At the request of El Ingeniero, I did my best to write down the lyrics to this song, hoping that this motivates him to take a break from his engineer duties and write something here. Like the last post, the lyrics are most likely not accurate due to the old, scratchy recording, and maybe outdated lunfardo slang.
¿Por qué no has de decir si pensás espiantar?
Hacé tu gusto, vieja, que para mí es igual
Mujeres como vos se encuentran un millón
si es cierto que piantás qué papa, corazón...
decide sino mal, ¿pa' qué tanto pensar?
cachame tu bagayo, nunca, nunca vuelvas más
si no resuelves vos piantarte de mi lado
cacho yo mi bagayo y chau, Pinela, chau
I made some corrections on the lyrics after consulting with my Argentine friend who has some knowledge of lunfardo slang. Thank you for your help, Lu. Most of this song would make little sense without your explanations of the words espiantar, piantar, and bagayo.
So the approximate translation of the lyrics, along with some notes, would be as follows:
Why wouldn't you tell me if you plan to run off? [espiantar = run away]
Do as you please, girl, it's the same to me. [vieja literally means old woman, but it's widely used in Spanish speaking countries colloquially to refer to a woman, regardless of age]
I can find women like you by the millions.
If it's true that you will leave, tough luck, love. [I'm assuming 'qué papa, corazón' means something like 'too bad' or something along those lines]
Make up your mind already, why think so hard?
Grab your sack of things* and never come back. [bagayo means two things: an ugly person or a big sack where poor people put their clothes and their belongings. So there is probably a pun intended here as well as in the last line]
If it's not you that resolves to leave me behind
I will grab my sack of things, and goodbye, Pinela, goodbye.
Hacé tu gusto, vieja, que para mí, es igual
ReplyDeleteMujeres como vos se encuentran un millión
si es cierto que piantás, qué papa, corazón
decide sino mas, ¿pa' qué tanto pensar?
cachame tu bagayo, nunca, nunca vuelvas más
si no resuelves vos piantarte de mi lao
cacho yo mi bagayo y chau, Pinela, chau
Just came across this post of yours when I was looking for the lyrics to "Chau pinela." Nice job!
ReplyDeleteI would probably translate "bagayo" as its cognate, "baggage," which preserves the pun a bit, because in English we often use "baggage" metaphorically when talking about relationships, i.e. "I don't want to date a recently divorced woman because she's probably got a lot of baggage from the last three years..."
I am not sure if the meaning of Pinela is clear to the ones without Argentine background, because AFAIK the phrase "Chau Pinela" exists only in Argentine usage.
ReplyDeleteIt's reserved for a break-up, and for a farewell with bad wishes, sort of like "Good riddance"
And thanks a million for this, and other hard-to-find letras!