“Scouting Your Corner”
Style: 1945 Tango
Countries: Argentina (Enrique), Ecuador (Julio)
Listen: Renditions by Julio Jaramillo at YouTube (my favorite) and Enrique Cadícamo at a tango site (original composer).
Translation:
Esta noche tengo ganas de buscarla,
De borrar lo que ha pasado y perdonarla.
This night I feel the urge to search for her,
To erase what happened and forgive her.
Ya no me importa el qué dirán
Ni de las cosas que hablarán…
¡Total la gente siempre habla!
It does not matter to me anymore what they will say
Nor the things they will talk about…
People always talk anyway!
Yo no pienso más que en ella a toda hora.
Es terrible esta pasión devoradora.
I think of nothing else but her at every hour.
It is terrible, this ravenous passion.
Y ella siempre sin saber,
Sin siquiera sospechar
Mi deseo de volver…
And she always without knowing,
Without even suspecting
My wish to return…
Chorus:
————————————————-
¿Qué me has dado, vida mía,
Que ando triste noche y día?
Rondando siempre tu esquina,
Mirando siempre tu casa.
What have you given me, my love,
That I am sad night and day?
Always roaming your corner,
Always watching your house.
Y esta pasión que lastima,
Y este dolor que no pasa.
¿Hasta cuando iré sufriendo
El tormento de tu amor?
And this passion that hurts,
And this pain that does not pass.
Until when will I keep suffering
The torment of your love?
————————————————-
Este pobre corazón que no la olvida.
Me la nombra con los labios de su herida.
Y ahondando más su sinsabor,
La mariposa del dolor
Cruza en la noche de mi vida.
This poor heart that does not forget her.
It names her to me with the lips of its wound.
And deepening its sorrow even more,
The butterfly of pain
Crosses on the night of my life.
Compañeros, hoy es noche de verbena.
Sin embargo, yo no puedo con mi pena
Y al saber que ya no está,
Solo, triste y sin amor,
Me pregunto sin cesar…
Fellows, today is a festive night.
But nonetheless, I cannot (stand it) with my sorrow,
And knowing that she is not there anymore,
Alone, sad and without love,
I ask myself without end [*lit. without ceasing]…
[Chorus: ¿Qué me has dado, vida mía, que ando triste noche y día? Rondando siempre tu esquina…]
Translation Notes:
rondando tu esquina = roaming/patrolling/prowling/scouting your corner
“Prowling” sounds too creepy and “patrolling” sounds too official, so I choose “roaming” in context and “scouting” for the song title.
The verb is rondar, to go/hover/roam around (something)
Longer translations:
“Going around your corner”
“Passing by your corner repeatedly”
—
Ya no me importa el qué dirán
It does not matter to me anymore what they will say
{Ya} (no me importa) [el qué dirán]
{Anymore/already} (it does not matter to me) [what people will say]
{Anymore/already} (it does not matter to me) [the “what will they say”]
—
¡Total la gente siempre habla!
People always talk anyway!
After all, people always talk! [alt.]
See the adverb entries for “total” in Collins dictionary.
—
Yo no pienso más que en ella a toda hora.
I think of nothing else but her at every hour.
(Yo) [no pienso] (más) {que} (en ella) [[a toda hora]]
(I) [do not think] (more) {than} (on/of her) [[at all hours]]
—
¿Qué me has dado, vida mía, que ando triste noche y día?
What have you given me, my love, that I am sad night and day?
What have you given me, my life, that I go around sad night and day? [lit.]
vida mía = lit. my life; usually the affectionate equivalent of “my love” in English.
andar [verb] = to go, to walk; to be
estar triste = to be sad (now, at this moment)
ser triste = to be a sad person (as a personality characteristic, as a long-term life condition)
andar triste = to go around being sad, to display sadness
—
sinsabor [noun, m.] = sorrow
Notice that this word comes from two: sin sabor (without flavor). Descriptive, right?
“Rondando Tu Esquina” by Enrique Cadicamo (sung by Julio Jaramillo)
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