Del tiempo guapo
Del tiempo guapo (From the brave days) is the title of a tango milonga written by Marcelo De La Ferrere. The music was composed by Vicente Fiorentino.
Lyrics writer(s):
The poet sings to the milonga. Looking back, he goes through the places that saw it born, making it clear that it’s a kind of music with popular, even marginal origins, rooted deep in the spirit of Buenos Aires and its people.
Contents
Recordings
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Lyrics
Milonga del tiempo guapo,
milongón de rompe y raja,
la bulla del empedrado va marcando tu canción;
soy porteño del 80 y al compás de tu canyengue
desfilan por mi memoria los recuerdos en montón.
Te conocí en los fortines
que cuidaban la frontera
reclamando los amores
de una china cuartelera.
Animando las retretas
del Parque de Artillería
y en la barriada bravía
de las Barracas del Sur.
Milonga del tiempo guapo, milongón de los milicos,
de “kepises” requintados y bombachas de carmín;
con tu música sencilla fuiste ley de los porteños,
grito de los cuarteadores y alma del piringundín.
Te conocí en los corrales
de los viejos Mataderos,
hecha jerga en los quillangos
del recao de un forastero.
Tu canto fue la corneta
del cochero del tranvía
y el Palermo de avería
tu escuela sentimental.
Milonga from the days of the guapo, boisterous and temperamental[1]milongón,[2]
the buzz from the cobblestones marks the beat of your song;
I’m a porteño from the year 80 and to the beat of your canyengue
the memories parade in droves through my memory.
I met you in the small forts
that guarded the borders,
claiming the affections
of a chinita of the barracks.
Cheering up the retretas[3]
of the Artillery Park
and the untamed neighbourhood
of the Southern Barracas.
Milonga from the brave days, milongón of the soldiers,
of raised-brimmed ’kepis’[4] and carmine, baggy trousers;
with your simple music, you became law to the porteños,
a yell to the cuarteadores and soul to the brothel.
I met you in the pens
of the old slaughterhouses,[5]
and you became slang on the fur blankets
of a foreigner’s saddle.
Your song was the horn
of the tram driver,
and the sordid Palermo
was your sentimental school.
References
- ↑ The expression used is de rompe y raja. See also: De romp y raja.
- ↑ milongón: Form derived from the word milonga. Can refer to either a popular dance, a noisy uproar or even a fight. In this case it most likely makes reference to the music and the whole scenario developed around it.
- ↑ retreta: kind of open-air, public celebration, with the presence of a military music band.
- ↑ Kepi: cap with a flat circular top and a visor, originally from France, typical of military uniforms.
- ↑ The Spanish word mataderos, became the name of the district where most slaughterhouses once were.
- ↑ guapo: The term guapo is a complex one, and mostly designates one of the most characteristic figures of the old days of tango, a brave man, tough, bold and resolute, often a braggart and a bully. See also: Guapo