This 1937 tango from the Cadícamo-Cobián duo—the songwriters who also joined forces for “Nostalgias” and “Los Mareados,” among others—conjures up a melancholy scene of the docks shrouded in mist, as the forlorn lover relates his own sad desertion to that of the ships taken out of service. The Riachuelo, whose name literally means “rivulet” or “brook,” empties into the Río de la Plata near Dock Sud, in the La Boca neighborhood, and this particular locale is also the backdrop of the tango “Mañana zarpa un barco.”
Misty Riachuelo
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Roberto Ray (orq. Osvaldo Fresedo)
Anchorage in the drifting fog where listing to a side
Lie boats that in the harbor wharf forever stay behind…
Shadows that grow longer as the sorrowed night descends,
Shipwrecks of the world that lost their spirit way back when…
Bridges and old riggings where the wind retreats to howl,
Steamboats that shall never need to weigh their anchors now…
Gloomy cemetery where the dying barges dream
All the same they soon enough are shipping out to sea…
Misty Riachuelo!...
On the palings of remembering
I’m tethered here awaiting…
Misty Riachuelo…
That love of mine you’re ever
More distantly taking…
Never to return,
Never to be seen,
Nevermore to hear her voice’s murmur close to me
—The very voice that whispered me “Goodbye!”
Sailor, dream away about your merchant brig of old,
Drink to your nostalgias in the silent old saloon…
It’s raining on the harbor, and the while it does, my song
Is raining ever slowly on your being left alone…
Anchors that shall never, never have to weigh again,
Rails along the decks with no more moorings yet to come…
Sad caravan with no more destination and no dreams,
Like a frigate taken prisoner within a jug of rum…
Niebla del Riachuelo (1937)
Music: Juan Carlos Cobián
Lyrics: Enrique Cadícamo
Turbio fondeadero donde van a recalar
barcos que en el muelle para siempre han de quedar…
Sombras que se alargan en la noche del dolor;
náufragos del mundo que han perdido el corazón…
Puentes y cordajes donde el viento viene a aullar,
barcos carboneros que jamás han de zarpar…
Torvo cementerio de las naves que al morir,
sueñan sin embargo que hacia el mar han de partir…
¡Niebla del Riachuelo!…
Amarrado al recuerdo
yo sigo esperando…
¡Niebla del Riachuelo!…
De ese amor, para siempre,
me vas alejando…
Nunca más volvió,
nunca más la vi,
nunca más su voz nombró mi nombre junto a mí…
esa misma voz que dijo: "¡Adiós!".
Sueña, marinero, con tu viejo bergantín;
bebe tus nostalgias en el sordo cafetín…
Llueve sobre el puerto, mientras tanto, mi canción
llueve lentamente sobre tu desolación…
Anclas que ya nunca, nunca más, han de levar,
bordas de lanchones sin amarras que soltar…
Triste caravana sin destino ni ilusión,
como un barco preso en la ”botella del figón”…