The version that I hear most often in milongas; probably the most famous but definitely my favourite is by Edgardo Donato.
The start of this piece is probably the start I like best in all the tangos. The long drag of the violin combined with the light plucking of the second violin gives a very intriguing feel to the beginning. Its telling you something important is about to unfold; an event that will change the life of the author forever. And the bass (bandoneon and the piano) trudging and trudging at the background, like a man with much weight on his shoulders, just dragging himself along, moving forward, reluctantly.
Then 45 seconds into the piece comes my favourite part of the music. The long drags of the violin, giving the feeling that you are sitting on a tiny boat in the middle of the sea, rocking gently to the waves.
When I hear this piece playing the in milonga, I always feel like jumping onto the dancefloor because it is so moving and yet expressive. Its a nostalgic piece, filled with angst but the orchestra of Donato added to it another dimension of expressiveness. Its really a piece where you can dance to the deep nostalgia and yet also get creative to the music.
Here it goes... only the first paragraph of the lyrics is sung in the version of Donato, but I translated all anyway.
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EL ADIOS
Letra de Virgilio San Clemente
Musica de Maruja Pacheco Huergo
Compuesto en 1937
Courteousy of http://www2.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/
The Goodbye
En la tarde que en sombras se moria,
buenamente nos dimos el adios;
mi tristeza profunda no veias
y al marcharte sonreiamos los dos.
Y la desolación, mirandote partir
quebrada de emoción mi pobre voz...
El sueño más feliz moria en el adios,
y el cielo para mi se oscurecio.
(In the afternoon where the shadows died,
firmly we said to each other ‘goodbye’;
my deep sadness you did not see
and when you left we both smiled.
And the desolation, when I saw you leaving
my poor voice was broken by the emotion...
The happiest dream died at the ‘goodbye’,
and the sky for me became dark.)
En vano el alma
con voz velada
volco en la noche la pena...
Solo un silencio
profundo y grave
lloraba en mi corazón.
(In vain the soul
with a hidden voice
emptied out the pain in the night...
Only a silence
deep and grave
cried in my heart.)
Sobre el tiempo transcurrido
vives siempre en mi,
y estos campos que nos vieron
juntos sonreir,
me preguntan si el olvido,
me curo de ti.
Y entre los vientos
se van mis quejas
muriendo en ecos,
buscandote...
Mientras que, lejos,
otros brazos y otros besos
te aprisionan y me dicen
que ya no has de volver.
(Passing the time
you lived always in me,
and these fields that saw us
together smiling,
They ask if I forgotten,
I get cured of you.
And between the winds
my cries leave
dying in echos,
looking for you...
While that, faraway,
other arms and other kisses
imprison you and tell me
that already you have no return.)
Cuando vuelva a lucir la primavera,
y los campos se pinten de color,
otra vez el dolor y los recuerdos
de nostalgias llenaran mi corazón.
Las aves poblaran de trinos el lugar
y el cielo volcara su claridad...
Pero mi corazón en sombras vivira,
y el ala del dolor te llamara.
(When spring returns,
and the fields are painted of color,
once again the pain and the memories
of nostalgias reach my heart.
The birds living at the place will sing again
and the sky will return to her clarity...
But my heart will continue to live in the shadows,
and the wing of the pain will call out to you.)
En vano, el alma
dira a la luna;
con voz velada la pena
y habra un silencio
profundo y grave,
llorando en mi corazón.
(In vain, the soul
will say to the moon;
with hidden voice the pain
and will have a silence
deep and grave,
crying in my soul)
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