# The Tango! (True Lies) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2007, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178 "2007-12-16T09:12:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/1 "2007-12-16T09:12:26Z")
I’ve been searching hard for the Tango song used in True Lies when Arnold is dancing with Carrera with no luck. I know it’s a very generic and popular piece so the search has been quite tough. Couldn’t find anything on imdb either. Any dopers know where I could find the exact song used for the movie (I believe the same song used in the beginning of Schindler’s List also)? Best bet is to find it on iTunes, which is what I prefer, but no luck. Oh the agony. Thanks in advance ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/2 "2007-12-16T09:43:09Z")
It is an instrumental version of “Por una cabeza”. iTunes has a brazillion versions of it by every imaginable singer. This is the ultimate tango cliche. I am sure you will find one to your liking. If you are looking for one with the vocals, allow me to recommend you find it sung by “Carlos Gardel”, of course. I am not sure who the composer is, but some googling point to William Schimmel. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/3 "2007-12-16T10:00:47Z")
[Por Una Cabeza](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eYH0YN_2jE). Familiar part comes in around 1:10. ---
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/4 "2007-12-16T10:56:04Z")
Who shot the piano player? Still, beautiful… Thanks!!! ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/5 "2007-12-16T17:56:02Z")
And here is the actual scene from the film [Scent of a Woman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py9JcjGtfSg&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/6 "2007-12-17T03:18:21Z")
If you’re curious, like I was, that other “tango song”, the one that goes “dun DUN dun dun… duh da da da dun da - dun DUN dun dun” etc… is “La Cumparsita”. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/7 "2007-12-17T03:35:27Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] If you’re curious, like I was, that other “tango song”, the one that goes “dun DUN dun dun… duh da da da dun da - dun DUN dun dun” etc… is “La Cumparsita”. [/QUOTE] 😃 That is a pretty good rendering of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/8 "2007-12-17T14:29:35Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] It is an instrumental version of “Por una cabeza”. iTunes has a brazillion versions of it by every imaginable singer. This is the ultimate tango cliche. I am sure you will find one to your liking. If you are looking for one with the vocals, allow me to recommend you find it sung by “Carlos Gardel”, of course. I am not sure who the composer is, but some googling point to William Schimmel. [/QUOTE] Carlos Gardel wrote the tune for _“Por una Cabeza”_ & Alfredo Le Pera wrote the lyrics. I was pretty sure–Wikipedia says I was right. And also points out that the song is now copyright free–therefore, especially attractive to producers. Here’s Gardel [himself](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrDh5OLS-M)… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/9 "2007-12-17T16:44:22Z")
I love that tune, and it is indeed Gardel’s “Por Una Cabeza.” The song’s on the soundtrack albums of neither \*Scent of a Woman \* nor _True Lies_, IIRC, but I found it on iTunes by The Tango Project. The performance is either the exact same one used in the movies, or damned close. Check it out. I’m surprised you couldn’t find anything on [IMDb.com](http://IMDb.com). I posted to a _True Lies_ thread about the tango there awhile back; it’s a recurring question. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/10 "2007-12-17T17:10:37Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] Carlos Gardel wrote the tune for _“Por una Cabeza”_ & Alfredo Le Pera wrote the lyrics. I was pretty sure–Wikipedia says I was right. And also points out that the song is now copyright free–therefore, especially attractive to producers. Here’s Gardel [himself](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrDh5OLS-M)… [/QUOTE] linky no worky: > **[Por una cabeza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Por_una_Cabeza)** > > "Por una cabeza" (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced \[poɾ ˈuna kaˈβesa\]) is a tango song composed by Carlos Gardel with lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera for the film Tango Bar (1935). > The title of the song is a Spanish horse-racing phrase meaning "by a head", which refers to a horse winning (or losing) a race narrowly – by just the... I am amazed that there is a wiki entry for a single song. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/11 "2007-12-17T18:10:43Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] linky no worky: > **[Por una cabeza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Por_una_Cabeza)** > > "Por una cabeza" (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced \[poɾ ˈuna kaˈβesa\]) is a tango song composed by Carlos Gardel with lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera for the film Tango Bar (1935). > The title of the song is a Spanish horse-racing phrase meaning "by a head", which refers to a horse winning (or losing) a race narrowly – by just the... I am amazed that there is a wiki entry for a single song. [/QUOTE] Thanks for fixing the Wikipedia link! The song entry was apparently begun by Wikiproject Uruguay–perhaps by a Uruguayan wishing to claim _El Rey del Tango_ for his own country? (Gardel said he was born in France, but there’s also a story it was Uruguay. Of course, he lived most of his life in Argentina.) Here’s an interesting bit of the legend from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Gardel). > [@](#): > > In 1915 Carlos Gardel was supposedly wounded after being shot by Che Guevara’s father, Ernesto Guevara Lynch, as a result of a bar room brawl in the belle epoque Palais de Glace in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires, although different versions assert that he was shot in the chest or in the leg, and yet another variation holds that it was not Che’s father but rather Roberto Guevara, a high-class boy often involved in quarrels. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tango-true-lies/430178/12 "2016-03-24T13:17:12Z")
Bumped. The Obamas danced the tango in Argentina to “Por Una Cabeza”: [http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/obama-dancing-tango-argentina/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/obama-dancing-tango-argentina/index.html) Here’s the scene from _True Lies_: ["Por Una Cabeza" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tia Carrere - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It8IEGoLyKo)