Happy Birthday, Chico Buarque! (7)

7 songs by Chico Buarque in honor of his 77th birthday on June 19

A Banda

The first song on his first album (1966), “A Banda” (“The Band”) rocketed Chico Buarque immediately to fame.
The version he sang with Nara Leão won the II Festival de Música Popular Brasileira (2nd Festival of Brazilian Popular Music) that same year.
The song has been covered by just about every artist with any connection to Brazilian popular music, including Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
Listen to “A Banda”

“The Band”
I was aimless in life
My love called me
To see the band go by
Singing things about love

My suffering people
Said goodbye to pain
To see the band go by
Singing things about love

The serious man who was counting money stopped
The lighthouse keeper who was recounting tales stopped
The girlfriend who was counting stars stopped
To see, to hear, and to make way

The sad girl who lived quietly smiled
The sad rose that lived closed up opened
And all the kids got excited
To see the band go by
Singing things about love

The weak old man forgot his tiredness and thought
That he was still young enough to go out on the patio and dance
The homely girl leaned on her windowsill
Thinking the band was playing for her

The happy march spread down the avenue and insisted
The full moon that spent its time hidden came out
All of my city got spiffed up
To see the band go by
Singing things about love

But to my disillusionment
What was sweet ended
Everything went back to its place
After the band went by

And each person in their corner
And in each corner some pain
After the band went by
Singing things about love