Gardel possessed a baritone voice deployed with unerring musicality and dramatic phrasing, creating miniature masterpieces among the hundreds of three-minute tangos which he recorded during his lifetime. Together with his long-term collaborator, lyricist Alfredo Le Pera, Gardel also wrote several classic tangos, notably 'Mi Buenos Aires querido', 'Amores de Estudiante', 'Soledad', 'Volver', 'Por una cabeza' and 'El día que me quieras'.
Gardel was born to unmarried 25-year-old laundress Berthe Gardes, the baby registered under the name Charles Romuald Gardes in Toulouse, France, on 11 December 1890. The father of the baby boy was listed on his birth certificate as "unknown"; eleven days later Berthe Gardes signed a statement establishing the baby's father as Paul Laserre, a married man who left Toulouse a few months before the baby was born. Berthe Gardes left Toulouse a few years later, likely to escape the social stigma of having a child born out of wedlock. In early 1893 in Bordeaux, France, mother and son boarded the ship SS Don Pedro and sailed to Buenos Aires, arriving on 11 March 1893. Berthe Gardes had her passport recorded; she told immigration authorities that she was a widow. The two-year-old boy was recorded as Charles Gardes.
Gardel grew up going by Carlos, the Spanish version of his French name, and often by the familiar diminutive form Carlitos. He lived in the Abasto neighborhood of Buenos Aires. He attended Pio IX Industrial high-school located in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires. His mother worked pressing clothes in the French style.
Gardel began his career singing in bars and at private parties, and in 1911 formed a duet with Francisco Martino, and after with José Razzano (which would last until 1925), singing a wide repertory. Gardel made the music his own by inventing the tango-canción in 1917 with 'Mi Noche Triste', a theme by Pascual Contursi and Samuel Castriota, which sold 100,000 copies and was a hit throughout Latin America. Gardel went on to tour Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia and made appearances in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and New York. He sold 70,000 records in the first three months of a 1928 visit to Paris. As his popularity grew, he made a number of films for the Paramount in France and the USA, which were essentially vehicles for his singing and matinée-idol looks.
When Gardel and his collaborator Le Pera were killed in an airplane crash in Medellín, Colombia in 1935, millions of his fans throughout Latin America went into mourning. Hordes of people thronged to pay their respects as the singer's body travelled via Colombia, New York and Rio de Janeiro to its final resting place in La Chacarita cemetery in Buenos Aires.
Gardel is still revered from Buenos Aires to Tokyo, where people like to say that "he sings better every day." His fans still like to place a lit cigarette in the fingers of the life-sized statue which adorns his tomb. One of Gardel's favourite phrases, 'Veinte años no es nada' (Twenty years is nothing) became a famous saying across Latin America.
La Cumparsita
Carlos Gardel Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Que aún dentro de mi alma,
Conservo aquel cariño
Que tuve para ti
Quién sabe si supieras
Que nunca te he olvidado,
Volviendo a tu pasado
Te acordarás de mí
Los amigos ya no vienen
Ni siquiera a visitarme,
Nadie quiere consolarme
En mi aflicción
Desde el día que te fuiste
Siento angustias en mi pecho,
Decí, percanta,
Qué has hecho e mi pobre corazón?
Sin embargo,
Yo siempre te recuerdo
Con el cariño santo
Que tuve para ti
Y estás en todas partes,
Pedazo de mi vida,
Y aquellos ojos que fueron mi alegría
Los busco por todas partes
Y no los puedo hallar
Al cotorro abandonado
Ya ni el sol de la mañana
Asoma por la ventana
Como cuando estabas vos,
Y aquel perrito compañero,
Que por tu ausencia no comía,
Al verme solo el otro día
También me dejó
The lyrics of Carlos Gardel's song "La Cumparsita" are a reflection of the lingering memories and emotions of a lost love. The first verse speaks of how the singer still holds the love he had for the person in his soul, and wonders if they knew that he never forgot about them. The second verse speaks of how the singer's friends no longer visit or console him in his sorrow since the day his love left, and he questions what his love has done to his poor heart.
The final verse speaks of the singer still holding onto the memories of his love with a pure and holy love, and how his love is still present in every part of his life. The absence of his love is also reflected in his surroundings, as the abandoned pet and the lack of sunlight in the room further emphasize the melancholy nature of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Si supieras,
If you only knew,
Que aún dentro de mi alma,
That even within my soul,
Conservo aquel cariño
I still hold that love
Que tuve para ti
That I had for you
Quién sabe si supieras
Who knows if you would know
Que nunca te he olvidado,
That I have never forgotten you
Volviendo a tu pasado
Going back to your past
Te acordarás de mí
You will remember me
Los amigos ya no vienen
Friends no longer come
Ni siquiera a visitarme,
Not even to visit me
Nadie quiere consolarme
No one wants to console me
En mi aflicción
In my anguish
Desde el día que te fuiste
Since the day you left
Siento angustias en mi pecho,
I feel anguish in my chest
Decí, percanta,
Tell me, woman,
Qué has hecho e mi pobre corazón?
What have you done to my poor heart?
Sin embargo,
Nevertheless,
Yo siempre te recuerdo
I always remember you
Con el cariño santo
With a sacred love
Que tuve para ti
That I had for you
Y estás en todas partes,
And you're everywhere,
Pedazo de mi vida,
A piece of my life,
Y aquellos ojos que fueron mi alegría
And those eyes that were my joy
Los busco por todas partes
I search for them everywhere
Y no los puedo hallar
And I cannot find them
Al cotorro abandonado
To the abandoned parrot
Ya ni el sol de la mañana
Not even the morning sun
Asoma por la ventana
Appears through the window
Como cuando estabas vos,
Like when you were here,
Y aquel perrito compañero,
And that faithful dog,
Que por tu ausencia no comía,
Who wouldn't eat in your absence,
Al verme solo el otro día
Seeing me alone the other day
También me dejó
Also left me
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ? RODRIGUEZ, PEARL FAWCETT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@jean-baptistelully8984
Si supieras que aún dentro de mi alma
Conservo aquel cariño que tuve para ti
Quién sabe si supieras que nunca te he olvidado
Volviendo a tu pasado te acordarás de mí
Los amigos ya no vienen ni siquiera a visitarme
Nadie quiere consolarme en mi aflicción
Desde el día que te fuiste siento angustias en mi pecho
Decí, percanta, ¿qué has hecho de mi pobre corazón?
Al cotorro abandonado ya ni el sol de la mañana
Asoma por la ventana como cuando estabas vos
Y aquel perrito compañero que por tu ausencia no comía
Al verme solo el otro día también me dejó
Si supieras que aún dentro de mi alma
Conservo aquel cariño que tuve para ti
Quién sabe si supieras que nunca te he olvidado
Volviendo a tu pasado te acordarás de mí
@lourdestorres177
Desde los 12 anos soy fan de Carlos Gardel. Hoy tengo 80! Mis Padres cantaban sus tangos en casa. Su voz se escuchaba frequentemente en la radio y nos comprabamos sus discos. Aun tengo una buena coleccion de ellos. Cada tango cuenta una historia y el los cantaba con tanto sentimiento y pasion que a menudo nos hacia llorar. Que grande era y que pena que se fue tan joven! Pero su voz y sus bellas canciones nun a moriran!
@luciaalejandro8978
😍❤💖
@enriqueferramola
También tengo 80 pirulos y hace 47 que falto de mi país. Hay cosas que nunca se olvidan y mi viejo era tan fana que en el radio tocadiscos recuerdo una calcomanía de Carlitos pegadal ladoa
@artigasgomez3857
Yo tengo 83 yo no gatee mi primeros pasos fueron un Tango, soy uruguayo y por supuesto Fans de nuestro Carlitos Gardel
@artigasgomez3857
Hasta que llegó la voz del Varón del Tango Julio Sosa, el 1 de todos los 1, y tuve lasuerte que Dios me dejara conocerlo 1 mes antes de su muerte en Mdeo en el Palacio Sud América, Sin Palabras algo inolvidable.
@agustindelajara4404
viejo agueonao noma
@pablocabrera2217
Está canción desde niño me hacía llorar, y hoy a mis 51 años lo vuelve a lograr, mi Padre hizo que yo ame esta música pues el la escuchaba todo el tiempo y aprendí amar la majestuosidad del tango cantado por el mejor como lo fue Carlos Gardell!
@BLUE20MAX
Y J. Sosa ?
@luisruiz3795
A mi me estremece:
Mi Buenos Aires Querido.
¡ARTE!.
@mariaelenafinettiportugal6561
Igual, mi Padre hizo que yo ame los tangos y Crecí escuchándolos
me llenan de nostalgia hoy que mi padre ya no está entre nosotros..