Come have coffee with me in Buenos Aires...

Come have coffee with me in Buenos Aires...

Malena

Such a beautiful and sad tango! I especially love the version sung by Adriana Varela. This is my first attempt at translating it:

Malena canta el tango como ninguna
y en cada verso pone su corazón.
A yuyo del suburbio su voz perfuma,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.

Tal vez allá en la infancia su voz de alondra
tomó ese tono oscuro de callejón,
o acaso aquel romance que sólo nombra
cuando se pone triste con el alcohol.
Malena canta el tango con voz de sombra,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.

Tu canción
tiene el frío del último encuentro.
Tu canción
se hace amarga en la sal del recuerdo.
Yo no sé
si tu voz es la flor de una pena,
só1o sé que al rumor de tus tangos, Malena,
te siento más buena,
más buena que yo.

Tus ojos son oscuros como el olvido,
tus labios apretados como el rencor,
tus manos dos palomas que sienten frío,
tus venas tienen sangre de bandoneón.

Tus tangos son criaturas abandonadas
que cruzan sobre el barro del callejón,
cuando todas las puertas están cerradas
y ladran los fantasmas de la canción.
Malena canta el tango con voz quebrada,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.

Malena sings the tango like no other
and puts her heart in every verse
her voice perfumes the wild weeds of the slums
Malena has sadness of the bandoneon

Maybe it happened in her childhood, her nightengale voice
took on that dark alleyway tone
or maybe that romance that she only names
when she gets sad, with the alcohol
Malena sings the tango with voice of shadow
Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon

Your song
has the sadness, of the last time we're meeting
Your song
is made bitter by the salt of the memory
I don't know
if your voice is the flowering of a sadness
I only know, that by the sound of your tangos, Malena, 
I feel you are better
 better than me.

Your eyes are as dark as forgetting
Your lips are pursed like rancor
Your hands, two doves that feel cold,
your veins have the blood of bandoneon

Your tangos are abandoned children
that cross through the mud of an alleyway
When all the doors are closed
and the ghosts of the song are barking
Malena sings the tango, with a broken voice
Malena has the pain of bandoneon