“Evidências” (Chitãozinho & Xororó, 1990)
Source:Renan Katayama, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
To commemorate today’s Big Game in American football, I’ve translated a song that was played at the Packers v Eagles game in São Paulo at the very beginning of this NFL season. Supposedly that early season game (which the Eagles won 34-29) was to show Brazilians the NFL, but it was also a chance to show some Brazilian culture to the NFL audience. While there were widespread (false) rumors about what colors are actually allowed in Brazilian stadiums, the playing of music other than standard US stadium songs was perhaps the most notable things about the game. This song played on the stadium sound system and when it was turned off the crowd continued singing it just as loudly. This is extremely typical of music performances in Brazil, where sometimes you can’t even hear the artists above the crowd at their own concerts.
This song was originally written by José Augusto and Paulo Sérgio Valle in 1989 and became famous when Chitãozinho and Xororó put it on their 1990 album “Cowboy no Asfalto” (“Cowboy on the Pavement”). It has spawned many memes and is considered the most sung karaoke song in Brazil.
Listen to a recent live version of the song
Listen to the original version (in all its cheesy glory)
“Evidências”
Quando eu digo que deixei de te amar
É porque eu te amo
Quando eu digo que não quero mais você
É porque eu te quero
Eu tenho medo de te dar meu coração
E confessar que eu estou em tuas mãos
Mas não posso imaginar
O que vai ser de mim
Se eu te perder um dia
Eu me afasto e me defendo de você
Mas depois me entrego
Faço tipo, falo coisas que eu não sou
Mas depois eu nego
Mas a verdade
É que eu sou louco por você
E tenho medo de pensar em te perder
Eu preciso aceitar que não dá mais
Pra separar as nossas vidas
E nessa loucura de dizer que não te quero
Vou negando as aparências
Disfarçando as evidências
Mas pra que viver fingindo
Se eu não posso enganar meu coração?
Eu sei que te amo!
Chega de mentiras
De negar o meu desejo
Eu te quero mais que tudo
Eu preciso do seu beijo
Eu entrego a minha vida
Pra você fazer o que quiser de mim
Só quero ouvir você dizer que sim!
Diz que é verdade, que tem saudade
Que ainda você pensa muito em mim
Diz que é verdade, que tem saudade
Que ainda você quer viver pra mim
“Evidence”
When I say that I stopped loving you
It’s because I love you
When I say I don’t want you anymore
It’s because I want you
I’m afraid to give you my heart
And confess that I’m in your hands
But I can’t imagine
What will become of me
If I lose you one day
I stay away and defend myself from you
But then I give in
I play the part, I say things I’m not
But later I deny it
But the truth
Is that I’m crazy for you
And I’m scared of thinking about losing you
I have to accept that it no longer works
To separate our lives
And in this craziness of saying that I don’t want you
I’m denying appearances
Disguising evidence
But why live pretending
If I can’t fool my heart?
I know that I love you!
Enough lies
About denying my desire
I want you more than everything
I need your kiss
I hand over my life
For you to do what you want with me
I just want to hear you say yes!
Say that it’s true, that you miss me
That you still think about me a lot
Say that it’s true, that you miss me
That you still want to live for me