“Largo da 2a-feira” (Erasmo Carlos, 1972)

Source: Will Mumu Silva, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The “Largo da 2a-Feira” is a neighborhood in Tijuca, a part of Rio de Janeiro. Normally one wouldn’t translate place names, but somehow “Monday Square” seems to work here. (And for consistency, I’ve translated “Praça da Bandeira,” another real place, as “Flag Park.”) This song is from the 1972 album “Sonhos e Memórias” (“Dreams and Memories”).

Listen to the song

“Monday Square”

In Monday Square
Where I once lived
Among cats, parakeets
I planted my revelry
And it was normal

Trapdoors set up in my backyard
Drum, carnaval costume
My medicine, my kites, my schools
My medicine, my kites, my schools

Matoso Street in Flag Park
My sugarcane juice
The meals, the flags
On weekends
And it was normal

The burning of Judas on Holy Saturday
All the questions, bucket baths
My pains, my sins, my loves
My pains, my sins, my loves