The tango “Los mareados” is the result of a string of creative rewritings. Originally composed as an instrumental tune called “Clarita” by Juan Carlos Cobián in the early 1920s, the song was adapted with added lyrics as the title number of the show “Los Dopados” (The Stoners) by Raúl Doblas and Roberto Weisbach. The lyrics didn’t stick as strongly as the new title, however, under which Osvaldo Fresedo recorded the song as an instrumental once again. In 1942, enamored with the melody, Aníbal Troilo brought the disc over to the apartment of lyricist Enrique Cadícamo, insisting that he produce new lyrics so that the bandleader could add it to his repertoire. Despite Cadícamo’s protest that Cobián was then on tour in the United States and would be unable to approve the rewriting, the revised song was debuted and recorded in 1942 under the new title “Los mareados,” with immortal lyrics that have nothing to do with the first text. The song was censored by the military government in 1943 (like many other tangos of the era) for its depiction of debauchery, leaving only the third stanza intact—thanks to which it was temporarily known by the title “En mi pasado.”
THE WOOZY
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Héctor Mauré | José Basso & Oscar Ferrari
Strangely…
Like you’d been turned on,
I found you drinking,
Dressed up to die…
You drank there,
And in the seethe of champagne
Were laughing madly,
So as not to cry…
Heartache
I felt to meet you,
And so to see you,
To see in your eyes…
The glaring
Of an electrical warmth,
Within your dark eyes
So deeply adored…
Tonight, tonight, my lady friend,
The drink has left us feeling boozy…
Who cares about them laughing then,
And pointing as they call us woozy…
Everybody has their sorrows,
And we have ours the same…
Tonight, we two shall drink away,
Because we shall not see the day
We meet again…
Today shall you enter into my past,
The past of that life I leave behind…
Three things weigh my wounded mind:
Love… regret… and woe.
Today shall you enter into my past,
And today we take our separate ways…
How great was the love we used to know!
And look at what remains,
Alas, of long ago…
LOS MAREADOS (1942)
Music: Juan Carlos Cobián
Lyrics: Enrique Cadícamo
Rara…
como encendida
te hallé bebiendo
linda y fatal…
Bebías
y en el fragor del champán,
loca, reías
por no llorar…
Pena
me dio encontrarte
pues al mirarte…
yo vi brillar
tus ojos
con un eléctrico ardor,
tus bellos ojos
que tanto adoré…
Esta noche, amiga mía,
el alcohol nos ha embriagado…
¡Qué importa que se rían
y nos llamen los mareados!
Cada cual tiene sus penas
y nosotros las tenemos…
Esta noche beberemos
porque ya no volveremos
a vernos más…
Hoy vas a entrar en mi pasado,
en el pasado de mi vida…
Tres cosas lleva mi alma herida:
amor… pesar… dolor…
Hoy vas a entrar en mi pasado
y hoy nuevas sendas tomaremos…
¡Qué grande ha sido nuestro amor!…
Y, sin embargo, ¡ay!,
mirá lo que quedó…