The tango “Dime mi amor” might seem like the prototypical popular song. And that’s because, with its sentimental mood of hopeful simplicity, it was created to represent on stage precisely such a showtune, in the 1941 movie Yo quiero ser bataclana (I Want to Be a Showgirl), starring the great comic actress Niní Marshall. Written by the film’s director, Manuel Romero, this tune provides a vehicle for several stage numbers, showing a full cast performing in a musical before a packed auditorium, while a dutiful Juan D’Arienzo (playing himself) conducts from the orchestra pit.
Of course, the deliberately artificial nature of the song—it is basically a stage prop—doesn’t stop it from being a killer tune on the dance floor (just like the tango “El vino triste,” which also appears in a comic scene in this film). And despite its original purpose, a closer look at “Dime mi amor” reveals that, for all its talk of doe-eyed cuddling, the song is still a finely crafted tango, a song shaking with tension, smiling anxiously so as to conceal a certain vulnerable terror of rejection.
The film clip linked below opens with the verse of a milonga, before showing “Dime, mi amor” in a medley featuring several different rhythmic treatments and dance ensembles.
Tell me, my love
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: clip from Yo quiero ser bataclana (1941)
To the languorous pulse of our tango,
With my arm on your waist circling round you,
Cooing thousands of softhearted phrases,
As a thousand glad heavens surround you…
I want to know if you keep in your breast there,
All the same, any promises for me,
If the absence and the distance didn’t clear out
The love in your eyes I used to see.
Tell me, my love, tell me, my love,
If still you love me…
If your love didn’t die when apart,
If today, like the start,
I’m in your heart…
Tell me, my love, tell me, my love,
If still you choose me
With this heart of mine
I lay bare today
For you in my song as I pine.
Dime, mi amor (1941)
Music: Rodolfo Sciammarella
Lyrics: Manuel Romero
Al compás dormilón de nuestro tango,
con mi brazo ciñiendo tu cintura,
murmurando mil frases de cariño,
entreviendo mil cielos de ventura.
Yo quisiera saber si hay en tu pecho,
todavía, esperanza para mí,
si la ausencia y la distancia no han borrado
el amor que yo en tus ojos entreví.
Dime, mi amor, dime, mi amor,
si aún me quieres;
si la ausencia no mató tu querer,
si hoy, como ayer,
puedo creer…
Dime, mi amor, dime, mi amor,
si aún prefieres
mi corazón
que hoy para ti
pongo en mi triste canción.