"It's said of me" the milonga that anticipated feminism

One of the most popular milongas in the tango repertoire is "Se dice de mí", with lyrics by Ivo Pelay and music by Francisco Canaro. To date, it is representative of a woman with a strong character who is not at all interested in social or body image conventions.

This was even featured in a salsa version for a Colombian novel, "Ugly Betty," and for this, the series received a Grammy for "best audiovisual adapted musical composition.

However, the original lyrics were written by Pelay-Canaro with a male perspective: the character that sings is extravagant, mischievous and shows off his ugliness.

The milonga was first recorded in 1943 by Uruguayan singer Carlos Roldán, who thought of the duo from the very beginning because of the style of seeing the lyrics and the compadrito way of saying them.

There are numerous words from lunfardo, the tango slang, which further accentuate the playful character that Pelay wanted to give to the lyrics of the milonga.

So when he talks about "fiero" he means "ugly", the air "compadrón" makes reference to an arrogant way of walking and the "napia" is the nose. The names also refer to women who worked in brothels at the time, usually foreigners.