That´s one of the greatest songs ever written in portuguese (and one of the best ever in any language, I believe). Many things, like in all of Chico´s work, are strongly related to brazilian culture, politics and society. Below I tried to translate in the best way I could.
(Acutally, there´s a small part in the end that is very often sang after the lyrics above:
"Por esse pão pra comer, por esse chão pra dormir
A certidão pra nascer e a concessão pra sorrir
Por me deixar respirar, por me deixar existir
Deus lhe pague
Pela cachaça de graça que a gente tem que engolir
Pela fumaça, desgraça, que a gente tem que tossir
Pelos andaimes, pingentes, que a gente tem que cair
Deus lhe pague
Pela mulher carpideira pra nos louvar e cuspir
E pelas moscas-bicheiras a nos beijar e cobrir
E pela paz derradeira que enfim vai nos redimir
Deus lhe pague")
In english, the whole lyrics must be a kinda like that:
(warning 1: I don´t work with translations and have no formal education in this area;
warning 2: that´s a free translation. I tried to keep the original sense, but that includes a lot of interpretation;
warning 3: the lyrics are amazing in portuguese for the many forms to see them, in english it might have lost a lot of it´s best)
"He made love that time like it was the last time
He kissed his woman like it/she was the last (it´s nor clear whether he´s talking about the "last time" or the "last woman")
And every child of his like he was the only one
And went down the street through shy steps
Climbed up the construction (building) like he was a machine.
Made in a base four solid walls.
Brick on brick in a magic design
His eyes filled with cement and tears
He sat to rest like it was Saturday
And ate beans with rice like he was a prince
And drank and hic-cupped like he was a castaway
And danced and laughed like he was listening to music
And stumbled in sky like he was a drunk man
And floated in the air like he was a bird
And smashed against the ground like a flaccid package
And agonized in the middle of a public street
And died on the wrong way disturbing the traffic.
He made love that time like he was the last one
He kissed his woman like she was the only one
And each of his children like he was the prodigy one
And crossed the street with his drunk pace
Climbed up the construction like it was solid
Made in a base four magic walls
Brick on brick in a logical design
His eyes filled with cement and traffic
And sat to rest like he was a prince
And ate beans with rice like it was the best
Drank and hic-cupped like he was a machine
And danced and laughed like he was the next one
And stumbled in the sky like he was listening to music
And floated in the air like it was saturday
And smashed against the ground like a shy package
And agonized in the middle of a castaway street
And died in the wrong way disturbing the public.
He loved that time like he was a machine
Kissed his woman like it was logic
Made in a base four flaccid walls
And sat to rest like he was a bird
And floated in the air like he was a prince
And smashed against the ground like a drunken package
And died in the wrong way disturbing saturday"
Then there´s a final part recorded which is:
"For the bread to eat, for this floor to sleep onto
The certification to be born, the concession to smile
For letting me breathe, for letting me exist
May God pay you back
For the free cachaça* that we have to swallow
For this smoke, disgrace, that we have to cough
For the swinging scaffolds from which we have to fall
May God pay you back
For the crying woman to praise us and spit on us
For the flies to kiss us and cover us
And for the peace which, at last, will come to redeem us
May God pay you back."
cachaça is a kind of distilled alcoholic drink, kinda similar to vocka.
What do I think the meaning is: all 3 paragraphs speak of a man falling from the top of a building under construction and I tend to belive they are 3 different men under 3 different circumstances.
The first, a man who loves his family and tries to get the best from his hard life, but life itself is too hard for him. As he tries to deny reality, he stumbles and falls accidently (as he dances, so, as he was trying to cheer himself up), dying in the street. But as the last verse says, for everybody else, his death means nothing but a dead body disturbing the traffic.
The second man seems to drink and cheat on his wife/woman; I´m not sure what´s the meaning of the fact that the walls are "magic" - is the construction imaginary? Maybe he isn´t even a worker there, he just climbed it to eat and drink and ended up falling - accidently like the first one, but for being drunk. Maybe falling from a construction is just a metaphore, for all I care. Anyway, he dies in a "shy" manner, which seems to disturb the public ("the crowd"). Were they expecting some spectacle?
The third man seems completely numb. He loves like a machine, kisses his woman because it seems right, builds flabby walls (maybe for doing things so "auto-pilot"), falls and dies disturbing people´s saturday, when they should only be concerned about resting.
The additional verses could be related with the military dictatorship in Brazil, in which people were forced into a hard life with no freedom and always threatened. Many people were tortured and "disappeared" during that time for being against the regime, so Chico, ironicly, thanks them for letting him live his life - full of misery, like the common men who die falling from the construction -, but enphasizing, "the last thing I can believe is that there will be some sort of divine justice. May God pay you back for what you´ve done".
Anyway, it´s a trully amazing song, really hard to translate and even harder to analyze, but I hope my translation will help people who wondered what he was singing here.
That´s one of the greatest songs ever written in portuguese (and one of the best ever in any language, I believe). Many things, like in all of Chico´s work, are strongly related to brazilian culture, politics and society. Below I tried to translate in the best way I could.
(Acutally, there´s a small part in the end that is very often sang after the lyrics above:
"Por esse pão pra comer, por esse chão pra dormir A certidão pra nascer e a concessão pra sorrir Por me deixar respirar, por me deixar existir Deus lhe pague
Pela cachaça de graça que a gente tem que engolir Pela fumaça, desgraça, que a gente tem que tossir Pelos andaimes, pingentes, que a gente tem que cair Deus lhe pague
Pela mulher carpideira pra nos louvar e cuspir E pelas moscas-bicheiras a nos beijar e cobrir E pela paz derradeira que enfim vai nos redimir Deus lhe pague")
In english, the whole lyrics must be a kinda like that: (warning 1: I don´t work with translations and have no formal education in this area; warning 2: that´s a free translation. I tried to keep the original sense, but that includes a lot of interpretation; warning 3: the lyrics are amazing in portuguese for the many forms to see them, in english it might have lost a lot of it´s best)
"He made love that time like it was the last time He kissed his woman like it/she was the last (it´s nor clear whether he´s talking about the "last time" or the "last woman") And every child of his like he was the only one And went down the street through shy steps Climbed up the construction (building) like he was a machine. Made in a base four solid walls. Brick on brick in a magic design His eyes filled with cement and tears He sat to rest like it was Saturday And ate beans with rice like he was a prince And drank and hic-cupped like he was a castaway And danced and laughed like he was listening to music And stumbled in sky like he was a drunk man And floated in the air like he was a bird And smashed against the ground like a flaccid package And agonized in the middle of a public street And died on the wrong way disturbing the traffic.
He made love that time like he was the last one He kissed his woman like she was the only one And each of his children like he was the prodigy one And crossed the street with his drunk pace Climbed up the construction like it was solid Made in a base four magic walls Brick on brick in a logical design His eyes filled with cement and traffic And sat to rest like he was a prince And ate beans with rice like it was the best Drank and hic-cupped like he was a machine And danced and laughed like he was the next one And stumbled in the sky like he was listening to music And floated in the air like it was saturday And smashed against the ground like a shy package And agonized in the middle of a castaway street And died in the wrong way disturbing the public.
He loved that time like he was a machine Kissed his woman like it was logic Made in a base four flaccid walls And sat to rest like he was a bird And floated in the air like he was a prince And smashed against the ground like a drunken package And died in the wrong way disturbing saturday"
Then there´s a final part recorded which is:
"For the bread to eat, for this floor to sleep onto The certification to be born, the concession to smile For letting me breathe, for letting me exist May God pay you back
For the free cachaça* that we have to swallow For this smoke, disgrace, that we have to cough For the swinging scaffolds from which we have to fall May God pay you back
For the crying woman to praise us and spit on us For the flies to kiss us and cover us And for the peace which, at last, will come to redeem us May God pay you back."
What do I think the meaning is: all 3 paragraphs speak of a man falling from the top of a building under construction and I tend to belive they are 3 different men under 3 different circumstances.
The first, a man who loves his family and tries to get the best from his hard life, but life itself is too hard for him. As he tries to deny reality, he stumbles and falls accidently (as he dances, so, as he was trying to cheer himself up), dying in the street. But as the last verse says, for everybody else, his death means nothing but a dead body disturbing the traffic.
The second man seems to drink and cheat on his wife/woman; I´m not sure what´s the meaning of the fact that the walls are "magic" - is the construction imaginary? Maybe he isn´t even a worker there, he just climbed it to eat and drink and ended up falling - accidently like the first one, but for being drunk. Maybe falling from a construction is just a metaphore, for all I care. Anyway, he dies in a "shy" manner, which seems to disturb the public ("the crowd"). Were they expecting some spectacle?
The third man seems completely numb. He loves like a machine, kisses his woman because it seems right, builds flabby walls (maybe for doing things so "auto-pilot"), falls and dies disturbing people´s saturday, when they should only be concerned about resting.
The additional verses could be related with the military dictatorship in Brazil, in which people were forced into a hard life with no freedom and always threatened. Many people were tortured and "disappeared" during that time for being against the regime, so Chico, ironicly, thanks them for letting him live his life - full of misery, like the common men who die falling from the construction -, but enphasizing, "the last thing I can believe is that there will be some sort of divine justice. May God pay you back for what you´ve done".
Anyway, it´s a trully amazing song, really hard to translate and even harder to analyze, but I hope my translation will help people who wondered what he was singing here.