Esta Noche Me Emborracho
(Tonight I'm Getting Drunk)


You're listening to Ricardo Tanturi's orchestra with Alberto Castillo on vocals.

Excerpted from: Neither Virgins nor Whores: Tango Lyrics and Gender Representations in the Tango World
By Anahi Viladrich.

Tango lyrics usually present dual reactions toward milonguitas: either resentment (particularly when the narrator is the abandoned lover) or pity and moral redemption, typically when the storyteller becomes a witness of the milonguita's pathetic decay. As with spells that vanish with time, the young woman's talents will evaporate sooner or later.
In the tango Esta Noche Me Emborracho (I Am Getting Drunk Tonight), the protagonist surrenders to alcohol in an attempt to comfort himself after his casual encounter with his formerly beautiful girlfriend, now transformed into an aged milonguita:

Crooked, dressed as a young woman,
with your dyed hair and displaying your nakedness.
She looked as a featherless cock showing off its bruised neck
I, as I know when I cannot stand seeing her like this any longer,
began running to avoid bursting into tears . . .




This is one of my first attempts at translation, so if you see a glaring error, let me know.


Este Noche Me Emborracho

Sola, fané, descangayada,
la vi esta madrugada
salir de un cabaret.
Flaca, dos quartas de cogote,
una percha en el escote
bajo la nuez.
Chueca, vestida de pebeta,
teñida y coqueteando
S/tu desnudez.
Parecia un gallo desplumao
mostrando al compadrear
el cuero picoteao.
Yo, que sé cuando no aguanto más,
al verla así rajé
pa' no llorar

Y pensar que hace diez años
fue mi locura . . . !
Que llegué hasta la traicion
por su hermosura . . . !
Que esto que hoy es un cascajo
fue la dulce metedura
donde yo perdí el honor . . . !
Que, chiflao por su belleza,
le quité el pan a la vieja,
me hice ruin y pechador . . . !
Que quedé sin un amigo . . . !
Que viví de mala fe . . . !
Que me tuvo de rodillas,
sin moral, hecho un mendigo
cuando se fue . . . !

Este encuentro me ha hecho tanto mal,
que si lo pienso más
termino envenenao . . .
Esta noche me emborracho bien,
me mamo bien mamao
pa' no pensar!

Tonight I'm Getting Drunk

Alone, wrecked, damaged,
I saw her at dawn this morning
leaving a nightclub.
Skinny, long necked,
a coat hanger in her chest
beneath her chin.
Bowlegged, dressed like a young girl,
hair-dyed and flirting
her nakedness.
She seemed like a plucked rooster
showing off to her friend
her pecked hide.
I know that when I can't tolerate it any more,
I just run away from there
trying not to cry.

And to think that ten years ago
I was mad about her . . . !
That I went as far as betrayal
for her lovliness . . . !
That this, that now is a piece of junk,
was the sweet crush
where I lost my dignity . . . !
That, crazy for her beauty,
I stole bread from my mother,
I was dispicable and a scoundrel . . . !
That I was left with no friend . . . !
That I lived in bad faith . . . !
That I was on my knees,
without morals, made a beggar
when she left me . . . !

This meeting has made me feel so bad,
that if I think of it more
I'll end up poisoned . . .
Tonight I'll drink well,
I'll get drunk, really drunk
trying not to think!


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