Played by Pugliese – Music: José Dames, lyrics: Homero Manzi

Argentine tango London | Fuimos spacer_small

The topic of lost love, so omnipresent in tango lyrics in fact reflects a drastic change in the Argentine society at the end of the 19th century, as women begin to gain more independence and become freer to choose a partner. Through tango songs, poets expressed the reaction of men, at a loss in terms of how to best negotiate this change, and lost love became the common expression of their helplessness.

Some songs are expressing men’s feelings as they try and explain why the woman they loved left them, some focus on the pain of being abandoned, while others are vaguer and in a way more sentimental. There’s one last type of song which places the man at the centre of the love story as the one who made it end.

Fuimos is one of these love songs, which dwells on an impossible love, somehow doomed and brought to its end by a man in an attempt to protect the woman he loved at the expense of his own happiness.

As you read on, you’ll realise that Fuimos is rather poetic and abstract, and that its lyrics are quite complex and rich.

Fuimos has been translated by Tanguito, Argentine Tango Academy in London. We hope you enjoy this translation. If you have any comments, don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

Nathalie, Tanguito
 

Backgound about tango history:
Tango, la mezcla milagrosa (1917-1956), by Carlos Mina

The music

Fuimos has been interpreted by many orchestras, including Osvaldo Pugliese’s.

The lyrics

Fui como una lluvia de cenizas y fatigas
en las horas resignadas de tu vida…
Gota de vinagre derramada,
fatalmente derramada, sobre todas tus heridas.
 
Fuiste por mi culpa golondrina entre la nieve
rosa marchitada por la nube que no llueve.
Fuimos la esperanza que no llega, que no alcanza
que no puede vislumbrar su tarde mansa.
Fuimos el viajero que no implora, que no reza,
que no llora, que se echó a morir.
I was like a rainfall of ashes and weariness
in the resigned hours of your life …
A drop of vinegar spilled,
fatally spilled on all your wounds.
You were, by my fault, a sparrow in the snow,
a rose withered by rainless clouds.
We were the hope that doesn’t come, that doesn’t arrive
that can not catch a glimpse of its quiet evening.
We were the traveller who does not beg, who does not pray, who does not cry, who lies down to die.

 ¡Vete…!
¿No comprendes que te estás matando?
¿No comprendes que te estoy llamando?
¡Vete…!
No me beses que te estoy llorando
¡Y quisiera no llorarte más!
¿No ves?,
es mejor que mi dolor
quede tirado con tu amor
librado de mi amor final.

Leave…!
Don’t you understand you’re killing yourself?
Don’t you understand I’m calling you?
Leave…!
Don’t kiss me for I’m crying.
And I want to stop crying for you!
Can’t you see?
It’s better than my pain
remains squandered with your love,
freed from my final love.

 ¡Vete…!,
¿No comprendes que te estoy salvando?
¿No comprendes que te estoy amando?
¡No me sigas, ni me llames, ni me beses
ni me llores, ni me quieras más!

Leave..!
Don’t you understand I’m saving you?
Don’t you understand I’m in love with you?
Don’t follow me, or call me, or kiss me,
or cry for me, or love me anymore!

 Fuimos abrazados a la angustia de un presagio
por la noche de un camino sin salidas,
pálidos despojos de un naufragio
sacudidos por las olas del amor y de la vida.
Fuimos empujados en un viento desolado…
sombras de una sombra que tornaba del pasado.
Fuimos la esperanza que no llega, que no alcanza,
que no puede vislumbrar su tarde mansa.
Fuimos el viajero que no implora, que no reza,
que no llora, que se echó a morir.

 We were embraced by the anguish of a premonition
by the night of a road with no end,
pale remains of a shipwreck,
tossed by the waves of love and life.
We were thrust into a desolate wind …
shadows of a shadow coming from the past.
We were the hope that doesn’t come, that doesn’t arrive,
that can not catch a glimpse of its quiet evening.
We were the traveller who does not beg, who does not pray, who does not cry, who lies down to die.