Mi noche triste

"Mi noche triste" ('My sad night') was the first tango the singer Carlos Gardel recorded. Lyrics were written by Pascual Contursi and music by Samuel Castriota. In 1951 it was the basis of a film; Mi noche triste.

Its music was composed in 1915 by Samuel Castriota (1885–1932) as an instrumental tango in Buenos Aires, Argentina, originally named Lita. Soon after, Pascual Contursi (1888–1932) wrote the lyrics without composer permission in Montevideo, Uruguay and named it Percanta que me amuraste. Carlos Gardel heard that song and performed it in Buenos Aires on January 3, 1917 at the Esmeralda Theater. It was the first time a tango had serious, emotional lyrics sung with it. Gardel first recorded this song with José Ricardo on guitar, on the Odeon label in (1917). Gardel re-recorded it with Odeon in April 1930. Gardel helped to reach an agreement between Contursi and Castriota about a copyright controversy.

With Mi Noche Triste, the birth of sentimental tango took place. Nostalgic, melodramatic, and sad, the new lyrics and the music embodied Buenos Aires and its people. Contursi had written a melodramatic story that rejected lovers could identify with.