“Rua Dois” (José Mauro, 1976)
This introspective song about solitude and hope is featured on today’s Brazuca Sounds episode. Check it out Leandro’s always excellent analysis there and see below for my translation and lots of other music. From a translation perspective, the most important word in this song may well be “já”—often translated as “already” but also “now” and “yet” and “immediately” and a marker for the perfect tense and more. I’ve chosen to translate it as “now” when it’s first used to summon the night in the middle of the piece, but as “soon” at the end because I feel that it better captures Mauro’s melancholy tone. Similarly I’ve chosen not to translate “franco” as “frank” (its most common translation) because “open” seems to me to better reflect the vibe.
“Rua Dois”
Nunca me pergunte aonde vai minha voz, caco de voz
Nunca me pergunte aonde vão as esperanças
Porque nesse viver
Foi-se a minha paz
Pela rua triste, cabisbaixa, vai o vento
E eu luto pra crer
Luto pra crer
Noite, vem já
Sol, vem depois
Noite, vem já
Dorme, sonho meu
Rua em paz, vai dormir
Lua, vem cantar um luar tão frio
Dorme, que eu vou
Sonhando e vou
Respirar livre, franco
Já
“Second Street”
Never ask me where my voice goes, shard of a voice
Never ask me where hopes go
Because living like this
My peace has gone
Down the sad road, crestfallen, goes the wind
And I fight to believe
Fight to believe
Night, come now
Sun, come later
Night, come now
Sleep, my dream
Peaceful street, go to sleep
Moon, come sing such cold moonlight
Sleep, and I will go
Dreaming and I will
Breathe free, open
Soon