La cumparsita

"La cumparsita" (little street procession, a grammatical diminutive of la comparsa) is a tango written in 1916 by the Uruguayan musician Gerardo Matos Rodríguez. It is among the most famous and widely recognised tangos of all time. It was first performed publicly at Café La Giralda, then located on the ground floor of the Palacio Salvo in Montevideo, Uruguay; the site now houses the Tango Museum.

The title translates as “the little parade”, and the original version was an instrumental composition. Matos Rodríguez later wrote lyrics beginning, “The parade of endless miseries marches around that sick being who will soon die of grief.” However, the lyrics by Argentines Pascual Contursi and achieved greater popularity.