Here’s a translation of a relatively upbeat, but very traditional Lisbon Fado written by Ricardo Borges de Sousa in the early years of the twentieth century and sung here by Maria Teresa de Noronha. It is well-enough regarded to be the subject of a whole episode of “A Trilogia do Fado” on RTP, but it isn’t the only version of the song; there seem to be lots of variants each with their own set of lyrics.
| 🇵🇹 | 🇬🇧 |
|---|---|
| Quem me dera que voltasse O doce tempo de além Sentada junto à lareira A ouvir cantar minha mãe | If only you would came back The sweet, far-off time Seated together at the fireside Listening to my mother sing |
| Ó tempo, tempo ditoso Da vida eterno sorriso Que tornas em paraÃso Um mundo tão enganoso Quando à minha mãe, choroso Após um beijo na face Lhe pedia que cantasse Uma trova de bonança Esse tempo de criança Quem me dera que voltasse | Oh time, happy time Eternal smile of life That turns in paradise Into such a deceptive world When my mother, tearful, After a kiss on the face was asked to sing A soothing song** That time of childhood If only it would come back |
| Tempos que não voltam mais Da nossa infância ridente Em que eu vivia contente Correndo atrás dos pardais Das paredes dos casais Que a nossa aldeia contém Branquinhas como a cecém Mudas como a gratidão E recordam com paixão O doce tempo de além | Times that will never come again Of our laughing childhood When I lived happily Chasing sparrows From the walls of couples That lived in our village White as lillies Mute with gratitude And they remember with live The sweet far-off time |
*I really struggled to make sense of the first four lines when I was following the lyrics on letras.com because it has the word “ternas” in place of “tornas”, and fair enough, it does sound like that, but I couldn’t make it make sense. Why is it feminine and plural? is he talking about herself and her friends? But how does that follow on with the line before and after? It was definitely fishy but it could make sense if she was talking about that idyllic scene turning into a deceptive world, so maybe “torna-se”, but that would have the “se” in front of the verb because it’s after que. Tornasse? But why would it be subjunctive? I had a look around but most online sources seem to have screen-scraped letras.com so they had the same word. Then I found a site that used “terras”. I hate that less, but I still don’t buy it. And then finally I came across this site that uses “tornas” and I am absolutely ready to believe that!
**I wasn’t sure about this one, but when you look up trova and bonança, it makes sense. I tried the whole line in gtranslate and it said “a thunderous bonanza” which doesn’t really fit the mood.
Luso 