The original lyrics have the protagonist, who is close to death from an illness, say goodbye to his friends, while reminiscing on aspects of his life. The original lyrics have been published as follows. In other publications the first block of verse is repeated again at the end. Adiós, muchachos, compañeros de mi vida, barra querida de aquellos tiempos. Me toca a mí hoy emprender la retirada, debo alejarme de mi buena muchachada. Adiós, muchachos. Ya me voy y me resigno... Contra el destino nadie la talla... Se terminaron para mí todas las farras, mi cuerpo enfermo no resiste más... Acuden a mi mente recuerdos de otros tiempos, de los bellos momentos que antaño disfruté cerquita de mi madre, santa viejita, y de mi noviecita que tanto idolatré... ¿Se acuerdan que era hermosa, más bella que una diosa y que ebrio yo de amor, le di mi corazón, mas el Señor, celoso de sus encantos, hundiéndome en el llanto me la llevó? Es Dios el juez supremo. No hay quien se le resista. Ya estoy acostumbrado su ley a respetar, pues mi vida deshizo con sus mandatos al robarme a mi madre y a mi novia también. Dos lágrimas sinceras derramo en mi partida por la barra querida que nunca me olvidó y al darles, mis amigos, mi adiós postrero, les doy con toda mi alma mi bendición...
Cultural repression of lyrics After the
1943 Argentine coup d'état the military dictatorship began a campaign forcing to suppress
lunfardo, slang language, any references to intoxication or other expressions that were arbitrarily considered immoral, "negative for the language" or the country. For the tango recording by the orchestra of
Enrique Rodríguez in April 1945 three changes were ordered:
la barra querida (beloved gang) had to become
viejos amigos (old friends),
nadie la talla' (no one size fits all) became
nadie batalla (no battle) and
todas las farras (all those binges) became
todas las fiestas (all those parties). The restrictions were taken over during the administration of General
Perón, and in 1949 executives of the
Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música (SADAIC) asked the administrator of mail and telecommunications in an interview that they be annulled, but to no avail. They spoke with Peron and the President on March 25, 1949, who said that no such directive existed, which left them effectless. In October 1953, the Broadcasting Act No. 14241 was approved and although it had no provisions regarding the use of popular language in radio, restrictions continued to some extent. This led to SADAIC complaint in January 1950 to eradicate certain items by
Radio El Mundo; Despite the complaint, in 1952 the institution itself and the authors had agreed with the authorities on a list of popular songs that should not be passed as idiomatic radio for reasons of taste and decency; in short, SADAIC did not question censorship but had exercised it. ==Recordings==