Lyrics from “O Quereres” by Caetano Veloso
Album: Velô (1984)
—
Where you want a revolver, I’m a coconut tree
And where you want money, I’m passion
Where you want rest, I’m desire
And where I’m desire, you don’t want it
And where you want nothing, nothing lacks
And where you fly really high, I’m the ground
And where you step on the ground, my soul jumps
And gets liberty in the vastness
Where you want family, I’m a crazy guy
And where you want a romantic, I’m bourgeois
Where you want Leblon, I’m Pernambuco
And where you want a eunuch, I’m a stud
Where you want yes or no, maybe
And where you see, I don’t glimpse reason
Where you want the wolf, I’m the brother
And where you want a cowboy, I’m the Chinese
Ah, brutal flower of desire
Ah, brutal flower, brutal flower
Where you want the act, I’m the spirit
And where you want tenderness, I’m lustfull
Where you want free form, I’m decasyllable
And where you seek an angel, I’m a woman
Where you want pleasure, I’m what hurts
Where you want torture, meekness
Where you want a home, revolution
And where you want a bandit, I’m a hero
I would like to want to love you love
Build us a sweetest prison
Find just the right compatibility
All meter and rhyme and never pain
But life is real and it’s one of biases
And just look what an ambush love set up for me
I want you (and you don’t want) as I am
I don’t want you (and you don’t want) as you are
Ah, brutal flower of desire
Ah, brutal flower, brutal flower
Where you want a rally, an arcade game
And where you want romance, rock n roll
Where you want the moon, I’m the sun
And where pure nature, I’m insecticide
Where you want mystery, I’m the light
And where you want a little corner, I’m the entire world
Where you want Lent, February
And where you want a coconut tree, I’m a howitzer
Your wanting and your always being up to
What in me is in me so unequal
Makes me want you good, want you bad
Good – you, bad – your wanting way
Infinitely personal
And me wanting to want you without end
And, wanting you, to learn the total
Of the want that exists, and that doesn’t exist in me.
–Interpretation–
Caetano Veloso wrote this song in the structure of a cordel, or “string” folk song, but confesses the lyrics were influenced by Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” (Another Side of Bob Dylan). While the message is a bit different, Caetano says both songs essentially say “I’m not where you want me.”
Find more about Caetano Veloso in the post on “O Leãozinho.”
Post by Victoria Broadus (About)
I am Brazilian but these lyrics in Portuguese are so complex! Good job on translating/making a version of it.
Of one of the trickiest parts for me is that the Brazilian version of “Loves Me, Loves Me Not” is “Bem me quer, Mal me quer”, so I thought that at the end the “Querer-te bem, Querer-te mal” referred to that. But it’s hard incorporating that meaning considering the following phrase.
Anyways, very tricky and difficult. You did a good job!