“Clarice” (Caetano Veloso, 1968)
Source: Bisilliat, Maureen, CC BY-SA 4.0<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Source: Secretaría de Cultura Ciudad de México from México, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Today would have been Clarice Lispector’s 104th birthday. Clarice has had a good 2024: Cate Blanchett gave her a shout out at the San Sebastian film festival. And the actress is right: Clarice is brilliant! The translation below in her honor was, however, not written about Lispector, but I’ll take any excuse to (a) translate Caetano in all his poetic difficulty and (b) sing Clarice Lispector’s praises. And who knows, maybe the genius musician really was channeling the genius author.
Linguistically, perhaps the most interesting thing about this song is the word “mistério” in the title. Obviously that’s “mystery” right? I don’t think so. In (US) English we don’t really talk about people having a “mystery” - they have “secrets.” The latter word is much broader in English than the cognate “segredo” is in Portuguese.
“Clarice”
Há muita gente
Apagada pelo tempo
Nos papéis desta lembrança
Que tão pouco me ficou
Igrejas brancas
Luas claras na varandas
Jardins de sonho e cirandas
Foguetes claros no ar
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Pra guardar-se assim tão firme, no coração
Clarice era morena
Como as manhãs são morenas
Era pequena no jeito
De não ser quase ninguém
Andou conosco caminhos
De frutas e passarinhos
Mas jamais quis se despir
Entre os meninos e os peixes
Entre os meninos e os peixes
Entre os meninos e os peixes
Do rio, do rio
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Pra guardar-se assim tão firme, no coração
Tinha receio do frio
Medo de assombração
Um corpo que não mostrava
Feito de adivinhação
Os botões sempre fechados
Clarice tinha o recato
De convento e procissão
Eu pergunto o mistério
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Pra guardar-se assim tão firme, no coração
Soldado fez continência
O coronel reverência
O padre fez penitência
Três novenas e uma trezena
Mas Clarice
Era a inocência
Nunca mostrou-se a ninguém
Fez-se modelo das lendas
Fez-se modelo das lendas
Das lendas que nos contaram as avós
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Pra guardar-se assim tão firme, no coração
Tem que um dia
Amanhecia e Clarice
Assistiu minha partida
Chorando pediu lembranças
E vendo o barco se afastar de Amaralina
Desesperadamente linda, soluçando e lentamente
E lentamente despiu o corpo moreno
E entre todos os presentes
Até que seu amor sumisse
Permaneceu no adeus chorando e nua
Para que a tivesse toda
Todo o tempo que existisse
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Que mistério tem Clarice?
Pra guardar-se assim tão firme, no coração
“Clarice”
There are a lot of people
Erased by time
In the papers of this memory
That left me so little
White churches
Bright moons on porches
Gardens of dream and dance
Bright fireworks in the air
What’s Clarice’s secret?
What’s Clarice’s secret?
To hold so firm like that, in her heart
Clarice was brunette
Like the mornings are brunettes
She was small in that way
Of being almost nobody
She wandered paths with us
Of fruits and birds
But she never wanted to undress
Between the boys and the fishes
Between the boys and the fishes
Between the boys and the fishes
Of the river, of the river
What’s Clarice’s secret?
What’s Clarice’s secret?
To hold so firm like that, in her heart
She hated the cold
Fear of haunting
A body that she didn’t show
Made of guesses
Her buttons always closed
Clarice had the modesty
Of a convent and a procession
I’m asking about the secret
What’s Clarice’s secret?
To hold so firm like that, in her heart
The soldier gave a salute
The colonel reverence
The priest penitence
Three novenas and a trezena
But Clarice
Was innocence
She never showed herself to anyone
She became the model for legends
She became the model for legends
For the legends that grandparents tell
What’s Clarice’s secret?
What’s Clarice’s secret?
To hold so firm like that, in her heart
So then one day
Dawn came and Clarice
Witnessed my departure
Crying she asked for souvenirs
And seeing the boat leave from Amaralina
Desperately beautiful, sobbing and slowly
And slowly she undressed her brown body
And among all those present
Until her love disappeared
She remained in goodbyes crying and nude
So that she could have it all
All the time that existed
What’s Clarice’s secret?
What’s Clarice’s secret?
To hold so firm like that, in her heart