Malena [English translation]

Malena sings the tango

As does none other

And she makes every verse sound

Her very own.

Her voice has the perfume of

Weeds of the suburb.

Malena’s aching like the

Bandoneon.

Perhaps back in her childhood

Her voice rang clearly,

But in an alley took on

That dusky tone,

Or maybe that romance that

She mentions merely

When drink gets her to feeling

Sad and alone.

Malena sings the tango,

Her voice is bleary;

Malena’s aching like the

Bandoneon.

Your sad song

Is as cold as the very last meeting,

Your sad song

Is as bitter as mem’ry that’s fleeting.

I don’t know

If your voice comes from torment that’s stinging,

I just know

That, Malena, when I hear you singing,

I feel that you’re better,

Much better than I.

: - : - : - : - :

Your eyes are dark like that deep

Sea of forgetting,

Your lips are pressed so tightly,

Down to the bone.

Your hands are cold like two doves,

Shiv’ring and fretting,

In your veins flows the blood of

Bandoneon.

Your tangos are abandoned

Children who’re taking

A shortcut through the muddy

Alley alone,

When all the doors are closed and

All is forsaken,

And when the ghosts of tangos

Howl on their own.

Malena sings the tango,

Her voice is breaking

Malena’s aching like the

Bandoneon.