A Taste of Sunshine
by Milton Nascimento & Ronaldo Bastos
from Clube da Esquina, Vol. I (1972)
Okay, last one from this album, for now. I will spare you my comments, but this one I'm picking more for the lyrics than the music.
LYRICS
Alguém que vi de passagem
Numa cidade estrangeira
Lembrou os sonhos que eu tinha
E esqueci sobre a mesa
Como uma pera se esquece
Dormindo numa fruteira
Como adormece o rio
Sonhando na carne da pera
O sol na sombra se esquece
Dormindo numa cadeira
Someone I saw pass by
In a strange city
Made me remember the dreams I'd had
That I'd forgotten on the table
Like a pear gets left
Sleeping in a fruit bowl
Like the river falls asleep
Dreaming in the flesh of the pear
The sun in the shade is forgotten
Sleeping in a chair
Alguém sorriu de passagem
Numa cidade estrangeira
Lembrou o riso que eu tinha
E esqueci entre os dentes
Como uma pera se esquece
Sonhando numa fruteira
Someone smiled in passing
In a strange city
It reminded me of the laugh I used to have
And had forgotten between my teeth
Like one forgets a pear
Dreaming in a fruit bowl
Monday, April 21, 2008
Trem de Doido
Crazy Man's Train
by Lô Borges & Márcio Borges
on Clube da Esquina Vol. I (1972)
Continuing on the theme of trippy lyric-ed songs with train images... From the same album as the previous. I'm guessing Márcio Borges is Lô's brother, but I've never heard his name before right now. I feel like this song is about leaving home, perhaps Lô leaving behind Márcio? Leaving home is a big theme in Brazilian music generally, in particular for those artists from smaller cities or the interior. In fact, the next song on this album is titled "Nothing Will Be The Same" and starts, "I already have one foot in the road. Someday we'll see each other again." And now that I think about it there are a few others on this album that deal with the theme as well, so there you go.
LYRICS
Noite azul, pedra e chão
amigos num hotel
muito além do céu
nada a temer, nada a conquistar
depois que este trem começa andar, andar
deixando pelo chão os ratos mortos na praça
do mercado
Blue night, stone and ground
friends in a hotel
so far from heaven
nothing to fear, nothing to conquer
once this train starts going, going
leaving the dead rats on the ground
in the market square
Quero estar onde estão
os sonhos desse hotel
muito além do céu
nada a temer, nada a combinar
na hora de ahcar o meu lugar no trem
e não sentir pavor dos ratos soltos na praça
minha casa
I want to be where they are
the dreams of that hotel
so far from heaven
nothing to fear, nothing to figure out
when it's time to find my seat on the train
and stop dreading the rats loose in the square
my house
Não precisa ir muito além dessa estrada
os ratos não sabem morrer na calçada
é hora de você achar o trem
e não sentir pavor dos ratos soltos na casa
sua casa
You don't need to go real far from that road
the rats don't know how to die on the sidewalk
it's time for you to catch the train
and stop dreading the rats loose in the house
your house.
by Lô Borges & Márcio Borges
on Clube da Esquina Vol. I (1972)
Continuing on the theme of trippy lyric-ed songs with train images... From the same album as the previous. I'm guessing Márcio Borges is Lô's brother, but I've never heard his name before right now. I feel like this song is about leaving home, perhaps Lô leaving behind Márcio? Leaving home is a big theme in Brazilian music generally, in particular for those artists from smaller cities or the interior. In fact, the next song on this album is titled "Nothing Will Be The Same" and starts, "I already have one foot in the road. Someday we'll see each other again." And now that I think about it there are a few others on this album that deal with the theme as well, so there you go.
LYRICS
Noite azul, pedra e chão
amigos num hotel
muito além do céu
nada a temer, nada a conquistar
depois que este trem começa andar, andar
deixando pelo chão os ratos mortos na praça
do mercado
Blue night, stone and ground
friends in a hotel
so far from heaven
nothing to fear, nothing to conquer
once this train starts going, going
leaving the dead rats on the ground
in the market square
Quero estar onde estão
os sonhos desse hotel
muito além do céu
nada a temer, nada a combinar
na hora de ahcar o meu lugar no trem
e não sentir pavor dos ratos soltos na praça
minha casa
I want to be where they are
the dreams of that hotel
so far from heaven
nothing to fear, nothing to figure out
when it's time to find my seat on the train
and stop dreading the rats loose in the square
my house
Não precisa ir muito além dessa estrada
os ratos não sabem morrer na calçada
é hora de você achar o trem
e não sentir pavor dos ratos soltos na casa
sua casa
You don't need to go real far from that road
the rats don't know how to die on the sidewalk
it's time for you to catch the train
and stop dreading the rats loose in the house
your house.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
O Trem Azul
The Blue Train
by Lô Borges & Ronaldo Bastos
from Clube da Esquina Vol. I (1972)
This is one of my all-time favorite albums, and I think this song was the first one on the album that really caught my attention. I listened to the album almost daily my junior year of college. I remember talking about it with my Portuguese professor and her saying she and her brother were hooked on it when they were in middle school or high school and would listen to it over and over on their record player, but I'm not sure how popular it was overall in Brazil at the time it was released.
I couldn't tell you what the connection is supposed to be between the verse and chorus, or what the blue train is supposed to mean, but hey, it was the 70s, things were just trippy like that. I enjoy Lô's voice a lot on this track. It sounds kind of off-key at times, but that's part of what keeps the song from feeling too cheesy to me. It just popped into my head that a lot of songs on this album seem to reference the wind. I wonder if that has to do with the part of Brazil they are from...something to look into. I have a few other translations from this album pretty much ready to go, so I'm going to post at least one more before moving on to other things.
LYRICS
Coisas que a gente se esquece de dizer
Frases que o vento vem às vezes me lembrar
Coisas que ficaram muito tempo por dizer
Na canção do vento não se cansam de voar
Things that we forget to say
Phrases that the wind sometimes brings to mind
Things that took a long time to say
In the wind's song, they never tire of flying
Você pega o trem azul
O sol na cabeça
O sol pega o trem azul
Você na cabeça
O sol na cabeça
You catch the blue train
The sun in the front
The sun catches the blue train
You in the front
The sun in the front
by Lô Borges & Ronaldo Bastos
from Clube da Esquina Vol. I (1972)
This is one of my all-time favorite albums, and I think this song was the first one on the album that really caught my attention. I listened to the album almost daily my junior year of college. I remember talking about it with my Portuguese professor and her saying she and her brother were hooked on it when they were in middle school or high school and would listen to it over and over on their record player, but I'm not sure how popular it was overall in Brazil at the time it was released.
I couldn't tell you what the connection is supposed to be between the verse and chorus, or what the blue train is supposed to mean, but hey, it was the 70s, things were just trippy like that. I enjoy Lô's voice a lot on this track. It sounds kind of off-key at times, but that's part of what keeps the song from feeling too cheesy to me. It just popped into my head that a lot of songs on this album seem to reference the wind. I wonder if that has to do with the part of Brazil they are from...something to look into. I have a few other translations from this album pretty much ready to go, so I'm going to post at least one more before moving on to other things.
LYRICS
Coisas que a gente se esquece de dizer
Frases que o vento vem às vezes me lembrar
Coisas que ficaram muito tempo por dizer
Na canção do vento não se cansam de voar
Things that we forget to say
Phrases that the wind sometimes brings to mind
Things that took a long time to say
In the wind's song, they never tire of flying
Você pega o trem azul
O sol na cabeça
O sol pega o trem azul
Você na cabeça
O sol na cabeça
You catch the blue train
The sun in the front
The sun catches the blue train
You in the front
The sun in the front
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Não Identificado
"Unidentified"
by Caetano Veloso
on Gal Costa (1969)
Listen Here
This song always puts me in a good mood. I mean, is there anything sweeter than Gal's voice on this track? And I love the way Caetano is able to mix a lounge-ish sound - using the electric organ (or whatever that instrument is), strings and flute - with weird and jarring "space sounds." To me they seem to feed off of each other rather than clash against each other. I also love the image of people in a town in the middle of nowhere looking up in the sky at night and seeing something brightly burning, and it being a love song launched into space.
A few of notes about this song's lyrics in Portuguese:
1. I've translated "um iê-iê-iê romântico" as a "sweet rock n' roll tune." I knew that "iê-iê-iê" was a style of early Brazilian rock, but when I did some good old Googling, I found out that the name is actually a transliteration of the phrase "yeah, yeah, yeah", taken from the Beatles song "She Loves You." So, if someone can suggest a more specific adjective for that style than "rock n' roll," please let me know.
2. I hate to use the word "record" twice in the phrase "record it on a flying record." It reminds me of that line in Austin Powers: "Allow myself to introduce...myself." In Portuguese the two words are different, but I couldn't think of any other verb to say "record," and I didn't want to use the word "disc" because I feel like that implies a CD and not a record, although in Portuguese you can use the word "disc" for both, as evidenced here.
3. The phrase "country town" doesn't quite give the full meaning of "uma cidade do interior" in Portuguese. As you can probably guess from the Portuguese word "interior," the lyrics are referring to a town in the "interior" of Brazil. And this touches on one of the fundamental differences in the historical development of the US and Brazil. Brazil's interior is and always has been greatly underdeveloped in comparison to its coast. So, I would say that "uma cidade do interior" is somewhere a little more remote and a little more rustic than an American might normally associate with the term "country town."
Lyrics
I'm gonna write a song for her
A simple, Brazilian song
And launch it after Carnaval
Eu vou fazer uma canção pra ela
Uma canção singela, brasileira
Para lançar depois do Carnaval
I'm gonna write her a sweet rock n' roll tune
A love sick anticomputer
Eu vou fazer um iê-iê-iê romântico
Um anticomputador sentimental
I'm gonna write her a love song
And record it on a flying record (x2)
Eu vou fazer uma canção de amor
Para gravar num disco voador
A song telling her everything
That I'm still alone, and in love
And launch it into outer space
Uma canção dizendo tudo a ela
Que ainda estou sozinho, apaixonado
Para lançar no espaço sideral
My love will shine in the night
Up in the sky over some country town
Minha paixão ha de brilhar na noite
No céu de uma cidade do interior
Like an unidentified flying object (x3)
Como um objeto não identificado
That I'm still alone and in love
Like an unidentified flying object
To record on a flying record
Que ainda estou sozinho apaixonado
Como um objeto não identificado
Para gravar num disco voador
I'm gonna write her a love song
Like an unidentified flying object
Eu vou fazer uma canção de amor
Como um objeto não identificado
END
by Caetano Veloso
on Gal Costa (1969)
Listen Here
This song always puts me in a good mood. I mean, is there anything sweeter than Gal's voice on this track? And I love the way Caetano is able to mix a lounge-ish sound - using the electric organ (or whatever that instrument is), strings and flute - with weird and jarring "space sounds." To me they seem to feed off of each other rather than clash against each other. I also love the image of people in a town in the middle of nowhere looking up in the sky at night and seeing something brightly burning, and it being a love song launched into space.
A few of notes about this song's lyrics in Portuguese:
1. I've translated "um iê-iê-iê romântico" as a "sweet rock n' roll tune." I knew that "iê-iê-iê" was a style of early Brazilian rock, but when I did some good old Googling, I found out that the name is actually a transliteration of the phrase "yeah, yeah, yeah", taken from the Beatles song "She Loves You." So, if someone can suggest a more specific adjective for that style than "rock n' roll," please let me know.
2. I hate to use the word "record" twice in the phrase "record it on a flying record." It reminds me of that line in Austin Powers: "Allow myself to introduce...myself." In Portuguese the two words are different, but I couldn't think of any other verb to say "record," and I didn't want to use the word "disc" because I feel like that implies a CD and not a record, although in Portuguese you can use the word "disc" for both, as evidenced here.
3. The phrase "country town" doesn't quite give the full meaning of "uma cidade do interior" in Portuguese. As you can probably guess from the Portuguese word "interior," the lyrics are referring to a town in the "interior" of Brazil. And this touches on one of the fundamental differences in the historical development of the US and Brazil. Brazil's interior is and always has been greatly underdeveloped in comparison to its coast. So, I would say that "uma cidade do interior" is somewhere a little more remote and a little more rustic than an American might normally associate with the term "country town."
Lyrics
I'm gonna write a song for her
A simple, Brazilian song
And launch it after Carnaval
Eu vou fazer uma canção pra ela
Uma canção singela, brasileira
Para lançar depois do Carnaval
I'm gonna write her a sweet rock n' roll tune
A love sick anticomputer
Eu vou fazer um iê-iê-iê romântico
Um anticomputador sentimental
I'm gonna write her a love song
And record it on a flying record (x2)
Eu vou fazer uma canção de amor
Para gravar num disco voador
A song telling her everything
That I'm still alone, and in love
And launch it into outer space
Uma canção dizendo tudo a ela
Que ainda estou sozinho, apaixonado
Para lançar no espaço sideral
My love will shine in the night
Up in the sky over some country town
Minha paixão ha de brilhar na noite
No céu de uma cidade do interior
Like an unidentified flying object (x3)
Como um objeto não identificado
That I'm still alone and in love
Like an unidentified flying object
To record on a flying record
Que ainda estou sozinho apaixonado
Como um objeto não identificado
Para gravar num disco voador
I'm gonna write her a love song
Like an unidentified flying object
Eu vou fazer uma canção de amor
Como um objeto não identificado
END
Monday, March 3, 2008
Luzia Luluza
by Gilberto Gil
Album: Gilberto Gil (1968)
Listen to the song here.
I often say this album reminds me of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but that might also be because the cover has Gil dressed up in a couple old-style military outfits (randomly paired with a 60s soul-style picture of him holding a steering wheel). You can check out the cover and album write-up here.
Still, it does have a circus/carnival sound in many places that I associate with Sgt. Pepper's. I also think the albums share a similar theme of daily realities mixed with flights of fancy. But whatever the musical similarities, both were extremely experimental for their time and place, Gil following the Beatles by a year.
Forgetting about the Beatles, there are a few things in particular that I really love about this song:
1. The ambient noises of the rain at the beginning, and then the voice over the radio in the middle, where he's in the phone booth talking.
2. The way he uses the James Bond movie to transition into a last-gasp, romantic fantasy that's super stereotypical for Brazil.
3. The way the first few phrases build up to the "E Luzia, e Luzia, e Luzia," and then it softly transitions to "Estou tão cansado mas disse que ia..." Gilberto Gil is so good at phrasing.
Here are the lyrics:
I spent all afternoon rehearsing, rehearsing
Passei toda a tarde ensaiando, ensaiando
This dream of being an actor ends up killing me
Essa vontade de ser ator acaba me matando
It's almost eight
São quase oito horas da noite
And I'm here in this taxi
E eu nesse táxi
What awful traffic, Jesus
Que trânsito horrível, meu Deus
And Luzia, and Luzia, and Luzia
E Luzia, e Luzia, e Luzia
I'm so tired, but I said I'd go
Estou tão cansado, mas disse que
Luzia Luluza is there waiting for me
Luzia Luluza está lá me esperando
Two tickets please, one full, one half
Mais duas entradas, uma inteira, uma meia
It's almost eight, the theater is full
São quase oito horas, a sala está cheia
This eight o'clock show is going to be packed
Essa sessão das oito vai ficar lotada
It's only the third week James Bond is out
Terçeira semana em cartaz James Bond
Better for Luzia, she won't just stand around
Melhor pra Luzia, não fica parada
When people don't show up, she gets distraught
Quando não vem gente, ela fica abondanada
In that phone booth at Avenue Cinema
Naquela cabine do Cine Avenida
Magazines, embroidery, a battery-powered radio
Revistas, bordados, um rádio de pilha
In the death cell of Avenue Cinema, she'll be waiting for me
Na cela da morte do Cine Avenida, a me esperar
Next year, we'll get married
No próximo ano nós vamos casar
Next movie, we'll get married
No próximo filme nós vamos casar
Luzia Luluza, I'll be famous
Luzia, Luluza, eu vou ficar famoso
I'll star in my own movie
Vou fazer um filme de ator principal
In the movie, you and I get married, Luluza
No filme eu me caso com você, Luluza
During Carnaval
No carnaval
I'll get out of the taxi looking happy, wearing a mask
Eu desço do táxi feliz, mascarado
You're waiting for me by the ticket booth
Você me esperando na bilheteria
Wearing a crepe paper dress
Sua fantasia é de papel crepom
Like a flash of light, I take you by the hands
Eu pego você pelas mãos como um raio,
And we leave down the avenue
E saio com você descendo a avenida
The avenue is long, is long, is long...
A avenida é comprida, é comprida, é comprida...
And it ends in the sand
E termina na areia
At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar
And we get married
E a gente se casa
In the sand, Luluza
Na areia, Luluza
At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar
At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar
END
Album: Gilberto Gil (1968)
Listen to the song here.
I often say this album reminds me of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but that might also be because the cover has Gil dressed up in a couple old-style military outfits (randomly paired with a 60s soul-style picture of him holding a steering wheel). You can check out the cover and album write-up here.
Still, it does have a circus/carnival sound in many places that I associate with Sgt. Pepper's. I also think the albums share a similar theme of daily realities mixed with flights of fancy. But whatever the musical similarities, both were extremely experimental for their time and place, Gil following the Beatles by a year.
Forgetting about the Beatles, there are a few things in particular that I really love about this song:
1. The ambient noises of the rain at the beginning, and then the voice over the radio in the middle, where he's in the phone booth talking.
2. The way he uses the James Bond movie to transition into a last-gasp, romantic fantasy that's super stereotypical for Brazil.
3. The way the first few phrases build up to the "E Luzia, e Luzia, e Luzia," and then it softly transitions to "Estou tão cansado mas disse que ia..." Gilberto Gil is so good at phrasing.
Here are the lyrics:
I spent all afternoon rehearsing, rehearsing
Passei toda a tarde ensaiando, ensaiando
This dream of being an actor ends up killing me
Essa vontade de ser ator acaba me matando
It's almost eight
São quase oito horas da noite
And I'm here in this taxi
E eu nesse táxi
What awful traffic, Jesus
Que trânsito horrível, meu Deus
And Luzia, and Luzia, and Luzia
E Luzia, e Luzia, e Luzia
I'm so tired, but I said I'd go
Estou tão cansado, mas disse que
Luzia Luluza is there waiting for me
Luzia Luluza está lá me esperando
Two tickets please, one full, one half
Mais duas entradas, uma inteira, uma meia
It's almost eight, the theater is full
São quase oito horas, a sala está cheia
This eight o'clock show is going to be packed
Essa sessão das oito vai ficar lotada
It's only the third week James Bond is out
Terçeira semana em cartaz James Bond
Better for Luzia, she won't just stand around
Melhor pra Luzia, não fica parada
When people don't show up, she gets distraught
Quando não vem gente, ela fica abondanada
In that phone booth at Avenue Cinema
Naquela cabine do Cine Avenida
Magazines, embroidery, a battery-powered radio
Revistas, bordados, um rádio de pilha
In the death cell of Avenue Cinema, she'll be waiting for me
Na cela da morte do Cine Avenida, a me esperar
Next year, we'll get married
No próximo ano nós vamos casar
Next movie, we'll get married
No próximo filme nós vamos casar
Luzia Luluza, I'll be famous
Luzia, Luluza, eu vou ficar famoso
I'll star in my own movie
Vou fazer um filme de ator principal
In the movie, you and I get married, Luluza
No filme eu me caso com você, Luluza
During Carnaval
No carnaval
I'll get out of the taxi looking happy, wearing a mask
Eu desço do táxi feliz, mascarado
You're waiting for me by the ticket booth
Você me esperando na bilheteria
Wearing a crepe paper dress
Sua fantasia é de papel crepom
Like a flash of light, I take you by the hands
Eu pego você pelas mãos como um raio,
And we leave down the avenue
E saio com você descendo a avenida
The avenue is long, is long, is long...
A avenida é comprida, é comprida, é comprida...
And it ends in the sand
E termina na areia
At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar
And we get married
E a gente se casa
In the sand, Luluza
Na areia, Luluza
At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar
At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar
END
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