“É preciso saber viver” by Erasmo Carlos & Roberto Carlos
Source: Will Mumu Silva, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Written by the unrelated Carloses. this song was first released on Roberto’s 1974 self-titled album, but I’m translating it here in honor of what would have been Erasmo’s 83rd birthday. The Portuguese construction “É preciso” would literally translate as something like “It’s necessary (to)” but obviously that sounds awful in English. There are two common ways to address this when moving the construction into English. You can rearrange the words (so rather than “It’s necessary to know how to live,” “É preciso saber viver” would be “Knowing how to live is necessary”) or you can (re)introduce an agent making it something like what I have done here.
“You Have to Know How to Live”
Anyone who expects life
To be made of illusions
Could even go crazy
Or die in solitude
You have to be careful
So you don’t suffer later
You have to know how to live
You should remove
Every stone in the path
You can scratch yourself
On a flower that has thorns
If good and evil exist
You can choose
You have to know how to live
You have to know how to live
You have to know how to live
You have to know how to live
Know how to live