Song commentary
&
lyric translation
The story of A media luz
It’s the 1920’s. They might be young or not. They have met at a milonga or not. He might be charming, she might be pretty or not. One sure is certain, if they want to see one another again, in a more ‘intimate’ setting, they’ll probably go to his bachelor flat in downtown Buenos Aires.
A media luz describes these bachelor flats used for fun and the fussy sex of the period. In these flats, everything was carefully thought of to create a suitable atmosphere: todo a media luz (“everything in dimmed light”).
“There’s no concierge and no neighbour! ”
The song describes with a lot of humour the measures taken to protect the privacy of these apartments – “there’s no concierge and no neighbour”, the rugs “muffle sounds” and even the cat keeps quiet: “a cat made of porcelain so that it doesn’t mew at love.”
These small apartments were decorated with the flourished style of the period. Everything seems to have been bought at the Maple furniture shop, which was very famous at the time and stocked everything from furniture to rugs to decorations, even porcelain cats – the 1930′s porteño version of Ikea!
Don’t be surprised by the last paragraph of A media luz: until the beginning of the 1930’s, cocaine, morphine and opium had a legal medical usage. Being sold as preparations in pharmacies, these drugs were commonly found in medicine cabinets at home.
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The song
The lyrics: A media luz
in Spanish & English
| Corrientes 3, 4, 8, segundo piso, ascensor. No hay porteros ni vecinos. Adentro, cocktail y amor. Pisito que puso Maple: piano, estera y velador, un telefón que contesta, una victrola que llora viejos tangos de mi flor y un gato de porcelana pa’ que no maulle al amor. |
3, 4, 8 Corrientes Avenue, 2nd floor with lift. There are no concierge and no neighbour. Inside, cocktail and love. A little apartment furnished by Maple: a piano, a mat, a bedside table, a phone with an answering machine, a phonograph which weeps old tangos from my youth, and a cat in porcelain so that it stays quiet. |
| Y todo a media luz, que es un brujo el amor, a media luz los besos, a media luz los dos. Y todo a media luz crepúsculo interior. ¡Qué suave terciopelo la media luz de amor! |
And everything in dimmed light, what a sorcerer love is, in dimmed light the kisses, in dimmed light the two of them. And everything in dimmed light a twilight indoors. What a soft velvet the dimmed light of love is! |
| Juncal 12, 24 Telefoneá sin temor. De tarde, té con masitas; de noche, tango y cantar. Los domingos, tés danzantes; los lunes, desolación, Hay de todo en la casita: almohadones y divanes; omo en botica, cocó; alfombras que no hacen ruido y mesa puesta al amor. |
12, 24 Juncal avenue, don’t be afraid to call. In the afternoon, tea and pastries; at night, tango and singing. On Sundays, dancing teas; On Mondays, desolation. There’s everything in the little house: cushions and sofas; cocaine like at the pharmacy; rugs which muffle sounds and a table set for love. |
