Songs of the sea and the shipping trade figure prominently in the tango songbook, being such a defining feature of the port city of Buenos Aires. And among the many maritime tangos we find “Tristeza marina,” whose music and words come together to form a true gem of the song, one of the finest in the genre.
The tune foregrounds one of the minor trends of tango songwriting that emerged around 1943: the fashion for including sustained notes, especially in the chorus. Many tangos of the mid-1940s indulge in these soaring moments of song, and Horacio Sanguinetti gives almost half the chorus to the single word mar (sea), setting an example that many other songwriters were to emulate in the following months.
It is also interesting to see how Sanguinetti uses the image of a cross here, at the end of the verse, to strike a transition in the setting, using a device similar to a cut in cinema. (To be fair, the technique ultimately derives from Homer.) Something similar happens in “Nada” too, where he alights on a padlock—comparing it to a cross—at the same junction in the song.
Seafaring Sadness
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Roberto Rufino (orq. Carlos Di Sarli)
The sea is your true love,
She told me with a tear,
And the glass of her voice softly broke…
I think back on her stare,
With twilight in her eyes,
Still obsessing on the phrase that she spoke:
“Choose between the two of us, your ocean or my love,”
And I told her, no,
And she said, goodbye…
Her name, it was Margó,
She wore a blue beret,
And on her breast there a cross hung aweigh.
Sea…
Sea, you’ve been my brother…
Sea…
In your measureless blue,
Plunging on my coaling barge’s mission,
In my prisoner position,
In my sad old solitude…
Sea…
I don’t have anybody…
Sea…
Love I lost long ago…
Well I know one day I’ll come to harbor
Never seeing there ashore…
Margó.
My penance is a storm
That lashes at the heart
As the fierce winds of misery blow.
I won’t get over her,
And ever hear astir
With obsession those words that she spoke:
“Choose between the two of us, your ocean or my love”:
I said sadly, no,
And I heard, goodbye…
Her name, it was Margó,
She wore a blue beret
And on her breast there a cross hung aweigh.
Tristeza marina (1943)
Music: José Dames & Roberto Flores
Lyrics: Horacio Sanguinetti
Tú quieres más el mar,
me dijo con dolor
y el cristal de su voz se quebró…
Recuerdo su mirar
con luz de anochecer
y esta frase como una obsesión:
“Tienes que elegir entre tu mar y mi amor”.
Yo le dije nó,
y ella dijo, adiós…
Su nombre era Margó,
llevaba boina azul
y en su pecho colgaba una cruz.
Mar…
Mar, hermano mío…
Mar…
En tu inmensidad
hundo con mi barco carbonero
mi destino prisionero
y mi triste soledad.
Mar…
Yo no tengo a nadie.
Mar…
Ya ni tengo amor.
Sé que cuando al puerto llegue un día
esperando no estará…
Margó.
Mi pena es tempestad
que azota el corazón
con el viento feroz del dolor.
Jamás la olvidaré
y siempre escucharé
sus palabras como una obsesión:
“Tienes que elegir entre tu mar y mi amor”.
Triste dije, nó,
y escuché su adiós…
Su nombre era Margó,
llevaba boina azul
y en su pecho colgaba una cruz…