“Los ejes de mi carreta” (1960) – Atahualpa Yupanqui * Written by Romildo Risso and Atahualpa Yupanqui * LP: Canto y guittara, no. 7 (Argentina) * Label: Odeon
Adopting the names of two Incan kings for himself, Atahualpa Yupanqui (Hector Roberto Chavero Aramburo) was one of Argentina’s top-tier troubadours whose somewhat complicated political history never compromised his humanistic messages. “Los ejes de mi carreta” (“The Axles of My Cart”) is a poem by Uruguayan poet Romildo Risso that Yupanqui set to music. “Because I do not grease the axles I am called a fool,” go the words, taking the point of view of a wagon-toting worker. “[But] it is far too boring to follow the track with nothing to entertain me.”