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. The group took over for Francisco Canaro when he returned to Argentina, and delighted audiences before themselves ending the engagement and returning home to pursue their careers separately. By the time a Cuban impresario reassembled the group in the late 1940s for some reunion gigs, Demare had already gone on to a productive career not just as bandleader but also as composer, with such tunes to his credit as Malena, Tal vez será mi alcohol, and Mañana zarpa un barco, among many others.
As for this song, it is a good reminder that the tango of the 1920s involved a bit of satire and a lot of caricature. The tale of this one seems like something out of Oliver Twist, and its narrator’s language is a healthy mix of lunfardo (slang) and aloof condescension. Its content rather speaks for itself.
Note: The two verses follow the same melody, but their phrasing has some differences. Since both also use run-on sentences, arranging their lines cleanly is a lost cause. The chorus is much more regular in its phrasing.
Dandy
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Roberto Chanel (orq. Osvaldo Pugliese)
Dandy… the people call you
Who don’t know about the days
When you did nothing but bum around,
But since you pose as upper class,
To them you pass
For someone grand in town.
But I know, Dandy,
You’re just a pauper from the barrio
Where they still are telling stories
To put you down…
Once they gather
You ain’t nothing but a stoolie
All your cronies at the bar
Will let you drown.
You were born down in a cradle
Full of thugs and womanizers,
Full of goons and other riff-raff…
Yet in spite of expectations,
In the circus of creation
You were always a bit in doubt…
With the gentry of the gutter
You could never cut a figure,
But to hear it from the urchins,
There is a rumor told about you
Going round
You’re the fink who rats them out.
Dandy… instead of preening
Give a moment of attention
To your mother and to her woes.
Your sister slaves her life away
With all her loving till the workshops close.
And every evening,
Her broken spirit
Comes to palliate your little mother’s worries
And join her sighs…
Once the winters
Leave you whitened, for your sister,
For your mother, you’ll be crying
Out your eyes.
Dandy (1928)
Music: Lucio Demare
Lyrics: Agustín Irusta & Roberto Fugazot
Dandy… ahora te llaman
los que no te conocieron
cuando entonces eras terrán,
porque pasás por niño bien
y ahora te creen
que sos un gran bacán;
mas yo sé, dandy,
que sos un seco, y en el barrio
se comentan fulerías,
para tu mal…
Cuando sepan
que solo sos confidente,
tus amigos del café
te piantarán.
Has nacido en una cuna
de malevos, calaveras,
de vivillos y otras yerbas…
Sin embargo, ¡quién diria!,
en el circo de la vida
siempre fuistes un gran chabón.
Entre la gente del hampa
no has tenido performance,
pero dicen los pipiolos
que se ha corrido la bolilla
y han junao
que sos un gran batidor…
Dandy… en vez de darte
tanto corte pensá un poco
en tu viejita y en su dolor.
Tu pobre hermana en el taller
su vida entrega con entero amor.
Y por las noches
su almita enferma,
con la de su madrecita en una sola
sufriendo están…
Pero un dia,
cuando nieve en tu cabeza,
a tu hermana y a tu vieja
llorarás.