Saturday, May 21, 2011

Puente Alsina (1926)

Music and Lyrics: Benjamín Tagle Lara

¿Dónde está mi barrio, mi cuna querida?
¿adónde la cueva, refugio de ayer?
Borró el asfaltado de una manotada,
la vieja barriada que me vio crecer...

En la sospechosa quietud del suburbio,
la noche de un turbio drama pasional
y yo, desde entonces, el hijo de todos,
rodé por el lodo de aquel arrabal.

Puente Alsina, que ayer fuera mi regazo,
de un zarpazo la avenida te alcanzó...
Viejo puente, compañero y confidente,
sos la marca que, en la frente,
el progreso te ha dejado
al suburbio rebelado
hasta ayer te defendió.

Yo no he conocido caricias de madre...
Tuve un solo padre que fuera el rigor
y llevo en mis venas, de sangre maleva,
gritando una gleba con crudo rencor.

¿Por que me lo llevan, mi barrio, mi todo?
yo, el hijo del lodo, lo vengo a buscar...
Mi barrio es mi madre que ya no responde...
¡Que digan adónde la van a enterrar!

____________________________________________________

Translation


Where is my neighborhood, my beloved cradle?
Where is the cave, yesteryear's refuge?
The asphalt erased with a slap
the neighborhood that saw me grow.

In the suspicious quietude of the suburb,
the night of a murky drama of passion,
and I, from then on the son of everyone,
rolled by the mud of that arrabal.

Puente Alsina, yesteryear's lap,
all of a sudden the avenue reached you.
Old Puente, fellow and confidant,
you're the mark on the forehead
left by the progress;
the rebelling suburb
defended you in the past.

I have not known my mother's caresses...
I only had one father who was the rigor,
and in my veins flows the malevo blood
screaming a glebe with crude grudge.

Why are they taking her away, my neighborhood, my everything?
I, son of the mud, have come to find her.
My neighborhood is my mother and she no longer responds...
They better tell me where they will bury her!

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