So someone just asked about music on iTalki and I suddenly realised I’d never plugged this gem of a song by the dodgily-named Peste E Sida
It’s a lot of fun, and a good antidote if you’ve ODed on Fado and just want to jump around and shout in Portuguese about listening to the Ramones and drinking beer. I first heard it while doing some listening activities on Nós Falamos Português, which I think I probably have mentioned it before but not for a while so here I go again.
Ontem, fui com a minha família à sala de concertos que se chama “Union Chapel” para assistir a um concerto do António Zambujo. Havia muitos portugueses. Antes do seu concerto, um grupo canadiano tocou mas fomos aborrecido*. Todavia, o António foi excelente. A música foi boa e fez várias piadas que fizeram rir a plateia. Infelizmente, achei o seu sotaque difícil de entender. As únicas palavras (quase únicas ….) que entendi foram as letras cantadas por uma mulher ao pé de mim. O seu sotaque era de Lisboa e não parou de cantar durante o concerto inteiro. Muito obrigado, mulher barulhenta!
*=”foi maçador” = “it was boring”
Time is ticking down to the B2 exam in T minus 4 days but I fancied a break from full-on learning so here’s a translation of another song by my favourite Portuguese band, Deolinda. I was really chuffed, on listening to it the other day, to realise it has an expressão idiomática in it that I recognise from the Practice Portuguese Podcast (in this episode). The phrase is “o que tem de ser tem muita força” (marked with *** below) and it means “What has to be has a lot of force”, or more colloquially “You gotta do what you gotta do”.
It also has some fun grammar in it including the contrast between “haver de” (means “to have to” but in a vague, non-specific way as in “you have to come and visit sometime” or “I really have to fix that broken clock” and “ter de” which is much more specific, signifying inevitability or obligation: “I have to do my homework” or “You have to put clothes on, sir, you can’t come to church naked”.
There are some good subjunctives to, most obviously in the title – “Seja Agora” being expression of hope – something like “let it be now”.
Nós havemos de nos ver os dois
We have to see each other
ver no que isto dá
to see what happens
ficar um pouco mais a conversar
stay a while and talk
Ter a eternidade para nós
We have eternity to ourselves
Quem sabe, jantar
Who knows, maybe have dinner…
Se quiseres pode ser hoje
If you want, it could be today.
Tem de acontecer, porque tem de ser
It has to happen because it has to be
e o que tem de ser tem muita força***
and what has to be has a lot of force
E sei que vai ser, porque tem de ser
And I know it’s going to happen because it has to be
Se é pra acontecer, pois que seja agora
And if it’s going to happen, let it be now!
Nós havemos ambos de encontrar
We both need to find
um destino qualquer
some kind of destiny
ou um banquinho bom para sentar
or a little bench to sit on
Vai ser tão bonito descobrir
It’s going to be so beautiful to discover
que no futuro só
that in future the only thing
quem decide é a vontade
that will decide is our own will
Tem de acontecer, porque tem de ser
It has to happen because it has to be
e o que tem de ser tem muita força***
and what has to be has a lot of force
E sei que vai ser, porque tem de ser
And I know it’s going to happen because it has to be
Se é pra acontecer, pois que seja agora
And if it’s going to happen, let it be now!
x2
Que seja agora
Let it happen now
Que seja agora
Let it happen now
Se é pra acontecer
If it’s going to happen
Pois que seja agora
Well, let it happen now
x4
Acabo de comprar bilhetes para um concerto da Deolinda no Coliseu do Porto. O concerto está marcado para um sábado, dia quatro de Fevereiro e pretendemos fazer umas mini-férias de fim-de-semana antes de voltar ao trabalho, à escola e à realidade. Infelizmente penso que vai ser difícil ver todas as vistas da cidade em dois dias! Serão um presente para a minha esposa que terá feito anos na sexta anterior, mas confesso que estou a puxar a brasa para a minha sardinha porque sou eu que gosto dos Deolinda. A minha esposa não os conhece bem.
….of translated lyrics, you could do a lot worse than have a listen to “Tu Gostavas de Mim” which is by Ana Moura and is sung in a duet with Miguel Araújo on his live album. Araújo is one of the singers in As Azeitonas who I mentioned in the last post and by the way, also the guy singing in “Bitter Portuguese Guy Sings” a few weeks back. I really like the simplicity and the dry humour of it. The whole live album is good, actually.
I couldn’t find a translation of “Nos Desenhados Animados” (“in the Cartoons”) by As Azeitonas so I made one on LyricsTranslate. I like it. It’s soppy and nostalgic and has an overwrought widdly-widdly sax solo near the end but that doesn’t make me like it less.
I want to be lucky like a cartoon
in the morning on RTP1
You’re my Tom Sawyer
And my Huckleberry Finn
And you come in a mask and a cape
Up there, there are planets without end
You are my super-hero
Without a cowboy hat
With a galleon and a bottle of rum
I was yours and nothing more
One for all and all for one
In the cartoons
I already know the end
The good pioneer
The swordsmen seizing power
and Prince Charming
Always returns to me
I am Jane and you Tarzan
The Juliet of my Dartagnan
If your horse fails you
I have so much to tell
Of the ghost beneath my sheets
Of the treasures we hide from the Spaniards
In the cartoons
I already know the end
The good pioneer
The swordsmen seizing power
and Prince Charming
Always returns to me
When the ending comes
We can change the channel
In the cartoons
It rarely rains and never – almost never – ends badly
[By the power of Greyskull!]
Na segunda-feira, a minha esposa e eu fomos ao Barbican Centre, uma sala de concertos em Londres para ver um concerto da famosa cantora Ana Moura. O nosso sobrinho, que tem vinte e dois anos, cuidou da nossa filha. Ambos fomos directos do trabalho e mesmo assim quase chegámos atrasados. Sem surpresa, quando chegamos, ouvimos muitas vozes portuguesas no átrio, porque a Ana Moura é muito mais conhecida em Portugal do que em Inglaterra e vivem entre quarenta mil e cinquenta mil portugueses em Londres, a trabalhar principalmente na indústria de serviços.
O concerto começou com “Moura Encantada”, que é uma canção que conheço bem. Depois, cantou alguns fados tradicionais, cheios de saudade e pena, mas também cantou vários fados mais novos como “fado dançado” e até uma canção em inglês – 
Lilac Wine de Nina Simone. Ela disse que “Lilac Wine” é uma canção que representa o espírito do fado apesar de não ser portuguesa. Depois de três canções um homem na audiência gritou “Ah Fadista”. Aparentemente isto é um grande elogio para uma cantora. Finalmente, ela cantou as duas canções mais conhecidas, que se chamam “Dia de Folga” e “Desfado”.
Gostámos muito do concerto. Eu aproveitei para ouvir as palavras das canções, e além da Ana, ambos adorámos o som da guitarra portuguesa, tocada por Ângelo Freire.
Discussing music today with Ana, I learned a couple of new terms I quite like:
Dançável – means “danceable”, or music you can dance to
Para abanar o capacete – means literally “to shake the helmet”, or more colloquially “for headbanging”.
I enjoyed this because aside from being a good song in its own right, it’s a very rare example of a song in Portuguese that I can understand almost 100% without help
The guy singing it seems a little aggrieved with the views of the ladies in his life. Perhaps not quite ready to order his “Meninist” t-shirt online, but he’s definitely disgruntled. Well, that’s OK, we all have bad days, and he got a good song out of it, so who’s complaining? There doesn’t seem to be a translation online so I’ve done one myself
Everyone knows men are brutes
Who leave beds unmade
And things unsaid
They’re not very astute, they’re not very astute
Everyone knows men are brutes
Everyone knows men are ugly
They leave conversations unfinished
And laundry to pick up
And they’re evasive, and they’re evasive*
Everyone knows men are ugly
But other people’s husbands, no
Because other people’s husbands are
The archetype of perfection
The pinnacle of creation
Docile creatures of a completely different species
Who always make their wives’ friends happy
And everything men don’t do
Everything men aren’t, everything men aren’t
Other people’s husbands are, other people’s husbands are
Everyone knows men are rubbish
They like music nobody likes
And never lay the table
Lower than a beast, lower than a beast
Everyone knows men are rubbish
Everyone knows men are animals
Who smell strongly of wine
And never know which way to go
Na na na na na na, na na na na na**
Everyone knows men are animals
But other people’s husbands, no
Because other people’s husbands are
The archetype of perfection
The pinnacle of creation
Amiable creatures of a completely different species
Who always make their wives’ friends happy
And everything men don’t do
Everything men aren’t, everything men aren’t
Other people’s husbands are, other people’s husbands are
*=”E vem com rodeios” actually means “they come with roundabouts”. I’m guessing the figurative meaning of this but I could be wrong.
**=Could he not think of a rhyme for Animais?
Original Portuguese Lyrics here
Luso 