The Last Coffee
lyrics by Cátulo Castillo
music by Héctor Stamponi
Your memory touches down like a tornado,
the autumn sun begins to set again
I watch the drizzle, and as I watch
the spoon stirs in the coffee…
In the last coffee
that your lips coldly
ordered that time
in a sighing voice.
I remember your scorn,
I recall you for no reason,
I hear you in your absence.
“We’re through now,”
you said, a goodbye
laced with sugar and bitterness…
Just like coffee,
just like love, just like oblivion!
Just like the final frenzy
of a senseless resentment…
And there, with your godlessness,
I saw myself die on my feet,
I took the measure of your vanity
and then I understood my loneliness
and its pointlessness…
It was raining and I offered you
the last coffee!
Orquesta Juan D’Arienzo, singer Jorge Valdez (1964)
Julio Sosa & Leopoldo Federico (1963)
Orquesta José Basso, singer Jorge Durán (1963)
Susana Rinaldi (1973)
Esteban Morgado (Instrumental) (2003)
(Spanish original after the jump)
El último café
Llega tu recuerdo en torbellino,
vuelve en el otoño a atardecer
miro la garúa, y mientras miro,
gira la cuchara de café.
Del último café
que tus labios con frío,
pidieron esa vez
con la voz de un suspiro.
Recuerdo tu desdén,
te evoco sin razón,
te escucho sin que estés.
“Lo nuestro terminó”,
dijiste en un adiós
de azúcar y de hiel…
¡Lo mismo que el café,
que el amor, que el olvido!
Que el vértigo final
de un rencor sin porqué…
Y allí, con tu impiedad,
me vi morir de pie,
medí tu vanidad
y entonces comprendí mi soledad
sin para qué…
Llovía y te ofrecí,
¡el último café!
Poesía de gotán: The Poetry of the Tango 
A great lyric from Castillo, not easy to translate – I especially like your opening line here Derrick. A nice variety of interpretations too, with some surprises. Thanks for the post 🙂
Posted by Michael Lavocah | 05.21.2019, 3:01 AM