“O trem das 7” (Raul Seixas, 1984)

Tomorrow my friends at Brazuca Sounds are releasing an episode about this song that comes from the same album as my earlier post about Raul Seixas. The podcast episode explains how this lovely song fits into the train motif in Brazilian music (one of which I’ve translated here) and then does one of their brilliant deep dives into the musical side of the song. Linguistically speaking, this is a pretty simple song on its face, especially given how complex Raul Seixas’s lyrics often are. However, there are levels of Alistair Crowley’s esoteric philosophy in the words, brilliantly hiding/holding a mystical metaphor. Seixas did write an English version of this song as well, but unfortunately he stripped it of any of the esoteric philosophy and so it’s really just a playful little ditty about trains.

One thing of note in the Portuguese version is that “olha o trem” without any context would normally be “look out for the train” but that’s clearly not the meaning here. Also “oi” is “hi” in Portuguese, while “ói” is really more like “hey” so I’ve chosen “hey” because, like “oi” in Portuguese, it resonates as both a greeting and an attention grabber. What the English version does not do, however, is play with the similar sounds (particularly in Northeastern Brazil) of “oi” and “olhe” (imperative for of “to look”).

Listen to the original song
Listen to Seixas’s English version

“O trem das 7” (Raul Seixas)
Ói, olha o trem
Vem surgindo de trás das montanhas azuis, ói o trem
Ói, olha o trem
Vem trazendo de longe as cinzas do velho Éon
Ói, já é, vem
Fumegando, apitando, chamando os que sabem do trem
Ói, é o trem
Não precisa passagem nem mesmo bagagem no trem

Quem vai chorar?
Quem vai sorrir?
Quem vai ficar?
Quem vai partir?

Pois o trem está chegando
Tá chegando na estação
É o trem das sete horas
É o último do sertão, do sertão

Ói, olha o céu
Já não é o mesmo céu que você conheceu, não é mais
Vê, ói que céu
É um céu carregado e rajado, suspenso no ar

Vê, é o sinal
É o sinal das trombetas, dos anjos e dos guardiões
Ói, lá vem Deus
Deslizando no céu entre brumas de mil megatons

Ói, olha o mal
Vem de braços e abraços com o bem, num romance astral
Amém!

“The 7 o’clock train” (trans. by S. Smith)
Hey, look at the train
From behind the blue mountains it’s coming, hey train
Hey, look at the train
It’s bringing the ashes of old Eon from afar
Hey, it’s now, it’s coming
Steaming, whistling, calling those who know about the train
Hey, it’s the train
You don’t need a ticket nor even luggage on the train

Who’s gonna cry?
Who’s gonna smile?
Who will stay?
Who will leave?

So the train is arriving
It’s pulling into the station
It’s the seven o’clock train
And it’s the last one from the sertão, the sertão

Hey, look at the sky
No longer the same sky that you knew, that’s no more
See, hey what a sky
It’s a menacing sky, gusty, suspended in the air

Hey, it’s the sign
It’s the sign of the trumpets, the angels, the guardians
Hey, here comes God
Gliding in the sky among thousand megaton mists

Hey, look at evil
It comes arm in arm and hugging good, in an astral romance
Amen!

“Morning Train” (Raul Seixas)
There comes the train
From beyond the blue hills, comes the train
Huff and puff over rails
Here comes the train
Burning coal of the ages and also the words
Of their sages
Look! It's the train
It comes huffing and puffing and coughing
And calling: Hey man!
See, it's the train
You just leave back your luggage
You need but your courage, amen

Who's gonna cry?
Who's gonna stay?
Who's gonna laugh
Going my way?

For the magic train's a-comin'
Look, it's drawing into the station
All the living are within
The chosen ones in this nation, oh, in this nation

Look, look the sky
It is not the one sky that you knew
Can't you fathom the why?
Look, see the sky
See the clouds that are blowing
A-glowing, can't' you hear the sign?
Listen! Here's the sign
As it grows into trumpets
Beasts and strumpets! Come, try
God in the sky
Skimming clouds of the atoms
Of angels and Adam, oh my
Look at the evil
Kissing good and both bowing
And sewing their way for the train
Train, amen