Lyricist Francisco García Jiménez was an early innovator in tango lyrics, elevating their style with his refined technique, poignant sensibility, and greater range of lyrical devices. Among his early hits were the tangos “Zorro gris” in 1920 and “Suerte loca” in 1924, and his career stretched into the 1940s with “Oigo tu voz” in 1943, a favorite tune of many dancers, and several others including “Rosicler” in 1946.
Many consider his peak as a songwriter to be this perfect 1928 number “Alma en pena,” which is virtually a radio play in itself. Eminently singable and yet clever in its treatment of the forlorn lover, the song has given singers great material for decades—two different renditions appear in the links below, fifty years apart. The catchy music is by García Jiménez’s frequent collaborator, bandoneonist and bandleader Anselmo Aieta, one of the great tango composers of the era, whose writing career likewise stretched from the 1920s through the Golden Age of the ’40s.
For additional recordings, check out Carlos Dante with orq. Rafael Canaro (1929-1930), Fernando Reyes with orq. Enrique Rodriguez (1946), and Charlo with orq. Francisco Lomuto (1928).
Soul in Sorrow
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Carlos Gardel; Rubén Juarez
Even time was of no use
At fading her memory,
At stopping the smiting
Of seeing her writing
In letters that withered
From so many readings
With tears falling free…
She moved on and cut me loose!…
And now by her doorway
I hear her contented,
Catch wind of her laughter,
And hark to her telling
Some other the same lies
She once told to me…
Soul, as in sorrow you go straying,
Draw closer to her doorway,
Shedding tears and saying:
Hey there… pardon me for begging
A crust of that forgetting
That leaves you glad and whole…
You taught me well in the fine art of yearning!
And now by my learning,
My love will undo me…
I’m even learning by now to regret you,
Since how to forget you
Was lost on my soul!…
That same voice I hear again,
Was one day my darling’s,
And now it is solely
The echo that reaches
My poor soul in sorrow,
Which under her window
Sinks down to depart…
That same voice I cursed back when
I hear give some other
The promise of glory
Which, with my eyes shutting,
Is love’s little handout,
Which I lie accepting
With all of my heart…
Alma en pena (1928)
Music: Anselmo Aieta
Lyrics: Francisco García Jiménez
Aún el tiempo no logró
llevar su recuerdo,
borrar las ternuras
que guardan escritas
sus cartas marchitas
que tantas lecturas
con llanto desteñí…
¡Ella sí que me olvidó!…
Y hoy frente a su puerta
la oigo contenta,
percibo sus risas,
y escucho que a otro
le dice las mismas
mentiras que a mí…
Alma… que en pena vas errando,
acércate a su puerta
suplícale llorando:
Oye… perdona si te pido
mendrugos del olvido
que alegre te hace ser…
¡Tú me enseñaste a querer, y he sabido!
Y haberlo aprendido
de amores me mata…
Y yo que voy aprendiendo hasta a odiarte,
tan sólo a olvidarte
no puedo aprender!…
Esa voz que vuelvo a oír,
un día fué mía,
y hoy de ella es apenas
el eco el que alumbra
mi pobre alma en pena,
que cae moribunda
al pie de su balcón…
Esa voz que maldecí,
hoy oigo que a otro
promete la gloria,
y cierro los ojos,
y es una limosna
de amor, que recojo
con mi corazón…