Unlike most tangos, “Madreselva” brings a woman’s experience into the limelight. Written by director Luis Cesár Amadori for the stage, its 1931 debut by Tania made it an instant hit. Composer Francisco Canaro would soon record it three times, with Carlos Gardel in 1931, with Charlo in 1932, and later with Roberto Maida in 1938. (Grammatically the song works for a male singer with no verbal changes.)
The song’s lyricist Amadori directed the film Madreselva in 1938, with Libertad Lamarque taking the starring role, where she sings the song twice and makes it uniquely her own. (While usually cast as a tango singer, Lamarque’s character in this film is an opera singer who falls in love with a tanguero, but gives up the romance out of allegiance to her sister.)
My translation follows the text printed in the sheet music, which has very short lines. Usually the lyrics are reprinted with these lines run together two-at-a-time, in a more common meter; but the original form gives it much greater emotional and narrative focus. The class barriers which were often a moral danger in early tango lyrics appear here in the figures of the old wall (the neighborhood boundary), the “climbing” honeysuckle linked to the singer’s hopes, and the hard lessons of the world related in the second half of the song. The chorus repeats here with significant changes in a few key lines.
Honeysuckle
(Tr. Jake Spatz)
YouTube: Libertad Lamarque (Film and Studio)
Old bounding wall
Around the slums,
Your shadow once
Was my companion.
When I was young,
And all was drab,
I found my friend
Your honeysuckle.
When, all atremble,
My very first love
Left on my soul there
The kiss of hoping,
There at your side,
All glad and pure,
I sang the song
Of my first confession so:
Honeysuckle in bloom,
You saw when I was born,
And along the old wall
Listened in on my love:
Your humble caresses
Are like his affection,
The first and the warmest
I’ve felt in my heart!
Honeysuckle in bloom,
That goes climbing along,
Your embrace is as strong
And as sweet as his own…
If year after year now,
Your flowers reopen,
May never my first love
Now come to an end!
Years have gone by now,
And opened my eyes now…
I’m back here to tell you,
My old bounding wall…
I’ve come to learn
You must pretend
To live the good life
Forever after.
That love and faith
Are merely lies,
And sorrow meets
With people’s laughter.
And now that real life
Has tricked and fooled me,
And ever schooled me
In its bitter teaching,
Old bounding wall,
With brimming heart
I come to you,
And confide like yesterday:
Honeysuckle in bloom,
You saw when I was born,
And across the old wall
Listened in on my love:
Your humble caresses
Are like that affection,
The first and the warmest
I’ll never forget!
Honeysuckle in bloom,
That goes climbing along,
Your embrace is as strong
And as sweet as his own…
If year after year now,
Your flowers reopen,
Why cannot my first love
Come ever again…
Madreselva (1931)
Lyrics: Luis César Amadori
Music: Francisco Canaro
Vieja pared
del arrabal,
tu sombra fué
mi compañera.
De mi niñez
sin esplendor
la amiga fué
tu madreselva.
Cuando, temblando,
mi amor primero,
con su esperanza
besó mi alma,
yo, junto a vos,
pura y feliz,
cantaba así
mi primera confesión:
Madreselvas en flor
que me vieron nacer,
y en la vieja pared
sorprendieron mi amor…
Tu humilde caricia
es como el cariño
primero y querido
que siento por él!
Madreselvas en flor,
que trepándose van,
es su abrazo tenaz
y dulzón como aquel…
Si todos los años
tus flores renacen
hacé que no muera
mi primer amor!
Pasaron los años,
y mis desengaños
yo vengo a contarte,
mi vieja pared…
Así aprendí
que hay qué fingir
para vivir
decentemente.
Que amor y fe
mentiras son,
y del dolor
se ríe la gente.
Hoy que la vida
me ha castigado
y me ha enseñado
su credo amargo,
vieja pared,
con emoción
me acerco a vos,
y te digo como ayer:
Madreselvas en flor,
que me vieron nacer,
y en la vieja pared
sorprendieron mi amor:
tu humilde caricia
es como el cariño
primero y querido
que nunca olvidé.
Madreselvas en flor,
que trepandose van,
es tu abrazo tenaz
y dulzón como aquel.
Si todos los años
tus flores renacen
porque ya no vuelve
mi primer amor…