This jumped out at me on Instagram yesterday. I didn’t know the song so I googled it and I think I like the drag version better than the original. It’s Sincera Mente, who I mentioned a few days ago, with another drag queen who was on a talent show, I think…? I don’t know, I haven’t seen it. Anyway, they both have good voices and I thought I’d translate it because why not? The video only has the first verses and the chorus, but I’ll include the other two verses from the original
| 🇵🇹 | 🇬🇧 |
|---|---|
| Estrala a bomba E o foguete vai no ar Arrebenta e fica todo queimado Não há ninguém que baile mais bem Que as meninas da ribeira do Sado | The bomb explodes And the rocket goes up It bursts and burns up Nobody dances better Than the girls of the Sado valley* |
| As meninas da ribeira do Sado é que é Lavram na terra com as unhas dos pés As meninas da ribeira do Sado São como as ovelhas Têm carrapatos atrás das orelhas | The girls of the Sado valley are the ones They plough the earth with their toenails The girls of the Sado valley Are like sheep They have ticks behind their ears. |
| Era um daqueles dias bem chalados Em que o sol batia forte nas cabeças As meninas viram que eu estava apanhado E disseram: Nunca mais cá apareças | It was one of those crazy days The sun was beating down on our heads The girls saw I was caught And said “Don’t come around here again” |
| Mas voltei e entretive-me a bailar com três Queriam que eu fosse atrás no convés Mas não fui e mandei-as irem dar banho ao meu canário Que bateu as botas com dores num ovário | But I returned and entertained myself, dancing with three of them They wanted me to go to the back of the deck But I didn’t and told them to bathe my canary Who had died of pain in the ovary** |
*I’m going to translate “Ribeira do Sado” as “The Sado Valley” because even though Ribeira is a smallish river, saying they’re the Sado river girls makes them sound like mermaids. I think it’s more like the area around the river, so that’s what I’ve gone with.
**Er… well, it was going well until the end there. What the hell happened in the last verse? I asked around and the consensus seems to be that going “atrás no convés” was a euphemism for going somewhere quiet to canoodle, but it was far from certain. In the next line, telling someone too go and give the dog a bath is like telling them to go and comb monkeys or go and bother Camões, Go away in other words. But they changed it to a canary and a terminal illness just to make it more silly.
Luso 