“Nem um dia” (Djavan, 1996)
Sourc: claudiocareca_cba, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
While it’s the hottest time of year in Brazil right now, since it’s the middle of winter here in the North, the first line of the song I’ve chosen to translate in honor of Djavan’s 74th birthday hits home. “Nem um dia” (“Not one day”) comes from Djavan’s 1996 album Malásia (Malaysia) and was used for the 1997 telenovela “Por Amor” (“For Love”).
“Not one day”
A cold day
A good place to read a book
And my thoughts turn to you
Without you I’m not living
A sad day
All the fragility focuses
And my thoughts turn to you
And everything divides me
Far from happiness
And all its lights
I desire you like the air
More than everything
You are morning in flowering nature
Even for all the riches
Of the Arab sheiks
I will not forget you one day
Not one day
I hope with the strength of thought
To recreate the light that will bring you to me
And everything will be born more beautiful
The green makes the blue with the yellow
The axis with all the colors
To decorate drab loves