Happy Birthday, Caetano!

Source: Secretaría de Cultura Ciudad de México from México, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In honor of Caetano Veloso’s 80th (!) birthday, my translation of “Você é linda” (“You are beautiful”) from his 1983 album “Uns” (“Some”). (Caetano was one of the first translations on this blog.) The really catchy line of this song to me is the one right after the title line when he says “Mais que demais.” Literally that’s “more than too much” but the echo of the word “more” (“mais”) in the single Portuguese word for “too much” (“demais”) creates an interesting looping sort of rhyme that also could be parsed as “in addition to more” or “more than more” or even “plus a lot.” Those would not be literal translations, but I would argue they’re legitimate interpretations of what rings out of the echoing “mais que demais.”

Listen to the song

“You are beautiful”
Well of honey
In the eyes of a geisha
Kabuki, mask
Shock between blue
And the cluster of acacias
Light of acacias
You’re the mother of the sun

Your thing is everything just right
Cunning beauty
You leave me on a deserted street
When you cross
And don’t look back

Beautiful
And you know how to live
You make me happy
This song is just to say
And it says

You are beautiful
More than too much
You are lovely indeed
An ocean wave of love
That hit me

You are strong
Teeth and muscles
Chest and lips
You are strong
Lyrics and music
All the songs
That I have yet to hear

In Abaeté
Sands and stars
Are not more beautiful
Than you
Woman of the stars
Stargirl
Say what you want

You are beautiful
And know how to live
You make me happy
This song is just to say
And it says

You are beautiful
More than too much
You are lovely indeed
Wave of love from the sea
That hit me

I like to see
You in your rhythm
Mistress of carnaval
I like to have
To feel your style
To go into your depths
Never does me wrong!

Beautiful
More than too much
You are lovely indeed
A love wave from the sea
That hit me
You are beautiful
You know how to live
You make me happy
This song is just to say
And it says