“O bêbado e a equilibrista” (Bosco & Blanc, 1979)
I originally posted my translation of this amazing song on September 7, 2022, in honor of Brazil’s 200th anniversary of independence. (That explains the Brazilian flag.) I’m updating it in October 2025 because my friends at Brazuca Sounds are posting an episode about it. There is tons of history packed into this one short song. During these times of disunion and chaos, it seems appropriate to visit this reference-rich, melodically sweeping song once again.
Original post intro: João Bosco and Aldir Blanc originally wrote this song in 1977 as an homage to Charlie Chaplin (called “Carlitos” in Portuguese). Even before Elis Regina recorded it on her 1979 album “Essa mulher” (“That Woman”), it had become an informal anthem of the amnesty movement in Brazil marking the decline of the military dictatorship. On this 200th birthday of Brazil’s independence, with a presidential election in full swing, it seems an appropriate time to offer this translation.
“The Drunkard and the Tightrope Walker”
Falling the afternoon became a viaduct*
And a drunkard in mourning
Reminded me of Charlie
The moon, just like the brothel owner
Asked each cold star
For some brilliance as rent
And clouds up there in the blotting paper sky
Sucked on tortured stains
What a crazy close call!
The drunkard with a coconut hat
Committed a thousand offences
Against the Brazilian night
My Brazil that dreams
About the return of Henfil’s brother**
With so many people who left
On the tail of a rocket
Cry our kind mother homeland***
Marias and Clarisses are crying****
On the soil of Brazil
But I know that such a poignant pain
Doesn’t have to be uselessly
Hope dances
On the tightrope with a parasol
And on each step of that line
You can hurt yourself
Bad luck
The tightrope walker’s hope
Knowing that every artist’s show
Must go on
“O bêbado e a equilibrista”
Caía a tarde feito um viaduto
E um bêbado trajando luto
Me lembrou Carlitos
A lua, tal qual a dona do bordel
Pedia a cada estrela fria
Um brilho de aluguel
E nuvens lá no mata-borrão do céu
Chupavam manchas torturadas
Que sufoco louco!
O bêbado com chapéu-coco
Fazia irreverências mil
Pra noite do Brasil
Meu Brasil que sonha
Com a volta do irmão do Henfil
Com tanta gente que partiu
Num rabo de foguete
Chora a nossa Pátria, mãe gentil
Choram Marias e Clarisses
No solo do Brasil
Mas sei que uma dor assim pungente
Não há de ser inutilmente
A esperança dança
Na corda bamba de sombrinha
E em cada passo dessa linha
Pode se machucar
Azar
A esperança equilibrista
Sabe que o show de todo artista
Tem que continuar
* On November 20, 1971, 20,000 tons of concrete fell off an overpass being built over Paulo de Frontin Avenue in Rio. Twenty cars, a bus, and a truck waiting at a stoplight below were flattened; 48 people died.
** Henfil was a famous political cartoonist whose brother, Herbert José de Sousa, known as Betinho, was exiled in Chile from 1971 to 1979.
*** Both verses of Brazil’s national anthem end with “És mãe gentil, pátria amada, Brasil!” (“Thou art a kind mother, beloved homeland, Brazil!”)
**** Maria was the daughter of Manuel Fiel Filho and Clarisse was the wife of Vladimir Herzog. Both men died in the DOI-CODI torture chambers.