“Meu mundo e nada mais” (Guilherme Arantes, 1976)

Source: Dan Burga, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Today’s translation ties into another project I’m thrilled to be working on: I’m translating a play that will be staged in November by Upstream Theater in St. Louis. The play is “An Orchard for Chekhov” (“Um jardim para Tchekhov”), written by Pedro Brício and translated by Steven K. Smith (me!), and it’s chock full of music. This song not only appears in the play, but is sung by one of the actors. So my special challenge for this particular translation was to make the scansion work. That is, I want the actors to be able to sing the English words to the existing tune. This means that sometimes I sacrificed literal meaning in order to make the lines work. For example, there is no “you” in the original; the song is about getting hurt but it never specifies who did the hurting. (If you want to try singing it yourself - in either language - there’s an instrumental version.)

Listen to the song

“Meu mundo e nada mais”
Quando eu fui ferido
Vi tudo mudar
Das verdades que eu sabia
Só sobraram restos
Que eu não esqueci
Toda aquela paz que eu tinha
Eu que tinha tudo
Hoje estou mudo
Estou mudado
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Pensando!
Daria tudo, por um modo
De esquecer
Eu queria tanto
Estar no escuro do meu quarto
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Sonhando!
Daria tudo, por meu mundo
E nada mais

Não estou bem certo
Se ainda vou sorrir
Sem um travo de amargura
Como ser mais livre
Como ser capaz
De enxergar um novo dia
Eu que tinha tudo
Hoje estou mudo
Estou mudado
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Pensando!
Daria tudo, por um modo
De esquecer
Eu queria tanto
Estar no escuro do meu quarto
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Sonhando!
Daria tudo, por meu mundo
E nada mais

Quando eu fui ferido
Vi tudo mudar
Das verdades que eu sabia
Só sobraram restos
Que eu não esqueci
Toda aquela paz que eu tinha
Eu que tinha tudo
Hoje estou mudo
Estou mudado
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Pensando!
Daria tudo, por um modo
De esquecer
Eu queria tanto
Estar no escuro do meu quarto
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Sonhando!
Daria tudo, por meu mundo
E nada mais
Eu queria tanto
Estar no escuro do meu quarto
À meia-noite, à meia luz
Sonhando!
Daria tudo, por meu mundo
E nada mais

“My World and Nothing Else”
When you hurt me so
Everything got changed
From what I had known to be true
Only scraps remained
That I can’t forget
All the peace that I used to have
I who had it all
Today have nothing
I have changed
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m thinking!
I’d give it all to find a way
To forget you
All I really want is
To be in my darkened room
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m dreaming!
I’d give it all just for my world
And nothing else

I’m still not quite sure
If I can still smile
Without a bit of bitterness too
How to live more freely
How to find a way
Just to see a new day dawn
I who had it all
Today have nothing
I have changed
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m thinking!
I’d give it all for a way
To forget you
All I really want is
To be in my darkened room
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m dreaming!
I’d give it all just for my world
And nothing else

When you hurt me so
Everything got changed
From what I had known to be true
Only scraps remained
That I can’t forget
All the peace that I used to have
I who had it all
Today have nothing
I have changed
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m thinking!
I’d give it all to find a way
To forget you
All I really want is
To be in my darkened room
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m dreaming!
I’d give it all just for my world
And nothing else
All I really want is
To be in my darkened room
At midnight, I dim the light
I’m dreaming!
I’d give it all just for my world
And nothing else