Thoughts V-B

Song Excerpts that Deserve a Penny

We feared no more.

Chico Buarque and Nara Leão, Brazilian singers, "João e Maria"

First, God made the man; He made the women after; That is why women always works for both of them.

Nara Leão, "Maria Moita"

The rich wakes up late, starts complaining; The poor wakes up early, starts working. 

Nara Leão, "Maria Moita"

I'll ask my Babalorixá [an Afro-American priest], to make an prayer for Xangô [a Deity], to put to work all the people who never worked a single day in their lives.

Nara Leão, "Maria Moita"

The doctor arrived to late, because in the slums, there is no automobile to go uphill; There is no telephone to ring; And there is no beauty to be seen; And we perish without wanting too; And we perish without wanting too. 

Nara Leão, "Acender as velas"

~Just leave them, let them speak whatever they want, just leave it. Let the heart speak too, because it has too much reason to complain. Just let it.

Nara Leão, "Deixa"

Chico Buarque and MPB-4 Vocal and Percussion Group. "Roda Viva". 

[external Youtube link, English subtitles, stereo sound version added to historical footage.]

[All credits go to respective artists, YouTube user "an youtube account" and poetic translater "algebra" from LyricsTranslate; this is not my work.]

[COMMENT] It is almost unthinkable to single-out sentences from Chico Buarque's songs, one of our greatest songwriters. They are so crafted that one must hear these songs in full, selecting the passages that most ressonate with you at that moment, for a deep soul-search. Years later, you will find out that they have a complete different meaning. These lyrics challenge you in ways that few songs do.

Chico Buarque e Milton Nascimento, "O que Será (A Flor da Terra)"

[COMMENT] Some people, including the songwriter, claim that the lyrics are nonsensical. I don't buy it. I find it one the most meanings songs ever written exactly because it fits what you are going though at that moment. It is filled with riddles. 

[May God repay you in kind...]  

For the bread to eat, for the floor to rest. 

The concession to be born, the permission to smile. 

For allowing me to breathe, for allowing me to be alive.

For the cachaça to drink [a bitter alcohol spirit], that we must swallow, for no reason.

For the darning smoke we have to cought to.

For the pitfalls we must fall to.

For the praising and crying women at our funeral [1].

For the flies to cover us in the end.

And the ever-lasting peace that will finally redeem us. 

[..may God pay you in kind.]   

[1] There was a time, back in the day, when people set aside some funeral money for a stranger to weep over them.

Chico Buarque, "Construção"

"Calves are easily bound and slaughtered, never knowing the reason why; But whoever treasures freedom, like the swallow has learned to fly."

Joan Baez, "Donna Donna"

~We are all alike, even if we are in opposite sides.

Geraldo Vandré, Brazilian singer, "Pra não dizer que falei de flores"

In the fields, the hunger, in vast plantations. 

Geraldo Vandré, Brazilian singer, "Pra não dizer que falei de flores"

~Come, let's go, for waiting is not knowing. He who knows, creates the moment, does not idly wait for it to happen. 

Geraldo Vandré, Brazilian singer, "Pra não dizer que falei de flores"

We are all soldiers, bearing arms or not. 

Geraldo Vandré, Brazilian singer, "Pra não dizer que falei de flores"

BANNER IMAGE CREDITS: J. Spencer (Lowell Observatory) and NASA/ESA 

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