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Suerte loca (1924)     Crazy luck
 
Music: Anselmo Alfredo Aieta
Lyrics: F. García Jimenez

Rec. by Enrique Rodriguez
with Armando Moreno
  Tr. Jake Spatz
Recited 20 Dec. 2006, Divino Lounge
 
En el naipe del vivir,
suelo acertar la carta de la boca,
y a mi lado oigo decir
que es porque estoy con una suerte loca.
Al saber le llaman suerte...
Yo aprendí viendo trampearme
y ahora solo han de coparme,
cuando banquen con la muerte.
En el naipe del vivir
para ganar, primero perdi.

In the poker game of life,
I always guess aright the dealer's card,
and at my elbow people say
it's all because I've got this crazy luck.
Luck's the name it goes by...
I picked it up by always getting cheated
and now they'll only see me defeated
when it's time to up and die.
In the poker game of life,
to get my wits, I first had to lose.

Yo también entre a jugar
confiado en la ceguera del azar,
y luego vi que todo era mentir
y el capital en manos del mas vil.
No me crees? Te pierde el corazón!
Que fe tenes?—sabes que no acertas,
que si apuntas a cartas de ilusion,
son de dolor las cartas que se dan.

I too played when I began
believing in the blindness of chance,
and soon I saw all of that's a lie,
and the winner's pot in the hands of the cheat.
You think I'm wrong? Go lose that heart of yours!
You've still got faith?—you'll forfeit every bet,
'cause if you play by the cards you're hoping for,
cards of grief are the ones you're gonna get.

No me envidies si me ves
acertador, pues soy el Desengaño...
Y si ciego así perdes,
es que tenes los lindos 20 años.
El tapete es la esperanza
y, a pesar de lo aprendido,
si me dan lo que he perdido,
vuelve a hundirme la confianza.
Suerte loca es conservar
una ilusión en tanto penar.

Don't envy a luck like mine—
I call a bluff, and Disappointment is my name...
If you lose and you're still blind,
your lovely little twenties are to blame.
My hope is now in the table's green,
and now if despite everything I've learned
I got back all I lost when I got burned,
it would only hurt my winning streak.
Crazy luck is when hope prevails
though it fails and fails and fails.



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