Song commentary

&

lyric translation

The story of Barrio de tango

Barrio de tango  is one of Troilo’s most well known compositions, and a classic in today’s milongas, mixing memories about Pompeya “the neighborhood of tango” and a long-gone love story.

Nueva Pompeya (Spanish for New Pompei) is a neighbourhood in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Located in the South, it has long been one of the city’s proletarian districts steeped in the tradition of tango and one where many of the first tangos were written and performed.

A neighborhood local, the legendary tango composer Homero Manzi, set a very popular tango (Sur) in Nueva Pompeya, describing a melancholy landscape (“Pompeya and beyond the flood”) that, even today, defines much of the district’s physionomy.

Manzi wrote this song “Neighborhood of tango”, also set in Pompeya.

Barrio de Tango has been translated by Tanguito, Argentine Tango Academy in London. If you have any comment or other interpretations of the lyrics, please feel free to share your opinion, we’d love to hear what you think.

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The song

With the singer Francisco Fiorentino – this is the most well-known version of the song
With the singer Roberto Goyeneche – this version is unmissable with Goyeneche’s unique voice

The lyrics of Barrio de tango

in Spanish & English

Barrio de tango

Un pedazo de barrio, allá en Pompeya,
durmiéndose al costado del terraplén.
Un farol balanceando en la barrera
y el misterio de adiós que siembra el tren.
Un ladrido de perros a la luna.
El amor escondido en un portón.
Y los sapos redoblando en la laguna
y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.

Neighbourhood of tango

Dear neighbourhood, there en Pompeya,
falling asleep next to the train platform.
A lantern swings at the gate
and trains sow their mysterious good byes.
Dogs bark at the moon.
Love hides in a doorway.
Toads roll in the pond
and at distance there’s the bandoneon’s voice.
Barrio de tango, luna y misterio,
calles lejanas, ¡cómo estarán!
Viejos amigos que hoy ni recuerdo,
¡qué se habrán hecho, dónde estarán!		 Neighbourhood of tango, moon and mystery,
distant streets, I am not sure how they are now!
Old friends I don’t even remember,
I wonder what they became, where they are!
Barrio de tango, qué fue de aquella,
Juana, la rubia, que tanto amé.
¡Sabrá que sufro, pensando en ella,
desde la tarde que la dejé!		 Neighbourhood of tango, what happened to Juana,
That blonde one I have loved so much.
She probably knows I have suffered, thinking of her,
from the very evening I left her!
Barrio de tango, luna y misterio,
desde el recuerdo te vuelvo a ver!
Un coro de silbidos allá en la esquina.
El codillo llenando el almacén.
Y el dramón de la pálida vecina
que ya nunca salió a mirar el tren.
Así evoco tus noches,
barrio ‘e tango,
con las chatas entrando al corralón
y la luna chapaleando sobre el fango
y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.		 Neighbourhood of tango, moon and mystery,
From memory, I see you again!
A chorus of whistles there at the corner.
Card players filling the tavern
And the poor drama of the pale neighbour
Who never went back to wait for the train.
This is how I remember your nights,
neighbourhood of tango,
with the flat carriages entering the warehouse,
the moon splashing in the mud
and at a distance the bandoneon’s voice.
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