Buarque Life

Continuing to fanboy about this song. Here’s a translation, highlighting the “Proparoxítono” words.

I’ve borrowed pretty heavily from some of the many versions on Lyricstranslate. They’re all by brazilians, I think, and they’ve done a great job, so I’ve cleaned up the english and made a few other changes but generally assumed they know more than I do about the point of the song. I found “flácido” really difficult to translate. It obviously means “flaccid” but that word just sounds so wrong in a song. I’ve gone for “sagging” since it fits in both the lines it’s used in. I think that’s the best I can do but this is the sort of thing that makes you realise how hard the job of the translator is.

A couple of interesting things to add:

Firstly, I didn’t notice when I heard it but the first two lines end in the same word. That’s a bit of a cheat, Chico, come on! It’s the only example of that though.

Secondly, he keeps the rest of the line unchanged almost all the time but there are a few other small changes, which I’ve highlighted in orange. The fact that portuguese doesn’t use many subject pronouns helps in this regard. In the first line, “fosse” goes from “it was” to “he was” with no need for other changes. You just get it from the context, because “única” changes gender, meaning it is now referring to the man, not to the (a) vez.

Amou daquela vez como se fosse a última Beijou sua mulher como se fosse a última E cada filho seu como se fosse o único E atravessou a rua com seu passo tímido Subiu a construção como se fosse máquina Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes sólidas Tijolo com tijolo num desenho mágico Seus olhos embotados de cimento e lágrima Sentou pra descansar como se fosse sábado Comeu feijão com arroz como se fosse um príncipe Bebeu e soluçou como se fosse um náufrago Dançou e gargalhou como se ouvisse música E tropeçou no céu como se fosse um bêbado E flutuou no ar como se fosse um pássaro E se acabou no chão feito um pacote flácido Agonizou no meio do passeio público Morreu na contramão atrapalhando o tráfego	He made love that time like it was the last time He kissed his wife like she was the last woman And kissed each child like they were the only one And he crossed the street with his timid steps He climbed the construction like he was a machine He built up four solid walls at the next level Brick after brick in a magical design His eyes were crusted with cement and tears He sat down to rest like it was Saturday He ate rice and beans like he was a prince He drank and sobbed like he’d been shipwrecked He danced and laughed like he was listening to music He tripped on the sky like he was a drunk And he floated on the air like he was a bird And he ended up on the ground like a sagging package He agonized in the middle of the public pavement He died on the wrong side of the road disrupting the traffic
Amou daquela vez como se fosse o último Beijou sua mulher como se fosse a única E cada filho seu como se fosse o pródigo E atravessou a rua com seu passo bêbado Subiu na construção como se fosse sólido Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes mágicas Tijolo com tijolo num desenho lógico Seus olhos embotados de cimento e tráfego Sentou pra descansar como se fosse um príncipe Comeu feijão com arroz como se fosse o máximo Bebeu e soluçou como se fosse máquina Dançou e gargalhou como se fosse o próximo E tropeçou no céu como se ouvisse música E flutuou no ar como se fosse sábado E se acabou no chão feito um pacote tímido Agonizou no meio do passeio náufrago Morreu na contramão atrapalhando o público	He made love that time like he was the greatest He kissed his wife like she was the only one And kissed each child like they were the prodigal son And he crossed the street with his drunk steps He climb the construction like it was a solid He built up four magic walls at the next level Brick after brick in logical design His eyes were crusted with cement and traffic He sat down to rest like he was a prince He ate rice and beans like it was the greatest meal He drank and sobbed like he was a machine He danced and laughed like he was the next one He tripped on the sky like he was listening to music And he floated on the air like it was Saturday And he ended up on the ground like a timid package He agonized on the middle of the shipwrecked pavement He died on the wrong side of the road distrupting the people
Amou daquela vez como se fosse máquina Beijou sua mulher como se fosse lógico Ergueu no patamar quatro paredes flácidas Sentou pra descansar como se fosse um pássaro E flutuou no ar como se fosse um príncipe E se acabou no chão feito um pacote bêbado Morreu na contramão atrapalhando o sábado	He made love that time like he was a machine He kissed his wife like it was logical He built up four sagging walls at the next level He sat down to rest like he was a bird And he floated on the air like he was a prince And he ended up on the ground like a drunken package He died on the wrong side of the road disrupting Saturday

The song was written in the seventies, during the dictatorship when Buarque was living in exile. There are a lot of theories about exactly wht he’s trying to do, but he hasn’t really spelled it out, preferring to let people speculate. There’s a definite shift between the three stages: the first one seems quite factual, the second sort of carefree, the third nightmarish. The social criticism is about the fact that, at the time, a lot of people were moving to the cities in search of a better life but finding that living conditions and working conditions were pretty terrible.