Sangre maleva: a wrongly spread tango

here are two tangos whose final verses say the same: «que el hombre para ser hombre / no debe ser batidor» (a man to be a man must not be a squealer). One bears as title “Sangre maleva” and its authors are Dante Tortonese, Juan Miguel Velich and Pedro Platas, the other is called “No fue batidor”, by Enrique Mora and Germán Rienda, of which we shall talk about later.

“Sangre maleva” is a very well known tango, recorded on various opportunities and by different interpreters, but wrongly spread with the name “El batidor”, which in fact is another tango, composed by Ernesto de la Cruz with lyrics by Alfredo Marino.

On reading “Sangre maleva” lyrics we come to the conclusion that there should be an incoherence if the tango were called “El batidor”.

“Sangre maleva” begins by telling us that the protagonist, Lefty Cruz Medina, showed his braveries on several porteño neighborhoods and was considered a good friend and, sincerely, helpful, tough among tough guys, courageous man with no tricks and no godfathers. He never surrendered and was known by his male courage. No individual with these characteristics could have ever poised the doubt of being a squealer, an informer and even, when the history lays the emphasis on his honor, on his courage and not in this final afterthought that the tough man had before dying.

The error is made and is reproduced by the negligence of those who make the labels, the technical information of the records and their contents in the recording companies. Unfortunately this is very frequent and not only in the case of this tango.

On the Magenta long playing record, cut in the year 1971, by Jorge Durán with guitar accompaniment, is written “El batidor” whose authorship it attributes to Ernesto de la Cruz and Francisco Marino. In fact, the tango “El batidor” was written by de la Cruz and Marino, what it is not true is that the piece we hear on that disc were “El batidor”.

Later, in 1982, Jorge Vidal waxed it for the label Almalí, with accompaniment by the guitars of the Castro brothers, and the same mistake is made, with the further complication of mentioning that the tango is by an anonymous author.

It is quite possible, due to the boom of this number (“Sangre maleva”), that the popular use would have changed its name. But it happened that in SADAIC, at the time of the recordings above mentioned, they were wrongly annotated in the file records.

The true tango “El batidor”, by Ernesto de la Cruz and Francisco Marino, is hardly known and was recorded by Ignacio Corsini on February 26, 1927 on an Odeón record, Nº 18489 side B, matrix 448, of which were made two takes, with a modified lyric in respect to the original one which is in the sheet music but which keeps the same meaning.

“El batidor” (tango)
Music: Ernesto de la Cruz
Lyric: Alfredo Marino

Pobre "Pardo Pellegrini" que "piantastes" de la reja
Ensuciando a los muchachos con tu oficio batidor.
Hoy llevás como recuerdo de la pera hasta la ceja
un barbijo por la mugre que batiste al ruiseñor.

Vos que fuiste entre gratas un muchacho propiamente,
y que en todas las trifulcas la enguiñabas hasta el fin
Cuida el cuero, andá forrao, si te has hecho confidente,
porque, qué querés hermano va a llegar tu San Martín.

Por vos están a la sombra
el Mangrullo y el Mochila
el chueco Juancito Anguila
y Pascual el Metedor.
Por vos se supo la púa
que le enguiñaron de bute
como a cualquier farabute
a Pancho el Estafador.

Con tu pinta de marmota laburando de llavero,
te pasabas buena vida, mejor que la que llevás.
Pero un giorno medio malo pa'escurrir de un entrevero,
desataste a la sin güeso y embarraste lo demás.
Ya que todos te han calao de que sos un güey corneta,
y aunque ahora te arrepientas de haber hecho la traición,
pensá Pardo de que es cierto lo que dijo aquel poeta,
que "es al ñudo que lo fajen al que nace barrigón".

Let us compare the lyrics of this tango which is talking to us about a chicken-hearted person, of a guy whom his gang regards as a hopeless case and a despisable informer, with the lyrics of “Sangre maleva” that we previously described, and it is the following:

“Sangre maleva” (tango)
Music: Dante Tortonese
Lyric: Juan Miguel Velich y Pedro Platas

Por Boca, Avellaneda, Barracas, Puente Alsina,
Belgrano, Mataderos y en todo el arrabal
paseó sus gallardías el zurdo Cruz Medina,
que fuera un buen amigo, sin grupo servicial.

Templado en el suburbio, fue taita entre matones,
vivió tejiendo sueños allá en el callejón,
en donde por las noches rondaban los botones
y en el café del barrio gemía el bandoneón.

Era un malevo sin trampas, sin padrinos y sin gloria;
sin miga de tanta historia, pero buen mozo y de acción.
Caseros lo vio jugarse sin aflojar ni un chiquito,
y en la nueve queda inscripto su coraje de varón.

Pero una noche oscura, guapeó en Avellaneda,
y en una rinconada del trágico arrabal
sonaron tres balazos y sobre la vereda
caía un hombre herido blandiendo su puñal.

Se oyeron los auxilios, corrió la policía,
y en un charcal de sangre, sonriendo al taita halló,
que herido mortalmente, rebelde en su agonía,
con voz de macho entero, sin pestañear habló;

"No me pregunten agentes, el hombre que me ha herido,
que será tiempo perdido porque no soy delator.
Déjenme, no más, que muera, y esto a nadie asombre,
que el varón para ser hombre, no debe ser batidor.

Lastly, and to add more confusion, there is, as we already said, another tango whose lyrics end with the same verses as “Sangre maleva”, its title is “No fue batidor” with music by Enrique Mora and lyrics by Germán Rienda. Possibly this work contributed to this mess as well. Its lyrics are here:

“No fue batidor” (tango)
Music: Enrique Mora
Lyric: Germán Rienda

Los barrios porteños, lo vieron pasearse
luciendo su estampa en toda ocasión.
Y allá en Mataderos, buscó refugiarse,
sentando su hombría de guapo en la acción.
Por hombre derecho llegó a conquistarse,
no solo gran fama, sino un corazón,
por quien una noche llegara a jugarse
la vida en un duelo, frente a otro varón.

Sin padrinos ni testigos
se encontraron los rivales
y el silencio de la noche
un disparo interrumpió.
Y el malevo en desventaja
por las armas desiguales
con el pecho ensangrentado
como un macho allí cayó.

De pronto un auxilio, y allá en la cortada
tendido en la calle se ve aquel varón...
que ayer entre taitas bien fuerte tallaba,
y al que hoy un cariño, sus manos pialó.
Rodeao de botones, se aguanta rebelde,
no afloja ni un pucho y en tanto dolor,
con gesto de rabia, los labios se muerde,
pa'no dar el nombre de aquel que lo hirió.

Y el malevo ya vencido,
palpitando su agonía,
mirando a la policía,
suplicaba en su dolor:
"Déjenme morir tranquilo,
sin que deschave su nombre
que el hombre para ser hombre
¡No debe ser batidor!

If we compare these verses with those of “Sangre maleva” we draw the conclusion that the subject matter is similar and that in both cases their titles are coherent with their lyrics.

It happens that either “Sangre maleva” as “No fue batidor” are inspired in Andrés Cepeda s life, known as El Divino Poeta de la Prisión (the Divine poet of the prison), «a young cultivated guy who gave up his studies because of bad company, and after breaking the law several times he was imprisoned in the "National Penitenciary", where he wrote most of his verses» (Gardel y los autores de sus canciones, by Orlando del Greco).

The story says that Cepeda fought against three individuals at a square on Paseo Colón avenue, in the city of Buenos Aires, and at an uneven fight he was deadly injured. When the police arrived he did not want to “squeal” (inform) on those who had injured him.

In brief, the origin of the change of name is, in my opinion, in the first place, the oversimplification that popular use made to differentiate the tango “Sangre maleva”.

In second place, the negligence of the recording companies when they publish information on record covers and labels spreading the popular use and not the true name.

And lastly, the carelessness of SADAIC when it filed the information of the records of Jorge Durán and Jorge Vidal's renditions.

The case of the tango “No fue batidor”, is a curiosity but it is irrelevant to the case at issue.

Obviously radio listeners are not obliged to know exactly the name of the numbers they request or listen, this would be, in any case, a responsibility of the broadcasters that for such a long time did not worry about clarifying the issue.

This research is ratified by Oscar del Priore s opinion, who did warn the listeners about this misunderstanding on his radio program.