Vamos Pro Mundo by Novos Baianos

Let's Go to the World

Wherever they may go [1]
Let's go to the world
Let's go with faith
With faith you laugh with with I wounded [2]
I wounded Paulin
The local saint [3]
Who makes miracles
Even with one eye closed

You have Samba [4]
If you're not dying of hunger
Whoever has Samba
Always goes around fearless
Whoever has Samba
If you have Samba, come on over
Come on over, come Samba

Vamos Pro Mundo

Prondé qui vão
Vamos pro mundo
Vamos com fé
Com fé ri
Con-con-feri
Feri paulin
Santu de casa
Qui até d'olho fechadu
Faz milagri

Que tem sambá
Quandu de fome não morri
Quem tem sambá
Indu vai sempre sem medu
Quem tem sambá
Tem sambá, vem pra cá
Vem pra cá, vem sambá

Notes

1. All the online lyrics for this song have the spelling mistakes that the version below has: endings with "u" instead of "o" - fechadu, Quandu, Indu, medu; "i" for "e" in milagri. I guess this would reflect that the person writing the song hasn't gone to school or doesn't quite know how to spell, because they are pure spelling mistakes that don't affect the sound of the words. There is also the first word of the song, "Prondé", which is a combining of "para onde" but also with the stress on a different syllable (the last), such that the last syllable sounds like "day" instead "gee" (soft g) like it normally would. I'm not sure how common the term is though, so I'm not sure if that also implies a social/class distinctinction or not or how much of a distinction. ^Back to Top
   
2. In this line, "With faith you laugh" sounds the same as "with with I wounded". I couldn't figure out a way to make the play on the sound without going far from the plain meaning of the verb, and I think it's easy enough to hear and appreciate the play on words when you listen to the song. ^Back to Top
   
3. This line was tricky..."Santo de casa" made me think of the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé, where a temple is called a "casa de Candomblé" and where priests and priestesses are called pai-de-santo and mãe-de-santo. And after all Novos Baianos (New Bahians) are from Bahia, the region where Candomblé is most prominent. But when I googled "santo de casa", I got all these results about "santo de casa não faz milagro", which is a saying equivalent to "no man is a prophet in his own country". I can't tell if they are trying to make a play on that saying with the subsequent lines. I guess it all hinges on whether "casa" is meant in the particular sense of Candomblé, or if it's just using "de casa" as a way of saying "local" or "hometown". I went with "local" because I like the way "local saint" sounds in English and because I think "local saint" could convey some of the meaning of "no man is a prophet in his own country", i.e. a saint who's classified as "local" sounds somewhat suspect in his holy powers. ^Back to Top
   
4. The word in the original is "sambá", which is not the way "samba" is usually spelled or pronounced (stress is normally on the first syllable). Googled this and there are various mentions of "sambá" being a word from which "samba" is derived, but the meanings given for the root word are various. It also seems to just be a casual way of saying "sambar" (to samba), most often in the phrase "vem sambá" (come and Samba). In this case, I think the most important thing is the connotation that when you talk about someone "having Samba", you're talking about them doing something, not just knowing about something or being able to do it. So to "have Samba" (tem samba) you "have to samba" (sambar, sambá). ^Back to Top