tangoDC.com
Home Classes LYRICS Essays Links About	LYRICS Check back often for a harvest of tango lyrics translated by Jake Spatz NB: If the verses are out of alignment, try clicking "Refresh" in your web browser. El ciruja     The surgeon   Music: Ernesto de la Cruz Lyrics: Francisco Alfredo Marino Rec. by Alfredo de Angelis with Julio Martel   Tr. Jake Spatz Recited 11 Jan. 2006, Divino Lounge   Como con bronca, y junando de rabo de ojo a un costado, sus pasos ha encaminado derecho pa'l arrabal. Lo lleva un presentimiento de que, en aquel potrerito, no existe ya el bulincito que fue su amor ideal. Like a man with a score to settle, eyes narrowed to slits and glaring, he hit the streets on a bearing straight on down to the slum. He's got a bad gut feeling that in that vacant lot of a town his beloved little dive's torn down, the old place he once was from. Recordaba aquellas horas de garufa cuando minga de laburo se pasaba, meta punguia, al codillo escolaseaba y en los burros se ligaba un metejón; cuando no era tan junao por los tiras, la lanceaba sin tener el manyamiento una mina le solfeaba todo el vento y jugó con su pasión. He remembered all those hours of binging, when he got by without a steady check, stole for a living, doubled down every deck, and was mad for a horserace to put his cash in— when none of the cops were wise to his game, and his stick-ups went on without him learning that a gal was swiping all of his earnings and toying with his passion. Era un mosaico diquero que yugaba de quemera, hija de una curandera, mechera de profesión; pero vivía engrupida de un cafiolo vidalita que le pasaba la guita que le shacaba al matón. Now she was a flashy hustler who worked the junkyard district, the daughter of a phony mystic who'd been scamming all her life; but the tart had fallen into the circle of a boss pimp who ran the hood, and forked over the stolen goods the thug had earned with his knife. Frente a frente, dando muestras de coraje, los dos guapos se trenzaron en el bajo, y el ciruja, que era listo para el tajo, al cafiolo le cobró caro su amor. Hoy, ya libre'e la gayola y sin la mina, campaneando un cacho'e sol en la vedera, piensa un rato en el amor de su quemera y solloza en su dolor. The showdown came, and with a big show of courage, the brawlers unsheathed their blades in the dark, and the surgeon, whose slash was right to the mark, got payback for his love where the pimp lay slain. Now out of the slammer and without the floozy, as he leers at the sun on the sidewalks awhile, he thinks back on his junkyard girl and her smile and his eyes well up with pain. Como con bronca, y junando de rabo de ojo a un costado, sus pasos ha encaminado derecho pa'l arrabal. Lo lleva un presentimiento de que, en aquel potrerito, no existe ya el bulincito que fue su amor ideal. Like a man with a score to settle, eyes narrowed to slits and glaring, he hit the streets on a bearing straight on down to the slum. He's got a bad gut feeling that in that vacant lot of a town his beloved little dive's torn down, the old place he once was from. NOTE There is some uncertainty as to whether el ciruja means "surgeon" (usually cirujano) or "bum." I am currently researching the question, and will update the translation according to what I learn. My sincere thanks to Viviana Levinson for bringing the matter to my attention! Table of Contents Questions? Comments? Email the Editor.
	This site created and maintained by Jake Spatz All contents copyright 2006