“Teatro dos Vampiros” (Legião Urbana, 1991)
Source: Lucaseisinger, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Renato Russo would have been 63 years old today. In honor of that milestone, a translation of “Teatro dos Vampiros” from the album “V.” (Translator’s Note: Renato Russo’s poetic music is one of my favorite things to translate. Beautiful, universal - and spookily timeless.)
“Vampire Theater”
I always needed a little attention
I don’t think I know who I am
I only know what I don’t like
And these days are so strange
There’s dust hiding in the corners
This is our world
What is too much is never enough
And the first time is always the last chance
Nobody sees where we’ve gotten to
The assassins are free, we aren’t
We're going out but we have no more money
My friends are all looking for work
We went back to living like ten years ago
And with every hour that passes we age ten weeks
Let’s go, it’s all good, I just want to have fun
To forget, to have a cool place to go tonight
We’ve handed over the target and the artillery
We compare our lives
We hope that one day
Our lives can meet
When I saw myself having to live
Just with myself and with the world
You came to me like a good dream
And I was scared
I’m not perfect
I don’t forget
The richness that we have
Nobody can understand
And thinking about all this, me, a grown man
I was afraid and couldn’t sleep
We’re going out but we don’t have money
All my friends are looking for work
We’re going back to living like ten years ago
And with each hour that passes
We get ten weeks older
Let’s go, it’s all good I just want to have fun
To forget about that night, to have a cool place to go
We’ve handed over the target and the artillery
We compare our lives
And even so, I don’t feel bad for anyone