La Bien Pagá as sung by Miguel de Molina. A spaniard, he ended up in Argentina. These old musical films are delicious with their emotional drama. This one is about his ex- the “well paid” woman. And she seems so amused! The musical style is like an old zarzuela aria, complete with orchestral interludes between verses, and even a spoken verse toward the end. But it’s Molina’s strange tenor voice, full of melismas and pain that makes this song so interesting to me.
I don’t owe you anything
I’m not asking you for anything
I’m leaving your side, so forget me already
Because I have paid for your sun tanned flesh with gold<
Don’t curse, you boor
We are in peace with each other now
I don’t love you
So don’t love me
If you gave me everything, I never asked for anything
So don’t reproach me by saying that you lost everything
I also lost everything by your side
Well-paid
Yes, you are well-paid<
Because I bought your kisses
And you surrendered yourself to me
For a handful of money
Well-paid, well-paid
You were well-paid, woman
I won’t lie to you
I love another woman
But don’t think I betrayed you
She didn’t fall into my arms
She gave me a single kiss
The only kiss I didn’t pay for
I’m not asking you for anything
I won’t take anything with me
In between these walls I’ll bury<
The sorrows and joys
That I still give you and that you gave me
Along with the jewelry
That you will display for someone else now
Reading through these lyrics in English you have to agree that he found his solution to unrequited love.
Or as Charlie Sheen famously quipped when asked about his voracious appetite for ladies of the night….”I’m not paying them for sex, I pay them to leave”