Gardel and his contemporaries did much to make the tango a more "respectable"

form of music, which meant putting something of a distance between it and

its roots in the lowest income urban working class. This tango, however,

while not refering directly to the poverty, prostitution, alcohol, and slums,

does sound more like the original tangos, with a heavy, beaten sound

during most of the music, and the steadily pulsing bandoneon rhythm that remains

steadily underneath, with other instruments creating the sudden turns and

twists.

The music starts with the characteristic quick, staccato rhythms, but when

the vocal part begins, it is hushed into a sound of bitter exhaustion,

as the singer tells of the shame and pain he has endured, watching his

life go downhill (cuesta abajo), for the sake of his passion. The music

quickens as he remembers the days when the whole world couldn't hold his

happiness, and twists into bitterness and emptiness again as he admits that

even if he knew all along what would happen, for the sake of her "magical

eyes" he would do it all over again.

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