Lyrics from “Senhora Liberdade” by Nei Lopes and Wilson Moreira (1979)
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Abre as asas sobre mim // Spread your wings over me
Oh senhora liberdade // Oh, lady liberty
Eu fui condenado// I was condemned
Sem merecimento // Undeservedly
Por um sentimento, por uma paixão // On account of a sentiment, a passion
Violenta emoção // Violent emotion
Pois amar foi meu delito // For loving was my crime
Mas foi um sonho tão bonito // But it was such a beautiful dream
Hoje estou no fim // Today I’m at my end
Senhora liberdade abre as asas sobre mim (2x) // Lady liberty, spread your wings over me
Não vou passar por inocente // I’m not going to pass as innocent
Mas já sofri terrivelmente // But I’ve already suffered terribly
Por caridade, oh liberdade abre as asas sobre mim (2x) // Take mercy, oh liberty, spread your wings over me
“Tô voltando” by Mauricio Tapajós and Paulo César Pinheiro (1979)
Pode ir armando o coreto // You can go ahead and get the bandstand ready
E preparando aquele feijão preto // And start making those black beans
Eu tô voltando // I’m coming back
Põe meia dúzia de Brahma pra gelar // Put a half-dozen Brahmas on ice
Muda a roupa de cama // Change the bedding
Eu tô voltando // I’m coming back
Leva o chinelo pra sala de jantar // Bring my flipflops to the dining room
Que é lá mesmo que a mala eu vou largar // Cause that’s exactly where I’m gonna toss my suitcase
Quero te abraçar, pode se perfumar // I want to hold you, go ahead and put on perfume
Porque eu tô voltando // Cause I’m coming back
Dá uma geral, faz um bom defumador // Give the place a cleaning, a good cleanse
Enche a casa de flor // Fill the house with flowers
Que eu tô voltando // Cause I’m coming back
Pega uma praia, aproveita, tá calor // Hit the beach, enjoy – it’s hot
Vai pegando uma cor // Go on and get tan
Que eu tô voltando // Cause I’m coming back
Faz um cabelo bonito pra eu notar // Do your hair up pretty for me to notice
Que eu só quero mesmo é despentear // Cause all I want is to muss it up
Quero te agarrar // I want to clutch you
Pode se preparar porque eu tô voltando // You better get ready because I’m coming back
Põe pra tocar na vitrola aquele som // Put that one album on the record player
Estréia uma camisola // And put on new negligee
Eu tô voltando // Cause I’m coming back
Dá folga pra empregada // Give the maid a day off
Manda a criançada pra casa da avó // Send the kids to their grandmother’s
Que eu to voltando // Cause I’m coming back
Diz que eu só volto amanhã se alguém chamar // Say I’m only getting back tomorrow, if anyone asks
Telefone não deixa nem tocar // Telephone? don’t even let it even ring
Quero lá, lá, lá, ia, porque eu to voltando! // I want to la-la-la-ya, because I’m coming back
— Commentary —
On August 28, 1979, Brazil’s military government, led by President João Figueiredo, issued a sweeping amnesty law: Law 6.683 gave amnesty to all those who had been accused of committing or participating in what the military dictatorship (1964 – 1985) deemed political or electoral crimes, stripped of their most basic political and human rights, and imprisoned or forced into exile. (The Law also established full amnesty for the brutal military government, an aspect which continues to stir up controversy in Brazil and in international courts, where its validity is disputed.) A wave of exiles — including leftist political leaders, journalists, artists, and academics — returned to Brazil between September and December of that year, and political prisoners were set free.
As it happened, that same year, two songs were released that had nothing to do with politics but were passionately adopted as anthems of amnesty: “Senhora Liberdade” and “Tô voltando”.
“Senhora Liberdade”: Nei Lopes — a samba composer, lawyer, historian and essayist — was moved by stories of prisoners who came up with sambas to alleviate the anguish of incarceration.
Wilson Moreira, Lopes’s celebrated musical partner, was a prison guard by profession, and told Lopes he’d indeed heard such songs. Together they composed this samba in the voice of a prisoner who was convicted for a crime of passion. It quickly ended up being hailed as one of the great anthems of the liberty that came with the Amnesty Law – surely a welcome surprise. The hit also propelled singer Zezé Motta to success.
“Tô voltando” by Maurício Tapajós and Paulo César Pinheiro was released the same year and met a similar fortuitous fate. Pinheiro recalls that Mauricio Tapajós called him one day, yearning to return home after an intense time on the road. Pinheiro recounts Tapajós was struck at the end of the tour by a tremendous longing for “for home, for his wife, for his children, for Leblon, for Rio.”
On the eve of his return to Rio, Tapajós began to repeat to himself, “I can’t believe I’m going back.” He called Pinheiro and began to hum the start of a melody along with that phrase. Pinheiro had a hunch that this samba could work: He went to meet up with Tapajós and they worked the rest of the day on the song, and the next day Pinheiro finished the lyrics, which he recalls flowed easily:
“I, who had already experienced the same situation so many times, with so many trips, tremendous longing for home — I know a lot about the issue I set out to write about. It was an issue that was common across our profession. The whole lot of artists felt this same profound anxiousness to get home after each season of touring. And all of them wanted the same things that I scribbled out in that samba. It ended up being beautiful, and full of empathy. We just needed to sing it once, and the second time, everyone joined in – it turned immediately into a chorus. I quickly sensed it would be a success.”
Pinheiro recounts that the singer Simone was picking out songs for her upcoming album at the time and she declared, “This one’s mine!”
When Simone released “Tô voltando” it was an instant sensation.
Shortly after its release, Pinheiro recalls he was watching reports on TV Globo about the exiles returning home; as scenes rolled live inside airplanes “filled with our comrades,” between interviews and tears, he heard someone begin singing “Tô voltando.” He calls the scene a “blow to [his] heart: “Emotion took hold of me and tears rolled down my cheeks (…) I had to take deep breaths and look away from the television to avoid a heart attack.” The song had taken on a new meaning, to his delight — a meaning many believed, and still believe, it’d had from the start.
The whole phenomenon led Pinheiro to remark, “This shows that the future of our songs isn’t in our hands. They’re whatever they’re meant to be — beyond the motives that inspired them. How wonderful that this song became what it became.”
Main sources for this post: Conversation with Luiz Antônio Simas; Nei Lopes interview here; Histórias das Minhas Canções by Paulo César Pinheiro (2010).
Lyrical Brazil 