Words by Enrique Cadícamo.
Composed in 1933.
The neighborhood was witness of audacious feats
that consecrated him King of the gang
and the prettiest waitresses in garabitaje
they embroidered his fame of handsome singer…
And in serious payadas his sharp knife
to the cagey rival discarded with art
and it was his knife glorious banner
tinted of red color in a hundred fights.
Defiant of the guardia vieja,
that of lengue and «aspamentos»
that in the nine hundreds
you were king of the suburb…
Your postures conquered
to the bun paicas
and when walking your figures
they invented the tango.
The courageous one was a mix of scoundrel and paria
that lived by his red and primitive instinct,
pushy, nobleman, brave and cavalier
with something of bard and of patador…
And it was in the streets of the old suburb
that he passed defeated with a fierce expression
the last taura that in the quarrels
felt as bandit, gaucho and fighter…