When I was a child we had these things called nursery rhymes – remember them? Some years ago, I was astonished to discover a Spanish nursery rhyme arranged as a tango. The song was Asserín, Asserán (See Saw) and the band was Bianco-Bachicha, the masters of the comic tango:

Asserín, Asserán.
los maderos de San Juan,
piden pan, no les dan,
piden queso, les dan un hueso.
Se les atora en el pescuezo
y comienzan a llorar
en la puerta del zaguán,
y les hacen rigui, riqui.
riqui, riqui, riqui, ran.

See Saw
sing the woodsmen from San Juan.
They ask for bread, they get a stone.
They ask for cheese – they get a bone.
They say, “Oh, heck! A slice in the neck!”
They start to cry in the door of the porch
Then they giggle with a tickle.
Tickle, tickle, tickle, giggle

Serious stuff. Anyhow this morning I was listening to some music of Roberto Firpo’s orchestra, and perfectly disguised as El ahorcado (The hanged man) , there is the same thing again!

No te llevo la canasta
Aunque te mueras para mí
Asserín, Asserán…