Francisco Lomuto · Tango By Year

1926

Bacán fulero
Picked for its delicate piano against Lomuto's usual heavy beat.
Lagrimitas
Paired with Bacán fulero; noted for a violin counter-melody late in the piece.

A record not yet identified
Charlo
Both Canaro and Lomuto recorded the same tango with Charlo; Lomuto's has more weight and is less sweet.
Only in the episode
Te aconsejo que me olvides
An instrumental with a nice violin counter-melody and a bandoneón variación at the end; a Pedro Maffia composition.
Guapito
A second instrumental that many listeners will not have heard.

Soy un Arlequín
Charlo
One of 1929's biggest hits, with more than half a dozen good versions; chat listeners rated this Lomuto/Charlo version above D'Arienzo's.
Only in the episode
Pinta Maleva
Lunfardo title meaning 'evil look' ('pinta' is look or appearance).
Patadura
Lavocah guesses, without certainty, that the title refers to standing your ground in a knife-fight stance; praised for its final variación.
Mamita
Closing track of the night; its violinist takes a rare solo using artificial harmonics, which Lavocah says is the only tango he knows with such a solo.
Soy un arlequín
Charlo
A Discépolo tango about a harlequin who dances to hide the pain; picked as one of the best tangos of 1929.
Only in the episode

Knock Out D'Amour
An instrumental with an English-tinged title, reflecting the era's film-song influence; preferred over Lomuto's vocal sides this year.
Only in the episode
Penurias
Another Lomuto instrumental, chosen for its beat and strong violin lines over the vocal tracks this year.
Cuando Llora la Milonga
A famous tango, though not a famous recording of it, chosen to close the night on something more traditional.
Only in the episode
Colorado, Colorado
Chosen deliberately as the last track, to link forward to the Troilo version played in an earlier episode and to the next show's 1942 theme.
Only in the episode

Mar de Fondo
An unusually wild instrumental with a manic mid-song piano break, picked as an atypical Lomuto track.

San Telmo
Charlo
A song about the real, still-central barrio of San Telmo, sung by a singer who freelanced for the Odeon label rather than belonging to Lomuto's band.
Me muero por tus besos
Fernando Díaz
Sung by a genuine Lomuto band member, who stayed with the orchestra through the 1930s alongside Jorge Omar.
Only in the episode

Cómo se muere de amor
Fernando Díaz
The first recording of the song, which is better known from De Angelis's 1943 version; Dag loves the melody.
Si soy así
Fernando Díaz
A playful, macho lyric ('what am I going to do?') by Lomuto himself; also recorded by Canaro with Ada Falcón and by Gardel the same year.
A record not yet identified
Mercedes Simone and Fernando Díaz
A rare male-female duet waltz, which Lavocah says is lucky to have survived.
Only in the episode

Bibelot
Fernando Díaz
Its B-section melody turns out to be the same tune later famous as 'Just a Gigolo'.
ChapterThe Tango That Hid Just a Gigolo
A Lomuto tango from 1934 hides the B-section of a song you already know.
Mi consejo
Fernando Díaz
Sourced from a Japanese reissue via DJ Teresa Faust after Dag couldn't find an acceptable-fidelity copy; praised for the balance between clarinets and bandoneons in the final variation.
Only in the episode
ChapterLomuto Paid Himself Twice
When Francisco Lomuto needed a lyricist, he hired the cheapest one he knew: himself, under a fake name.

Caminito
Jorge Omar
A very well-known title; Lomuto is noted as hugely popular in 1935, second only to Canaro in record sales for Victor.

Arrepentido
Jorge Omar
A very sad, sentimental number chosen to close the night on that mood.
La Cumparsita
One of only two 1936 recordings of La Cumparsita (the other Japanese); a slow-burning version with a dense bandoneón variation.
Only in the episode

Carizas
Jorge Omar
Dag's pick to showcase an underplayed orchestra; Michael likes it a lot, especially Lomuto's upward key-modulation trick at the ending.
Only in the episode
S.O.S.
An instrumental also known from Canaro's versions; Lomuto's take has a heavier, more grounded beat.
Only in the episode
A record not yet identified
Jorge Omar
A conversational Lomuto track from a very good year for the orchestra; lyric 'love is like a dream or an illusion'.
Only in the episode

Tango amigo
Carmen del Moral
A solo recording by a 19-year-old woman, backed by Lomuto, who sings the whole lyric.
Only in the episode
Como las aves
María Teresa Greco
A one-off woman singer, perhaps from a Lomuto stage show; Lavocah doesn't know who she is.
Salud, dinero y amor
Jorge Omar
A hit of 1939 where Omar sings only the chorus; the order of the three goods (health, money, love) matters in Argentina.
Only in the episode
No hay tierra como la mía
A patriotic milonga listing why Argentina and its women beat anywhere else; Dag prefers this version to Canaro's famous one.

El Día Que Te Fuiste
Fernando Díaz, Jorge Omar
Opened the show because, per Lavocah, Lomuto handled the transition to the more energetic milonguera period better than Canaro.
Yo Nací Para Querer
Jorge Omar
Stenvoll liked the playful lyric: a man who can't help trying to win over every woman he sees.
Riendo
Fernando Díaz
A sadder companion piece, about someone who hides pain behind a laugh.

Cuando la milonga llora
A track Lavocah calls a perfect three-minute story, building to a beautiful climax, and an underplayed example of Lomuto's work.
Only in the episode
ChapterRecuerdo came back in 1941
Pugliese did not bring Recuerdo back. Lomuto and Troilo did.
Recuerdo
The only 1941 recording of Pugliese's tango, played in the 1926 De Caro arrangement with a modest, restrained variation.
Loco torbellino
Jorge Omar
Omar and Fernando Díaz are very good singers who are not 'firework' singers, so they suit Lomuto.
No tengo más que un amor
Fernando Díaz
A funny lyric: 'my heart is a cooperative'; many other loves, but he is faithful to one.

A record not yet identified
Dag calls Lomuto an underrated 1942 waltz orchestra but never names the track on air.
Only in the episode
Criolla linda
A second, instrumental Lomuto track played in the afterparty.
Sentimiento gaucho
Paired straight after Criolla linda.

Sombras, nada más
An extreme lyric about a man slicing his wrists to show his love; music by Lomuto, lyric by Contursi. Lavocah argues Lomuto's is the better version.
Only in the episode

Mantelito blanco
A Lomuto waltz played before moving into his tangos.
Copas, amigas y besos
Alberto Rivera
A Lomuto-Rivera tango added to the main show's single Lomuto pick.
Only in the episode
El barco María
Carlos Galarza
A second Lomuto tango, this time with Galarza singing.
Un vals se fue
Carlos Galarza
Played partly because the music may be an early composition by Horacio Salgán, before his own band succeeded.
Only in the episode

La voltosa
A slower, darker Lomuto instrumental that keeps his 'elephant-like' heavy beats; Lavocah says it sounds only partly like the earlier Lomuto and likes him better two or three years earlier.
Only in the episode

Selección de tangos
Alberto Rivera / Miguel Montero
A medley of six tangos, played to show how the shortage of new songs led bands to string old ones together; Lomuto is just back from nearly two years in Spain.

ChapterLomuto's last session
The elder statesman recorded his final tango weeks before he died.
Tarde
Miguel Montero
Lomuto's last recording, made on 27 October 1950, very sad and darker than his usual sound.