“Fora da ordem” (Caetano Veloso, 1991)
Source: Secretaría de Cultura Ciudad de México from México, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Another song from the “Ainda estou aqui” soundtrack, but this time from one of the flash forward codas which take place decades after the main part of the movie. As Leandro Vignoli points out on Brazuca Sounds, in the context of the movie this song underlines the government’s denial of any involvement in the death of Rubens Paiva, but the song - even if it didn’t include so many multilingual elements - speaks to our world today as well. Or as Leandro puts it “Different names, same disgraced order.”
Couple of linguistic/referential notes:
This song includes elements in English, Spanish, and Chinese. In order to capture a little of that multilingualism, I’ve left things that are not in Portuguese in the original as they are and italicized them. Then in the final couple of lines, where the languages get all mashed together, I’ve left it as is and italicized and bolded the jumble.
The first line of the song is a clear reference to a contemporaneous song about the difficulty of leaving when one wants to stay.
The Trianon is a replica of the one in France, gifted to house the Brazilian Academy of Letters in Rio de Janeiro.
The word “fora” in the title of the song clearly means “out” in that context, but there’s a play on words in the chorus that doesn’t quite work in English: “fora da ordem” is an almost perfect parallel with “out of order” but “fora da ordem mundial” is really more “outside the world order” than “out of the world order” (which clunks heavily in English). So the “out of order” and “outside the world order” are closer parallels in Portuguese.
In that same crucial chorus line, the different word order between Portuguese and English comes into play as well: The rhythm/melody that go with “Fora da nova ordem mundial” puts the stress on “mundial” (“world”) but in the translated English (“Outside the new world order”) the emphasis is on “order.” The English that’s already in the original is less clear and perhaps less grammatical: In the Portuguese lyrics below (gathered from the internet), Caetano simply appears to be playing with the words and their meanings, not really caring what “proper” English grammar is; however, what I’ve included as the English in my translation is what I’m hearing the background singer (who I believe is Bebel Gilberto) singing - which is a perfectly rearranged, almost grammatically flawless different lyric!
“Fora da ordem”
Vapor barato
Um mero serviçal
Do narcotráfico
Foi encontrado na ruína
De uma escola em construção
Aqui tudo parece
Que era ainda construção
E já é ruína
Tudo é menino, menina
No olho da rua
O asfalto, a ponte, o viaduto
Ganindo prá lua
Nada continua
E o cano da pistola
Que as crianças mordem
Reflete todas as cores
Da paisagem da cidade
Que é muito mais bonita
E muito mais intensa
Do que no cartão postal
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial
Escuras coxas duras
Tuas duas de acrobata mulata
Tua batata da perna moderna
A trupe intrépida em que fluis
Te encontro em Sampa
De onde mal se vê
Quem sobe ou desce a rampa
Alguma coisa em nossa transa
É quase luz forte demais
Parece pôr tudo à prova
Parece fogo, parece
Parece paz, parece paz
Pletora de alegria
Um show de Jorge Benjor
Dentro de nós
É muito, é grande
É total
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial
Meu canto esconde-se
Como um bando de Ianomâmis
Na floresta
Na minha testa caem
Vem colocar-se plumas
De um velho cocar
Estou de pé em cima
Do monte de imundo
Lixo baiano
Cuspo chicletes do ódio
No esgoto exposto do Leblon
Mas retribuo a piscadela
Do garoto de frete
Do Trianon
Eu sei o que é bom
Eu não espero pelo dia
Em que todos
Os homens concordem
Apenas sei de diversas
Harmonias bonitas
Possíveis sem juízo final
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial
Alguma coisa (It's something)
Está fora da ordem (Out of order)
Out of new order
It's something
Is going out of order
Out of new order
It's something
Is going out of order
Out of new order
It's something
Is going out of order
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial
It's something
Is going out of order
Fuera de nueva ordem mundial
Algo parece
Estar fuera del ordem
Out of new order
Algo parece
Estar fuera del ordem
Out of new order
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Out of new order
Algo parece
Estar fuera del ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
新世界秩序
It's something
Is going out of order
新世界秩序
It's something
Is going out of order
新世界秩序
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial...
It's something
Is going out of order
Out of da velha ordem
Mundial...
It's something
Is going out of order
Out of new order
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
Fora da nova ordem
Mundial...
Alguma coisa
Está fora da ordem
新世界秩序
Out of da velha ordem mundial
“Out of order”
Cheap steamship
A mere servant
Of the narcotraffickers
Was found in the ruins
Of a school under construction
Here everything seems
Like it was still construction
And it’s already a ruin
Everything is boy, girl
Out in the streets
The asphalt, the bridge, the viaduct
Yelping at the moon
Nothing continues
And the barrel of the gun
That the children bite
Reflects all the colors
Of the city landscape
Which is much prettier
And much more intense
Than on the postcard
Something
Is out of order
Out of the new world
Order
Dark hard thighs
Your brown-skinned acrobat pair
The calf of your modern leg
The intrepid troupe in which you flow
I meet you in Sampa
From where you can barely see
Who’s going up or down the ramp
Something in our relationship
Is almost light that’s too strong
It seems to put everything to the test
It seems like fire, it seems
It seems like peace, seems like peace
Plethora of joy
A show by Jorge Benjor
Inside of us
It’s a lot, it’s big
It’s total
Something
Is out of order
Out of the new world
Order
My song hides
Like a band of Yanomami
In the forest
They fall on my forehead
They come to place feathers
From an old crest
I’m standing on top
Of a mountain of filthy
Bahian garbage
I spit out my gum from hatred
In the exposed sewer of Leblon
But I return the wink
Of the delivery boy
From the Trianon
I know what’s good
I can’t wait for the day
On which all
Men agree
I only know about various
Pretty harmonies
Possible without final judgment
Something
Is out of order
Out of the new world
Order
Something (It's as if something)
Is out of order (Has gone out of order)
Out of new world order
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
Out of new world order
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
Out of new world order
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
Out of the new world
Order
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
Fuera de nueva ordem mundial
Algo parece
Estar fuera del ordem
Out of new world order
Algo parece
Estar fuera del ordem
Out of new world order
Something
Is out of order
Out of new world order
Algo parece
Estar fuera del ordem
Fut of the new world
Order
Something
Is out of order
Out of the new world
Order
Something
Is out of order
新世界秩序
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
新世界秩序
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
新世界秩序
Something
Is out of order
Out of the new world
Order…
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
Out of da velha ordem
Mundial...
It's as if something
Has gone out of order
Out of new world order
Something
Is out of order
Out of the new world
Order...
Something
Is out of order
新世界秩序
Out of da velha ordem mundial