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Tango Lyrics (Index)

A complete list of Jake’s tango translations, shown in the order of their posting. (These English versions are meant to be singable, and follow the rhythm and melody of the originals.)

Barrio de tango (revised)
Homero Manzi, Aníbal Troilo
Barrio de tango (revised)
Homero Manzi, Aníbal Troilo

Homero Manzi brought to tango lyrics a certain genius for scene painting and portraiture, giving a realness of place and a sense of tender nostalgia to his songs. Among his greatest creations is this number, “Barrio de tango,” which evokes the old neighborhood of Pompeya…

Homero Manzi, Aníbal Troilo
Por una cabeza
Alfredo Le Pera, Carlos Gardel, Por una cabeza (1935)
Por una cabeza
Alfredo Le Pera, Carlos Gardel, Por una cabeza (1935)

Hollywood’s favorite tango by a considerable margin is the 1935 screen hit “Por una cabeza,” which Gardel sang in his last movie Tango Bar. In its original setting…

Alfredo Le Pera, Carlos Gardel, Por una cabeza (1935)
Tomo y obligo
Carlos Gardel, Manuel Romero
Tomo y obligo
Carlos Gardel, Manuel Romero

Leaning close to his friend with a swell of emotion and a wag of the thumb, he asks: “You know the words to this song?” And as the small band plays in the dingy saloon, Carlos Gardel cracks a sad smile, settles in, and sings himself into eternity.

Carlos Gardel, Manuel Romero
Sin palabras
Enrique Santos Discépolo, Mariano Mores
Sin palabras
Enrique Santos Discépolo, Mariano Mores

Fans of the song “Sin palabras” have long speculated about the personal story behind the lyrics, ascribing to E. S. Discépolo all sorts of fears that his companion Tania was having an affair. Perhaps because the song works so well, or perhaps because the tango in general deals with such raw emotions, we see similar speculations arise with many numbers that were, in fact, written to order for the screen.

Enrique Santos Discépolo, Mariano Mores
Viejo smoking
Guillermo Barbieri, Celedonio Flores
Viejo smoking
Guillermo Barbieri, Celedonio Flores

One stylish aspect of 1920s lunfardo was a liberal use of foreign terms, and those from England had a certain appeal…

Guillermo Barbieri, Celedonio Flores
Moneda de cobre
Carlos Viván, Horacio Sanguinetti
Moneda de cobre
Carlos Viván, Horacio Sanguinetti

One of the few tangos to present race as a theme is this gem of a song by Horacio Sanguinetti, whose lyrics portrayed the black experience in Buenos Aires alongside his other preferred themes, the sea…

Carlos Viván, Horacio Sanguinetti
La bruja
Juan Polito, Francisco Gorrindo
La bruja
Juan Polito, Francisco Gorrindo

Francisco Gorrindo specialized in lyrics that confront hard topics. When dealing with romance…

Juan Polito, Francisco Gorrindo
La copa del olvido
Alberto Vaccarezza, Enrique Delfino
La copa del olvido
Alberto Vaccarezza, Enrique Delfino

In the early 1900s, the sainete was a short theatrical form in one or two acts, which in Buenos Aires became very popular as the demand for inexpensive entertainment grew with the city’s populace. Alberto Vaccarezza was one of the form’s most successful writers…

Alberto Vaccarezza, Enrique Delfino
Si tú quisieras
Luis Rubistein, Francisco Pracánico
Si tú quisieras
Luis Rubistein, Francisco Pracánico

Just as the lyrics for “Charlemos” bring the telephone into the world of song, “Si tú quisieras” revolves around the metaphor of photographs. Luis Rubistein, who penned the words for both tangos…

Luis Rubistein, Francisco Pracánico
Una pena
Adolfo Rosquellas, Arturo Luis Albert
Una pena
Adolfo Rosquellas, Arturo Luis Albert

One of my favorite tunes in the songbook is the beautifully written tango “Una pena,” familiar to most dancers in the delicate D’Agostino-Vargas rendition…

Adolfo Rosquellas, Arturo Luis Albert
Volver (revised)
Carlos Gardel, Alfredo Le Pera, El día que me quieras
Volver (revised)
Carlos Gardel, Alfredo Le Pera, El día que me quieras

This week’s translation is an update to “Volver,” a text I reworked directly from the sheet music to achieve a more singable version in English.

Carlos Gardel, Alfredo Le Pera, El día que me quieras
Canta, pajarito
Juan José Guichandut, Oscar Rubens
Canta, pajarito
Juan José Guichandut, Oscar Rubens

While the tango “Canta, pajarito” is not among the best works of lyricist Oscar Rubens, it has won a lot of fans on the dance floor, being popular with dancers as well as DJs…

Juan José Guichandut, Oscar Rubens
Como dos extraños
José María Contursi, Pedro Laurenz
Como dos extraños
José María Contursi, Pedro Laurenz

Songs can come from just about anywhere when they’re in high demand, and “Como dos extraños” offers an interesting case in point…

José María Contursi, Pedro Laurenz
Naranjo en flor
Homero Expósito, Virgilio Expósito
Naranjo en flor
Homero Expósito, Virgilio Expósito

The tangos of Homero Expósito strike a special balance in the songbook, achieving the highest measure of poetic quality while remaining firmly grounded in the genre.

Homero Expósito, Virgilio Expósito
Dandy
Lucio Demare, Agustín Irusta, Roberto Fugazot
Dandy
Lucio Demare, Agustín Irusta, Roberto Fugazot

The tango “Dandy” came out of a successful trio that toured Europe in the 1920s, with Lucio Demare on piano, accompanying the two singers Agustín Irusta and Roberto Fugazot.

Lucio Demare, Agustín Irusta, Roberto Fugazot
Por la vuelta
José Tinelli, Enrique Cadícamo
Por la vuelta
José Tinelli, Enrique Cadícamo

This week’s tango “Por la vuelta” represents a sweet little corner of the songbook, where things are not tragic but ironic, even urbane. The story is of a casual romance, only the song leaves most of it out…

José Tinelli, Enrique Cadícamo
Whisky
Héctor Marcó
Whisky
Héctor Marcó

There are many tangos that take place over a glass of something terrible that happened in life, but it’s surprising that nobody wrote this one until Héctor Marcó absolutely nailed it to the wall in 1957.

Héctor Marcó
Nada más que un corazón
Carlos Bahr, Manuel Sucher
Nada más que un corazón
Carlos Bahr, Manuel Sucher

If you know this song well on the dance floor, Carlos Bahr’s lyrics might come as a surprise: for such a tragic sounding strain, they are pretty positive!

Carlos Bahr, Manuel Sucher
Fuimos
José Dames, Homero Manzi
Fuimos
José Dames, Homero Manzi

The Argentine journalist and author Julio Nudler wrote glowingly of the poetic quality with which Homero Manzi enlarged the tango world. In one summary of the lyricist’s career, he singled out this tango “Fuimos”…

José Dames, Homero Manzi
Ivón
Horacio Sanguinetti, Luis Visca
Ivón
Horacio Sanguinetti, Luis Visca

The tango lyrics of Horacio Sanguinetti have a particular combination of qualities, which distill all the features and conventions of the romantic tango into the poetic capsule of song…

Horacio Sanguinetti, Luis Visca
Bajo un cielo de estrellas
José María Contursi, Enrique Francini, Héctor Stamponi
Bajo un cielo de estrellas
José María Contursi, Enrique Francini, Héctor Stamponi

This waltz is among the most beloved ones to emerge from that unrepeatable decade of the ’40s, and it marks a special moment in the careers of its creators…

José María Contursi, Enrique Francini, Héctor Stamponi
Campo afuera
Homero Manzi, Rodolfo Biagi
Campo afuera
Homero Manzi, Rodolfo Biagi

The countrified milonga “Campo afuera” belongs to that small hit-squad of songs that expresses a sense of vengeance after leave-taking—the bad breakup songs, as I like to imagine them…

Homero Manzi, Rodolfo Biagi
Uno
Enrique Santos Discépolo, Mariano Mores
Uno
Enrique Santos Discépolo, Mariano Mores

The first lady of tango Libertad Lamarque sings this tangazo in the 1943 film El fin de la noche (The End of the Night, dir. Alberto de Zavalía). The movie is an anti-Nazi film, set in occupied Paris…

Enrique Santos Discépolo, Mariano Mores
Tu, el cielo y tu
Mario Canaro, Héctor Marcó
Tu, el cielo y tu
Mario Canaro, Héctor Marcó

Some tangos achieve fame by their influence on the genre, and some win their stature by their power to move us on the dance floor. Among the latter, we can securely count this gripping 1944 number “Tú, el cielo y tú,” by longtime Di Sarli collaborator Héctor Marcó.

Mario Canaro, Héctor Marcó
Anclao en París
Guillermo Barbieri, Enrique Cadícamo
Anclao en París
Guillermo Barbieri, Enrique Cadícamo

Enrique Cadícamo’s 1930 tango “Anclao en París” was a hit for Carlos Gardel (one of whose regular guitarists, Guillermo Barbieri, supplied the music). The song delves into the Bohemian themes of the early tangos…

Guillermo Barbieri, Enrique Cadícamo
El choclo (1930)
Ángel Villoldo, Juan Carlos Marambio Catán
El choclo (1930)
Ángel Villoldo, Juan Carlos Marambio Catán

This second set of lyrics for “El choclo” was penned in 1930 by singer Juan Carlos Marambio Catán. He wrote them at the request of Irene Villoldo, the sister of the tune’s composer Ángel Villoldo…

Ángel Villoldo, Juan Carlos Marambio Catán
El choclo (1912)
Ángel Villoldo
El choclo (1912)
Ángel Villoldo

The original lyrics of “El choclo” are one of the more amusing curiosities in the history of the tango. We only know about this set of words because Ángel Villoldo, who wrote the tune around 1903, recorded himself singing them while in Paris in the year 1912…

Ángel Villoldo
El choclo (1947)
Ángel Villoldo, Enrique Santos Discépolo, El choclo
El choclo (1947)
Ángel Villoldo, Enrique Santos Discépolo, El choclo

Since her starring role in the 1930 film Madreselva, Libertad Lamarque had been the first lady of tango on stage and screen, her roles casting her image as the anti-elitist heroine, the darling of the people. When Juan Perón came to power in 1946…

Ángel Villoldo, Enrique Santos Discépolo, El choclo
Adiós, te vas
Cátulo Castillo, Egidio Pittaluga
Adiós, te vas
Cátulo Castillo, Egidio Pittaluga

Among the songs I remember learning early and hearing often on the dance floor, this 1943 tango “Adiós, te vas” fills up the background of the milongas alongside so many others, and yet it stands out purely by its excellence.

Cátulo Castillo, Egidio Pittaluga

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