Por una cabeza (en ingles)

Letra de Carlos Gardel
Letra de Alfredo Le Pera
Música de Carlos Gardel
Música de Alfredo Le Pera
Traducido por Matt Curtis Waldroop

(«TO LOSE JUST BY A HEAD»)

Introduced by Carlos Gardel in the 1935 film TANGO BAR.

To lose just by a head of a noble
thoroughbred
who in the final lap comes faltering
down the stretch,
turns back, sees your regrets, and
appears to say:
«Don’t you forget it, brother, you
know you shouldn’t ever make
bets.»

To lose just by a head…the mad
passión so fleeting
of some very coquettish and
lighthearted young dove,
who vows while she is smiling the
affection that she is lying,
and destroys in a red-hot bonfire all
of my love.

Por una cabeza…
All of the craziness…
Her mouth with her kisses
erases the sadness,
calms down the bitterness.

Por una cabeza…
If she ever forgets me,
what matters losing my life
a thousand times, to me,
in order to live?

Countless disillusions, to lose just
by a head…
I swore a thousand times to not fall
for one again. —
But if a flirting eye wounds me on
passing by,
Her fiery lush sweet lips, one more
time, I’d like to try!

Enough of horseraces, I’m through
with the gambling dens;
and a photo-finish I’ll never again
view. —
But if a fast-running bay looks like
he’ll be a «sure thing» on Sunday,
I’ll bet on him all the way, that’s
just what I’ll do!

Por una cabeza…
All of the craziness…
Her mouth with her kisses
erases the sadness,
calms down the bitterness.

Por una cabeza…
If she ever forgets me,
what matters losing my life
a thousand times, to me,
in order to live?