Monday, May 10, 2010

Jamás retornarás - You'll never return

A few weeks ago, I promised El Ingeniero that I would make a meaningful post on the blog after the local festival was over. Indeed, I was very busy, being in charge of translating for Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Missé for their classes. Working close to my first tango idol was eye opening, and I have many things on my mind that I want to share... but at this point, if I were to just write everything down, it would be a mess, more chaotic than my usual unedited writing. If I'm not imagining things, I believe both El Ingeniero and Dr Agsol Le Rac are going to (or went to) a nearby festival where Ariadna Naveira and Fernando Sánchez will be (or were). I hope they get some useful things to share on the blog. But anyway, while I organize my thoughts, I want to honour my promise with El Ingeniero and just write something on the blog. So here goes a translation to a great song:

Jamás retornarás (1942) Music and Lyrics by Osmar Mardena and Miguel Caló

Cuando dijo adiós quise llorar. Luego sin su amor quise gritar.
Todos los ensueños que albergó mi corazón, toda mi ilusión, cayeron a pedazos.
"Pronto volveré" dijo al partir. Loco, la esperé, pobre de mí.
Y hoy que tanto tiempo ha transcurrido sin volver siento que he perdido tu querer.

Jamás retornarás, lo dice el alma mía.
Y en esta soledad te nombro noche y día.
Por qué, por qué te fuiste de mi lado y tan cruel has destrozado mi corazón?
Jamás retornarás, lo dice el alma mía
y aunque muriendo está te espera sin cesar!

You'll never return

When she said goodbye I wanted to cry.
Later without her love, I wanted to yell.
All the dreams that I had in my heart, all the hopes, crumbled down to pieces.
"I'll be back soon" she said as she parted, and crazily I waited, poor me.
And now that so much time has passed without your return, I feel I've lost your love.

You'll never return; my soul says it.
And in this loneliness I summon you day and night.
Why, oh why did you leave my side and so cruelly destroy my heart?
You'll never return; my soul says it,
and even though it's dying it endlessly waits for you.

Notes:
No crazy lunfardo slang in this song, so pretty straightforward compared to Chau Pinela. But still, as usual, pretty awkward wording with the translation. I wanted to stay as close to the original as possible, so a lot of the grammar is also weird. It's also worth noting that the first part of the song refers to the woman in third person, but later in second person (i.e. she, then you)... WTF?
Yeah, I realize I cannot fully express the poetry and emotion of this song through translation, especially due to my inexperience in translating songs, but at least I hope you non-Spanish speakers know how sad this song is while you dance it. Next time, dance it with more passion than ever!

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