Lyrics and translation Walter Silva - El Viejo Coleador

El Viejo Coleador

Para ser buen coleador, Solo me bastó tener
La mas humilde montura, desde que alcanzara toro
Y se apartara un momento había puntuación segura
Así me metía en el pecho
Los torneos más importantes que existen en la llanura.

Y de amores si ni hablar
Porque no podía olvidar mi gran amor en el llano
Coleando a una sola mano fue que gané su ternura
Así siendo tan llanero quizás con esa llanera
Fue mi faena más dura. (bis)

En una tarde de tantas que acostumbraba a lucirme
Llegue a la manga del pueblo con mi plata pa' inscribirme
Pero me hirieron el alma, tanto que sentí morirme
El presidente del club
Me hizo a un lado, dizque a decirme
Si viene en caballo criollo hoy no puedo recibirlo
Sepa que el caballo criollo para este coleo no sirve
Debe comprar cuatro e' milla y si es que quiere insistirme
Hay un nuevo reglamento por el cual debo regirme
Además que la inscripción pa' usted no la veo posible
Claro ya cobran millones, para jalar cuatro chifles
Cuando antes por la sabana yo los corría pa' reírme
Ay! quise matar a ese hombre, alguien alcanzó a impedirlo
Pero le sembré la mano, dio como tres volantines

Cayó cerca a mi caballo y como para que afine
Mi caballito también, maltratado en su nobleza
Le puso un casco en el pecho y el otro por la cabeza
Pa' que aprenda que el caballo de un llanero se respeta.

INTRO...

Ese día no se me olvida, desde entonces no coleo Eso ya es solo dinero
El dinero se consigue pero me duele el negocio
Con el arte del llanero si quiero jalar un toro
En mi fundo hay tal cualito mas pesado y mas ligero

Además yo no me veo,
Recibiendo algún trofeo con casco y no con sombrero
O que alguien vuelva a humillarme a un potro de mis criaderos
Nunca le pondría en la patas una venda a mi caballo
Si así no mas es palero (bis)

Amalaya aquellos tiempos cuando yo fui coleador
Que en cada tarde jugaba prácticamente mi honor
Cada toro pa un cariño cada campana un amor
Las mangas eran de guafa, sin corral recibidor
El toro que se jalaba iba pa los morichales
Si había treinta coleadores traían sesenta animales
Porque ningún dueño de hato, cobraba para prestarlos
El toro que se partía lo ordenaban despresarlo
Y a la gente mas humilde, por polleraos regalarlo
Hoy cuando se parte un sute por ley toca que pagarlo
Si un día volveria a la manga, cuando quieren apostarme
Que me les vuelvo a fajar y campeón coronarme
Y entre coleadas de viejos si es posible recordarles
Que el coleo de la sabana se hizo para respetarlo
Y que no hay mejor escuela pa aprender a practicarlo
Que colear a costa e monte o por hay de banco a banco
Porque coleador de pueblo, yo he visto muchos halando
Que dejan toro parao y en su afán para tumbarlo
Le echan esos caballones po' encima para enredarlos
Y el que quiera comprabarme, no intente cogerme el codo
Pida una cola peliada y le apuesto que lo sobo
Por eso es mio el refrán que quizás lo dice todo
No hay coleo como el de ayer ni colear como a mi modo.

The Old Coleador (Bull Tailer)

To be a good bull tailer, All I needed was to have
The most humble mount, since I could reach a bull
And if it moved away for a moment, there was a sure takedown
That's how I took on
The most important tournaments that exist on the plains.

And about love, not to mention
Because I couldn't forget my great love on the plains
Tailing with just one hand, that's how I won her tenderness
Being so much of a plainsman, perhaps with that plainswoman
It was my hardest task. (repeat)

On one afternoon of many when I used to show off
I arrived at the town's bullring with my money to sign up
But they wounded my soul, so much that I felt like dying
The president of the club
Pulled me aside, as if to tell me
If you come on a Creole horse, I can't accept you today
You should know that the Creole horse is not suitable for this bull tailing
You must buy a quarter-mile horse and if you want to insist
There is a new regulation by which I must abide
Besides, the registration fee for you, I don't see it as possible
Of course, they now charge millions, to pull four horns
When before, across the savanna, I used to chase them for fun
Oh! I wanted to kill that man, someone managed to stop me
But I planted my hand on him, he did about three somersaults

He fell near my horse and as if to top it off
My little horse too, mistreated in its nobility
Put one hoof on his chest and the other on his head
So that he learns that a plainsman's horse is respected.

INTRO...

That day I won't forget, since then I haven't tailed bulls. It's all about money now
Money can be made, but the business hurts me
With the art of the plainsman, if I want to pull a bull
On my farm, there are plenty, both heavier and lighter

Besides, I don't see myself
Receiving any trophy with a helmet and not with a hat
Or having someone humiliate a colt from my breeding grounds again
I would never put a bandage on my horse's legs
If it's just a hobby (repeat)

Oh, for those times when I was a bull tailer
When every afternoon I practically gambled my honor
Each bull for a love, each bell a sweetheart
The bullrings were made of guafa, with no receiving corral
The bull that was pulled went to the morichales
If there were thirty bull tailers, they brought sixty animals
Because no ranch owner charged to lend them
The bull that broke down was ordered to be butchered
And given to the most humble people, as a gift for the poor
Today, when a suit is torn, by law you have to pay for it
If one day I were to return to the bullring, when they want to bet against me
I'll go back to fighting and crown myself champion
And among old men's tailing, if possible, remind them
That the savanna's bull tailing was made to be respected
And that there is no better school to learn how to practice it
Than tailing at the edge of the forest or from bank to bank
Because I have seen many town bull tailers pulling
Who leave the bull standing and in their eagerness to bring it down
They throw those big horses on top of it to entangle them
And whoever wants to test me, don't try to grab my elbow
Ask for a disputed tail and I bet I'll subdue it
That's why the saying that perhaps says it all is mine
There's no bull tailing like yesterday's and no tailing like my way.