“Samurai” (Djavan, 1982)
Source: claudiocareca_cba, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
A double collaboration today: Brazuca Sounds and I are both dropping content about the same song, and that song is a collaboration between the Brazilian MPB icon Djavan and the American music icon Stevie Wonder. Okay, so maybe they’re not completely comparable partnerships, but still a double collab! Check out the lyrics along with my translation below and check out the song and Brazuca Sounds analysis at the same time for the full experience! Linguistically and even musically, this is a pretty straightforward song, but its simplicity hides a wealth of poetry in the words and a surprising complexity in the tune. Listen, read and enjoy!
Ai, quanto querer
Cabe em meu coração
Ai, me faz sofrer
Faz que me mata
E se não mata, fere
Vai sem me dizer
Na casa da paixão
Sai quando bem-quer
Traz uma praga
E me afaga a pele
Crescei, luar
Pra iluminar as trevas
Fundas da paixão
Eu quis lutar contra o poder do amor
Caí nos pés do vencedor
Para ser o serviçal de um samurai
Mas eu tô tão feliz, dizem que o amor atrai
Ai, how much longing
Fits in my heart
Ai, it makes me suffer
It seems to kill me
And if it doesn’t kill me, it wounds me
It goes without telling me
Into the house of passion
It leaves when it wants
It brings a plague
And strokes my skin
Grow, moonbeam
To illuminate the gloom
Depths of passion
I wanted to fight against the power of love
I fell at the feet of the victor
To be the servant of a samurai
But I’m so happy, they say that love attracts