For me, this song is simply the best Tanturi-Campos ever recorded. My list of favourites is long and they are all vehemently competing for the crown, but in the end, Calla bandoneón always prevails.

Until Campos starts singing, you might as well pay special attention to the game of questions/statements and answers that the instruments are involved in. This is, naturally, a normal thing in tango, but in this particular song the conversational structure seems clearer to me than usual. First, various instruments respond to the bandoneón, and then, they switch roles, but anyway, you could interpret this conversation in many different ways.

And as soon as you understand the meaning of this song, see if you can recognise, like me, how the bandoneón is trying to apologise for things, justifying its melancholy, bringing up counterarguments…. of course, everybody will hear different things, but there is certainly a dialogue going on.

You can also listen to versions by José García and Juan D’Arienzo, the latter one contains the complete lyrics.

Juan D’Arienzo-Armando Laborde

*In the José García version, ‘arrived’ is replaced by ‘could be heard’.