Lyrics from “Samba da Bênção” by Vinicius de Moraes and Baden Powell
Album: Vinicius (1967)
—–
It’s better to be happy than to be sad
Jo is the best thing that exists
It’s just like a light in your heart
But to make a samba with beauty
You need a lot of sorrow
You need a lot of sorrow
If not, a samba can’t be made
(Spoken)
If not, it’s like loving a woman who’s just beautiful
And from there?
A woman must have something – anything beyond beauty
A bit of sorrow
A bit that cries
A bit that feels longing
A beauty that comes from the sorrow
Of knowing that she’s a woman
Made only to love
To suffer for her love
And to be nothing but forgiveness
(Sung)
Making a samba isn’t like telling a joke
Whoever makes samba like that, isn’t anything
A good samba is a form of prayer
Because samba is sorrow that sways
And sorrow always has a hope, sorrow always has a hope
Of one day not being sad anymore.
(Spoken)
Take these people who go around
Playing with life
Be careful, comrade!
This life counts,
And don’t be fooled, there’s just one!
Two lives, which would be good, nobody can claim to have
Without proving really well
With a certificate stamped in the registry office of heaven
And signed at the bottom: God
And with a notarized signature!
Life isn’t a game, friend
Life is the art of the encounter
Even though there might be so much discord (dis-encounter) in this life
There is always be a woman waiting for you
With her eyes full of tenderness
And her hands full of forgiveness.
Put a little bit of love in your life,
Like in your samba!
(Sung)
Put a little bit of love in a rhythm
And you’ll see that no one in the world can conquer
The beauty of a samba, no…
Because samba was born up in Bahia
And if today, it’s white in poetry,
If today it’s white in poetry
It’s oh-so black at heart.
(Spoken)
I, for example, the Captain of the Bush
Vinicius de Moraes
Poet and Diplomat
The blackest white man in Brazil
In the direct lineage of Xangô, Saravá!
Blessing, senhora
The greatest ialorixá of Bahia
Land of Caymmi and João Gilberto.
Blessing, Pixinguinha
You, who cried through the flute all of my heartache …
Blessing, Sinhô, blessing, Cartola,
Blessing, Ismael Silva
Blessing, Heitor dos Prazeres
Blessing, Nelson Cavaquinho
Blessing, Geraldo Pereira
Blessing, my dear Cyro Monteiro
You, nephew of Nonô
Blessing, Noel, blessing, Ary
Blessing, all the great sambistas of Brazil
White, black, mulatto
Beautiful like the soft skin of Oxum
Blessing, master Antonio Carlos Jobim
Partner and dear friend
Who has already journeyed through so many songs with me
And there are still many to be traveled
Blessing, Carlinhos Lyra
Partner, one-hundred percent
You, who unite action with sentiment
And with thought.
Blessing, blessing, Baden Powell
New friend, new partner
Who made this samba with me
Blessing, friend
Blessing, master Moacir Santos
You’re not only one, you’re so many,
Like my Brazil of all saints
Even my San Sebastian
Saravá! Blessing, I’m going to go
I’m going to say “adeus”
(Sung)
Put a little love in a rhythm
And you’ll see that no one in the world can conquer
The beauty of a samba, no…
Because samba was born up in Bahia
And if today, it’s white in poetry
If today it’s white in poetry
It’s oh-so black at heart.
— Interpretation —
As he mentions in the lyrics, Vinicius de Moraes was not only a sambista but also a celebrated poet and diplomat (until the military government removed him from the foreign service in 1969). Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1913, Moraes wrote the lyrics for some of Brazil’s most well-known samba and bossa nova songs – including Garota de Ipanema and Eu não existo sem você.
Moraes collaborated with guitarrist Baden Powell on the 1966 album Os Afro-Sambas; many musicologists argue the LP marked a watershed moment in MPB because of its mix of African sounds with samba carioca (samba from Rio de Janeiro). “A samba da bênção,” released a year after Os Afro-Sambas, represented part of this collaboration. The song is a celebration of Afro-Brazilian music and African influence on contemporary samba. Vinicius states that samba is “oh-so black at heart” (“Ela é negra demais no coração), incorporates the Afr0-Brazilian salutation saravá – which is similar to the Brazilian interjection of “salve!” or literally “save!” — and refers to ialorixá – a Macumba princess. The lyrics exemplify Moraes’s simple yet brilliant style: the song imparts a powerful message with such understated lines as “It’s better to be happy than to be sad” (“É melhor ser alegre que ser triste”) and “Sadness always has a hope of one day not being sad anymore” (“A tristeza tem sempre uma esperança de um dia não ser mais triste não”).
After a life full of passions — he married nine times — Vinicius de Moraes fell ill and died in 1980, at the age of 66, his health problems stemming from his overindulgence in the drink he called “a man’s best friend,” whiskey.
Post by Victoria Broadus (About)
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THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THIS NICE WORK AND TRANSLATION. IT WAS VERY HELPFUL FOR ME TO USE FOR TEACHING MY AMERICAN GUITAR STUDENTS WHO SO VERY MUCH WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SINGING AND THE POETRY I WAS MENTIONING SPOKEN IN THE BACK OF THE SONG…MY PARENTS ALWAYS USED TO SING AND MY DAD SAY THE POEM IN THE BACK WITH SO MUCH STYLE…THEY WERE IN THE VERY HEART OF THE SUCCESS OF ALL OF THESE MUSIC. STUDENTS OF PAULINHO NOGUEIRA THEY WERE AND MY MOM HAD HER OWN GUITAR TEACHING SHOW ON TV TUPI. NOW ON US I RECORDED TWO CDS AND AS MY PARENTS, I ALSO TEACH SINCE THE AGE OF 7 OR SO. THEY TOOK ME TO THEIR GUITAR TEACHING SHOW AT AGE 4 TO USE ME AS A GUITAR STUDENT SAMPLE…
OF COURSE I LOVE THE MUSIC AND POETRY AND HAVE SEVERAL AMERICAN STUDENTS LEARNING BOTH HOW TO SING THE SONGS AND HOW TO PLAY THEM IN THE GUITAR AND KEYBOARDS… http://www.reverbnation.com/georgiabarretto
Thanks for the kind comment!
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Thank you for this! Shouldn’t “oração” be “prayer,” not “oration”?
absolutely, thank you for catching that!!!