A tango song in English

[Marcio**]

LET'S HAVE A DRINK
Come let's drink and please do join me
I need to kill my memories today
You may be someone who'll hear my sorrows
I have no friendships, I'm far away.
Come, drink with me and if my voice breaks
while I am singing, don't ask why
no, I'm not crying for her betrayal,
I'm a grown man and men don't cry.
If the grass could tell you stories all these fields
would say I loved her and adored her like no man.
Countless times I'd fall on my knee, shaking, begging
where so many times we kissed.
Today, like a stab, I saw her in somebody else's arms.
Something in my pain contained me, held me back
I know not what, for I know I would have killed her
with my dagger on the spot.
Come let's drink and please do join me...
We won't talk of women now
They deceive and break your heart
in my story you see how.
Follow my council and don't love them,
but if by chance you fall for a lie,
garner your power, hold back your tears
for a true man must never cry!

Lyrics: Manuel Romero
Music: Carlos Gardel
Transalation: Natalie Pepa

[Nano]

This is "Tomo y obligo", one of Gardel's eternal classics. The last verses are very representative (and very true!) of tango lyrics and culture. There's always a bad woman in handy (sometimes even turned into a prostitute of some sort), drinks and drugs, lost love and betrayal. If it turns dramatic, there can be daggers and pistols as well. But always with tango's fatalist "that's life" view.
Carlitos did some English versions of his tangos to try the U.S. market: this must be one of those. Today those records are collector's items.

Here's the music:

http://www.todotango.com/Spanish/bib...ura.asp?id=585

My favorite, however, is "Mano a mano" 8-)