“Lotus 72D” (Zé Roberto, 1973)

Last Friday, my friends at the Brazuca Sounds podcast released a bonus episode about this straightforward song, which celebrates the car driven by Emerson Fittipaldi (Brazil’s first Formula 1 champion) and a race at São Paulo’s iconic Interlagos racetrack. (Before The Anvil started focusing primarily on music, Formula 1 was one of the topics I covered.) For a long time, Interlagos was the final race of the F1 season, meaning sometimes the season champion was already known when the race was run. Like with many F1 tracks, curves and other parts have their own names, sometimes kind of technical (the S curve) and other times more poetic (the Curve of Oranges). For those not familiar with Celsius, 38 degrees is 100.4 Fahrenheit - blazing hot for the São Paulo plateau.

Listen to the original (slower) version
Listen to the (faster) bootleg version

“Lotus 72D”
Lotus, Lotus, Lotus 72D-D-D
Lotus, Lotus, Lotus 72D-D-D
É a máquina do tempo e, na velocidade, não tem igual
E num grande torneio de caráter
Internacional de Fórmula 1
O nosso brasileiro foi convidado pra participar
Na sua condição de campeão, de campeão mundial
Na nossa praça de esportes
Interlagos, na nossa capital
São Paulo, terra da garoa
Com calor surpreendente de 38 graus
Atenção, atenção
Foi dada a largada principal, o nosso Emerson na frente
Atingindo a velocidade máxima que seu carro tem
Na Curva do Laranja ele parou
Pra tomar uma vitamina
Na Curva do S, quem não sabia escrever
Se deu mal, saiu da pista
Na Curva do Cotovelo ele saiu-se
Maravilhosamente bem
Na Curva do Sargento ele comandava os competidores
Como general
E a turma de fora, espantada, assistindo à corrida
Se orgulhava e vibrava
Com a vitória do nosso campeão
Vem chegando a reta de chegada
A reta final
O nosso Emerson na frente vem despontando
E todo mundo gritava com grande emoção
Salve, Emerson, 73
Salve, Emerson, 73
Salve, Emerson, 73
Salve, Emerson, 73

“Lotus 72D”
Lotus, Lotus, Lotus 72D-D-D
Lotus, Lotus, Lotus 72D-D-D
It’s a time machine and for speed it has no equal
And in a great international
Formula 1 tournament
Our Brazilian was invited to take part
In his role as champion, as world champion
In our sports arena
Interlagos, in our capital city
São Paulo, land of fog
With a surprising heatwave of 38 degrees
Attention, attention
The drivers were off, our Emerson in front
Reaching the maximum speed that his car allows
On the Curve of Oranges he stopped
To have a drink
On the S Curve, those who couldn’t write
Did poorly, leaving the track
On the Elbow Curve he came out
Wonderfully well
On the Sergeant Curve he dominated the competitors
Like a general
And the gang outside, stunned, watching the race
Took pride and cheered
For our champion’s victory
The home stretch is coming
The final stretch
Our Emerson appearing at the front
And everyone screamed with great excitement
Hail, Emerson, 73
Hail, Emerson, 73
Hail, Emerson, 73
Hail, Emerson, 73