Penned in 1911 by the budding pianist and composer Rosita Melo (who was just fourteen), “Desde el alma” was a hit just at the dawn of there being such a thing. It circulated in the days before modern copyright had been established, and won its composer attention as she advanced through her studies and early performing career. The tune began its long career as a Boston waltz, a melodic style of waltz popular at the time, in which only the first downbeat is played by the left hand.
In 1917, the composer met the young poet Víctor Piuma Vélez, both of them recipients of many prizes in their fields. Before the young talents married in 1922, he added lyrics to Melo’s composition, on themes addressing a mother, and the song entered its second phase of success. The waltz at this stage of its life went on to be recorded by many big tango bands of the Golden Age (including Firpo, D’Arienzo, Tanturi, and Canaro, who made several versions)—although most of these recorded it as an instrumental number.
A third fortune lay ahead for this same little gem of a song, when in 1947, Homero Manzi sought permission to use the tune in a movie he was directing, called Pobre mi madre querida (the title comes from a waltz by José Betinotti with words by Pascual Contursi). Due to the film’s plot, Manzi wished to rewrite the lyrics, making them address a lover; and after agreeing to share the authorship credit with Vélez so as not to divert the couple’s royalties, Manzi penned the now famous lyrics translated here, and in 1948 the film launched “Desde el alma” on its course to the future.
The song’s form has remained the same through its development, and consists of three melodic sections (verse, refrain, and trio), the verse being double the length of the others. In what order the parts should be sung differs between versions: the Vélez lyrics were printed indicating an ABAC form, whereas the Manzi lyric shows an ABCA form instead—the C being the trio, “Deja esas cartas” (Throw out those letters). The translation here shows the Manzi lyrics in the arrangement specified.
From the Soul
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Nelly Omar (orq. Francisco Canaro)
i.
Dear soul, if they were so upsetting,
Why not repay them with forgetting?
Why choose to cry
For losses of the past,
For loves that didn’t last,
Entreating what has died?
In vain you’re living in repentance;
I know you wrongly serve a sentence
And pay sorrow’s due
For the fault of being true,
As true as you have ever
Been in love.
(refrain)
First, what started with a smile,
Was, in a while, not meant to be;
Was, in the end,
Because of some mistake,
A dark and a bitter night of the heart.
(trio)
Throw out those letters!
Return to the old dreams you knew!
Where once a woe
Lays a wound open,
Life shines a hope in,
Bringing new love to you.
ii.
Dear soul, don’t shut yourself in sorrow
Before the happy sunlight of the morrow.
Don’t you despair
That our dearest dreams
Can cut us so deep,
Can hurt us the most.
In vain you’re living in repentance;
I know you wrongly serve a sentence
And pay sorrow’s due
For the fault of being true,
As true as you have ever
Been in love.
Desde el alma (1911/1948)
Music: Rosita Melo
Lyrics: Homero Manzi / Víctor Piuma Vélez
i.
Alma, si tanto te han herido,
¿por qué te niegas al olvido?
¿Por qué prefieres
llorar lo que has perdido,
buscar lo que has querido,
llamar lo que murió?
Vives inútilmente triste
y sé que nunca mereciste
pagar con penas
la culpa de ser buena,
tan buena como fuiste
por amor.
(refran)
Fue lo que empezó una vez,
lo que después dejó de ser.
Lo que al final
por culpa de un error
fue noche amarga del corazón.
(trio)
¡Deja esas cartas!
¡Vuelve a tu antigua ilusión!
Junto al dolor
que abre una herida
llega la vida
trayendo otro amor.
ii.
Alma, no entornes tu ventana
al sol feliz de la mañana.
No desesperes,
que el sueño más querido
es el que más nos hiere,
es el que duele más.
Vives inútilmente triste
y sé que nunca mereciste
pagar con penas
la culpa de ser buena,
tan buena como fuiste
por amor.