Y al jinetearte así, Decía para mí: ¡Zaino! Mi viejo amigo, De punta a punta, ganale. ¡Flete!, Todo he jugado Y en vos está mi esperanza. ¡Zaino!, ¡Sólo en la cancha! Correlo al galope Que atrás lo dejás. ¡Flete!, Zaino de mi alma, Tuya es la carrera Que en ley la ganás... Y al llegar vos, triunfador Tu pueblo te aplaudió, Y una paisanita Flores te tiraba, Que después se acercó, Y tu cabeza palmeó, Y ella, desde entonces Es mi único querer... Parejero, zaino escarceador Por tu pinta y color, Y por tu sangre sos Todo un flete de mi flor. ¡Porque es tu corazón difícil de empardar! En las pueblos no tenés rival Como yo para el amor. Y al correrla los dos Siempre tenemos que ser, ¡Yo todo un buen varón y un bravo flete vos!

Swift horse, prancing chestnut (betrayer),* by your looks and color and by your blood you are the very best of nags. That’s why your heart is so difficult to predict! On the course you’ve no rival, and on one occasion that you must remember, you beat a pangaré, and having trained you so well, I said to myself: Zaino! My old friend, from point to point, you’re winning it. Old nag!, I’ve bet it all and my hope’s riding on you. Zaino! Alone on the course! Run it at a gallop, and leave it behind you. Swift one! Chestnut of my soul, The race is yours; so that by rights you must win it. And upon your triumphant finish your public applauded you, and a sweet country gal placed a garland round your neck and afterward came close and patted your head; she, from that day on has been my only love. Swift horse, prancing betrayer, by your looks and color and by your blood you are the very best of nags. Because it’s your heart that’s difficult to predict. In the villages you’ve no rival, like me in love. And when pursuing, we two, we must always be, “I, a real good man, and a fierce nag, thee!"

Notes:

* Nag: The word "nag" in English means an old, broken down horse, or simply a racehorse. Here, it has the latter meaning.

* zaino: A "zaino" is a chestnut colored horse, but the word also means traitor or betrayer. The double-entendre lends a degree of uncertainty to the protagonist's praise for his seemingly unbeatable horse.

* pangaré: A pangaré is a light-pointed horse, that is, a horse whose belly and muzzle are lighter than the rest of the coat.

 

Comments

[Jantango]

This post was a revelation for me. El Flete is one of my very favorites recorded by Juan D'Arienzo, but I never knew it had lyrics until today. I understood a flete is a truck, and now I know what it really means in the tango composed by Greco. I discovered that Greco lived on Humberto Primo at one point, only two blocks from the corner of Entre Rios where I dance in Lo de Celia.

There are so many discoveries in tango, and I'm learning more with every post on this site.

[Michael]

Hi, Jan--I'm glad you found it so revealing!