The 1935 film El día que me quieras is not just famous for its title number: the song “Volver” also stands among the all-time classic tangos of the silver screen. Carlos Gardel’s performance of the song shows off his unmistakable phrasing, and the clear, moving, effortless tone of his voice carries the melody at its very best. The clip from the film linked to below also shows how cinema at the time, especially in Argentina, borrowed a great deal from opera staging, as Gardel delivers what is essentially an aria, standing before a simple background set with no pretense of acting involved.
Coming Home
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Carlos Gardel (orq. Terig Tucci)
I can just make out the blinking
Of the lights far in the distance
That are marking my trip homeward.
They’re the same that once were shining
With their glassy pale reflections
On my hours deep in woe.
And although I didn’t want to,
Back to first love you always go.
The old street where the echoes whispered:
Her life’s your own now, her love’s your own,
Under the stars that stare down wryly
And with indifference, watch me now come home.
Come home…
With my brow the more wrinkled,
And my temples gone silver
With the winters of time.
To feel…
That life’s gone in a twinkle,
That twenty years is nothing,
That I’m looking for something
As the shadows keep falling
On your name I keep calling.
To live…
With my soul ever clinging
To a sweet recollection
That I weep for again.
I’m afraid of the encounter
When my former life returning
Comes to face the life I’m living.
I’m afraid now of the midnights
When the memories come crowding
Leaving all my dreams in chains.
But one who flees on the wing
Will soon arrive—at a pace he can’t sustain…
And though the coldness that ends all things
Has destroyed my illusions of old,
I’m still keeping one meek hope a secret
Which is all the fortune my heart now owns.
Volver (1934)
Lyrics: Alfredo Le Pera
Music: Carlos Gardel
Yo adivino el parpadeo,
De las luces que a lo lejos
Van marcando mi retorno.
Son las mismas que alumbraron
Con sus pálidos reflejos
Hondas horas de dolor.
Y aunque no quise el regreso
Siempre se vuelve al primer amor.
La vieja calle donde el eco dijo:
Tuya es su vida, tuyo es su querer,
Bajo el burlón mirar de las estrellas
Que con indiferencia, hoy me ven volver.
Volver…
Con la frente marchita,
Las nieves del tiempo
Platearon mi sien.
Sentir…
Que es un soplo la vida,
Que veinte años no es nada,
Que febril la mirada,
Errante en la sombra
Te busca y te nombra.
Vivir…
Con el alma aferrada
A un dulce recuerdo
Que lloro otra vez.
Tengo miedo del encuentro
Con el pasado que vuelve
A enfrentarse con mi vida.
Tengo miedo de las noches
Que pobladas de recuerdos
Encadenen mi soñar.
Pero el viajero que huye,
Tarde o temprano, detiene su andar,
Y aunque el olvido que todo destruye,
Haya matado mi vieja ilusión,
Guardo escondida una esperanza humilde
Que es toda la fortuna de mi corazón.