The Cabeceo

Skip to content

Song

Malena · Miguel Caló · 1965

Miguel CalóRoberto LuquetangoOdeon Colombia
Music by Lucio Demare, lyrics by Homero Manzi. 15 recordings in our catalogue, 1942–2001.

Pinned at 1965 · Nuevo 1955–1984 · Miguel Caló recordings indexed 1933–1972 · 2 applied periods in gold

The song

The piece as people name it, whoever plays it.

11 orchestras recorded it

132 Dances filmed to it

Who wrote it

Music
Lucio Demare
Words
Homero Manzi
Written
not yet cited · help fill it
First played
not yet cited · help fill it

Source: TangoCloud catalogue

Lyrics

Español

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, sólo 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.

English · machine translation

Malena sings tango like no other and in each verse she puts her heart. Her voice is perfumed with the scent of the suburbs, Malena has the sorrow of a bandoneon. Maybe back in her childhood her lark's voice took that dark tone of the alley, or perhaps that romance that she only mentions when she gets sad with alcohol. Malena sings the tango with a shadowy voice, Malena has the sorrow of a bandoneon. Your song has the cold of the last encounter. Your song becomes bitter in the salt of memory. I do not know if your voice is the flower of a sorrow, I only know that to the murmur of your tangos, Malena, I feel you better, better than me. Your eyes are dark as oblivion, your lips tight as rancor, your hands two doves that feel cold, your veins have bandoneon blood. Your tangos are abandoned creatures that cross over the mud of the alley, when all the doors are closed and the ghosts of the song bark. Malena sings the tango with a broken voice, Malena has the sorrow of a bandoneon.

Every version

Computed from the catalogue, not yet written by anyone

The catalogue holds 15 recordings of this song by 11 orchestras, 1942 to 2001.
1940’50’60’70’80’90’00
Recordings of Malena · Miguel Caló · 1965 by year, taller the more they are danced · 15 of 15 recordings carry a year · read Nov 1, 2026

15 recordings · our catalogue, dances filmed on TangoTube · 31 more we know of

a version people dance tono Dances matched yet: something to listen to

The leader is Lucio Demare, with 36% of the 132 filmed dances matched to a version of this song.

19 more dances name this song but not which version, so no share counts them. “No match yet” means no filmed dance is tied to that version so far, not that nobody dances it. Dances whose music we have not identified are left out.

Choose A and B on two recordings to hear them one after the other.

  1. Osvaldo PuglieseMalenaOsvaldo PuglieseinstrumentaltangoOdeon
    23 dances · 17%
    1974
  2. Roberto GoyenecheMalenaRoberto Goyenechesinger unknowntango
    16 dances · 12%
    1968
  3. Hugo DiazMalenaHugo Diazsinger unknowntango
    12 dances · 9%
    1972
  4. Color Tango (Roberto Alvarez)MalenaColor Tango (Roberto Alvarez)singer unknowntango
    9 dances · 7%
    1998
  5. Francisco CanaroMalenaFrancisco CanaroJuan Carlos RolontangoOdeon
    2 dances · 2%
    1955
  6. Quintin VerduMalenaQuintin VerduLucio Lambertotango
    No match yet
    1950
  7. Puglia-PedrozaMalenaPuglia-PedrozaFrancisco Fiorentinotango
    No match yet
    1951
  8. Horacio Salgan y Ubaldo De LioMalenaHoracio Salgan y Ubaldo De Liosinger unknowntangoMelopea
    No match yet
    2001
  9. -unspecified guitars-Not in our catalogueAzucena Maizani1942
  10. -unspecified orchestra-Not in our catalogueEdmundo Rivero1961
  11. Lucio DemareNot in our catalogueJul 301968
  12. Rosanna FalascaNot in our catalogue1982
  13. Rosaura SilvestreNot in our catalogue1995
  14. Alfredo MarcucciNot in our catalogueRamón Regueira1998
  15. Ensemble HyperionNot in our catalogueAntonella Ruggiero · Jul 212010
  16. Agustín IrustaNot in our catalogue
  17. Azucena MaizaniNot in our catalogue

One recording

A dated take, with its sound and the couples dancing it.

Miguel Caló

MalenaMiguel CalóRoberto LuquetangoOdeon Colombia

No couple filmed dancing this recording yet

Read more

Cite this

What we don't know yet4 of 5 known

The day it was recorded.

Data: recordings, facts and sources

Ask Tangopedia

Answers only from cited facts, each with its source.