Composed by songwriter duo Juan Carlos Cobián and Enrique Cadicamo, who would later produce “Los mareados” without even conferring with each other, “Nostalgias” has become a big hit with singers and dancers alike. Its memorable lyrics carry the tune perfectly, and bring together many of the genre’s themes (drinking, lost love, nostalgia, the bandoneón) with a poetic form that plies every plank of rhythm for maximum dramatic and emotional leverage.
Nostalgias (1936)
Music: Juan Carlos Cobián
Lyrics: Enrique Cadícamo
Quiero emborrachar mi corazón
para apagar un loco amor
que más que amor es un sufrir...
Y aquí vengo para eso,
a borrar antiguos besos
en los besos de otras bocas...
Si su amor fue "flor de un día"
¿porqué causa es siempre mía
esa cruel preocupación?
Quiero por los dos mi copa alzar
para olvidar mi obstinación
y más la vuelvo a recordar.
Nostalgias
de escuchar su risa loca
y sentir junto a mi boca
como un fuego su respiración.
Angustia
de sentirme abandonado
y pensar que otro a su lado
pronto... pronto le hablará de amor...
¡Hermano!
Yo no quiero rebajarme,
ni pedirle, ni llorarle,
ni decirle que no puedo más vivir...
Desde mi triste soledad veré caer
las rosas muertas de mi juventud.
Gime, bandoneón, tu tango gris,
quizá a ti te hiera igual
algún amor sentimental...
Llora mi alma de fantoche
sola y triste en esta noche,
noche negra y sin estrellas...
Si las copas traen consuelo
aquí estoy con mi desvelo
para ahogarlos de una vez...
Quiero emborrachar mi corazón
para después poder brindar
"por los fracasos del amor"...
Nostalgias
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Edmundo Rivero (Orq. Mario Demarco)
I want to get my heart completely drunk
And put to rest a crazy love
Which more than love is suffering...
And that's the reason why I'm here,
So I can wipe old kisses clear
Upon the muzzle of the bottle…
If her love "blossomed but a day,”
Why can I never get away
From this cruel worry on my mind?
For both of us I want to lift a glass
To leave my stubbornness behind—
And I just think of her the more.
Nostalgias
For how her crazy laugher sounded,
And how I felt my mouth surrounded
By the fire of the way that she breathed...
I'm anguished
To feel abandoned and denied,
To think some other at her side
Will any time now, be speaking of love...
My brother!
I don't want to stoop before her,
Or to whimper, or implore her,
Or to tell her that no more… can I go on...
From my saddened solitude, I'll watch them fall,
The withered roses that were once my youth.
Cry, bandoneón, your tango gray,
Perhaps your heart is breaking too
For some old love that wounded you…
The puppet soul within me cries
Alone tonight, with saddened eyes,
Without a star, within the darkness…
If there’s some solace in the drink,
Then here I stand, unslept a wink,
To drown them under, once for all…
I want to get my heart completely drunk
And once I’m ready, raise a toast:
“And here’s to how love falls apart…”