We usually think of that iconic tune “La cumparsita” as the most famous tango of them all, holding as it does the honor spot as the last song of the night played for dancing in modern milongas. But perhaps the only tango more widely recorded and more widely known in its heyday is ironically the one which, as a rule, is never played at milongas now—the 1927 song “Adios, muchachos.”
This now legendary tango with its sad words of departing from friends has become associated with the great Carlos Gardel, who recorded the song in 1928, and whose untimely death in a plane crash in 1935 has led dancers to avoid the tune, out of a mix of superstition and respect. There is even an apocryphal story, known to many tangueros, that Gardel’s last performance was “Adios, muchachos”; but there is no evidence to support the anecdote. (An eyewitness account of his last show in Columbia reports that his final two numbers were “Silencio” and “Tomo y obligo.”)
“Adios, muchachos” is, however, one of the most widely known tangos that was ever played. It enjoyed a great popularity both at home in Argentina, where countless singers performed it, and overseas in Europe, where it was a familiar cabaret tune between the World Wars. The song appeared in movies throughout the 30s and 40s, and even well into the 2000s. Louis Armstrong recorded it with alternate lyrics in 1951 (as “I Get Ideas”); Desi Arnaz sang it on I Love Lucy soon after; and Lucille Ball sang it herself a few years later. The original song even appears in the 1933 poem “Sotto la pioggia” (In the Rain) by Italian poet Eugenio Montale, who quotes its poignant opening lines as the song plays from a gramophone in an empty courtyard. Given that second-hand shops in Buenos Aires would later sell old gramophones as “pieces of Gardel’s voice,” the image indeed makes a fine tribute in retrospect.
Goodbye, My Fellows
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Carlos Gardel
Goodbye, my fellows, my devoted life companions,
Beloved cronies of all those good times.
It falls to me today at last to make an exit,
And to take my leave of your trusty friendship.
Goodbye, my fellows, now I’m off and I accept it;
When facing fate down, no one plays a bluff…
As far as I’m concerned, the binges now are ended,
My failing flesh at last has had enough.
(refrain 1)
My mind is now returning
To old times I remember,
Those beautiful occasions
I cherished long ago,
When I was near my mother,
My sainted little lady,
And near my dear fiancée
I used to worship so…
Remember how pretty she was?
More lovely than the divas,
And how love made me tipsy,
I gave her all my heart—
But God grew jealous over
The charms within her keeping,
And sank me down in weeping
By forcing us to part.
(refrain 2)
God’s the judge supreme.
No one can refuse him.
I’ve been long accustomed
To living by his law,
Since my life’s unmaking
According to his orders,
When he saw fit to rob me
Of my mother and my girl.
Two tears I shed sincerely
On taking my departure
From my beloved cronies
Who never let me go,
And now that I must bid you
A last goodbye, my fellows,
I give you all my blessing
With all my heart and soul…
Adiós, muchachos (1927)
Music: Julio César Sanders
Lyrics: César Vedani
Adiós, muchachos, compañeros de mi vida,
barra querida de aquellos tiempos.
Me toca a mí hoy emprender la retirada,
debo alejarme de mi buena muchachada.
Adiós, muchachos, ya me voy y me resigno…
Contra el destino nadie la talla…
Se terminaron para mí todas las farras,
mi cuerpo enfermo no resiste más…
(refrán 1)
Acuden a mi mente
recuerdos de otros tiempos,
de los bellos momentos
que antaño disfruté
cerquita de mi madre,
santa viejita,
y de mi noviecita
que tanto idolatré…
¿Se acuerdan que era hermosa,
más bella que una diosa
y que ebrio yo de amor,
le di mi corazón,
mas el Señor, celoso
de sus encantos,
hundiéndome en el llanto
me la llevó?
(refrán 2)
Es Dios el juez supremo.
No hay quien se le resista.
Ya estoy acostumbrado
su ley a respetar,
pues mi vida deshizo
con sus mandatos
al robarme a mi madre
y a mi novia también.
Dos lágrimas sinceras
derramo en mi partida
por la barra querida
que nunca me olvidó
y al darles, mis amigos,
mi adiós postrero,
les doy con toda mi alma
mi bendición…