“A menina dança” (Novos Baianos, 1972)
Source: Eu marco, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Baby Consuelo, also known as Baby do Brasil, turns 73 today. (Not a baby anymore!) In honor of her birthday, I’ve translated a song that Luiz Galvão and Moraes Moreira wrote specifically for her. The lyrics of this song are deceivingly simple. A reddit thread from several years ago noted that even Brazilians have a hard time understanding all the word play and idioms. Several people (including that reddit thread) have pointed out that there’s a strong anti-dictatorship subtext in the words. Building on that idea, a short article on letras.mus.br under the headline “The Dance of Freedom and Authenticity” (translated in full below) says:
The Novos Baianos song “The Girl Dances” is a vibrant expression of freedom and authenticity. Within the apparently simple lyrics is a depth that reflects the spirit of the counterculture and of Tropicália, movements contemporary to the Novos Baianos in which they were active participants. The girl who dances is a metaphor for freedom of expression, for continuous movement, and for the search for happiness and self-awareness.
The repeated phrase “The girl dances” and the indication that she keeps dancing even when she closes her eyes suggests an internal dance, joy and vitality that do not rely on external circumstances. The music evokes the idea that, despite adversity and the unexpected changes of life (“everything was upside-down”), intrinsic strength and beauty persist. The girl also represents youth and cultural resistance in a period of political repression in Brazil.
The song is an invitation to live with intensity and to embrace one’s very essence (“What there is is born!”). The Novos Baianos, known for their mixture of samba, rock, and other Brazilian rhythms, use music as a vehicle to transmit a message of optimism and cultural resistance. “The Girl Dances” is a hymn to the freedom to be who one is, to move according to one’s own internal music, and to celebrate life in its fullness.
And Baby herself said (my translation) “The lyrics say that ‘everything was upside-down’ and that I ‘arrived after regulation time had ended.’ That meant that in a time when fabulous women singers like Elis Regina and Gal Costa were exploding, I brought my individual style.”
There is an amazing play on words in the second, third, and fourth lines of this song with no fewer than FOUR meanings of “viro/virar” - (1) something that is “virado” is overturned, capsized, or upside-down, (2) the verb “virar” can mean “turn” as in turning one’s body or turning a page and (3) it can mean to turn or “avert” one’s eyes, and when made reflexive (“virar-se”) idiomatically means to get by, to manage, to figure out. Similarly, in the line about a motet, the word “canto” means both “song/singing” and “corner/edge.”
“A menina dança”
Quando eu cheguei tudo, tudo
Tudo estava virado
Apenas viro, me viro
Mas eu mesma viro os olhinhos
Só entro no jogo porque
Estou mesmo depois
Depois de esgotar
O tempo regulamentar
De um lado, o olho desaforo
E o que diz o meu nariz arrebitado
E não levo para casa
Mas se você vem perto, eu vou lá
Eu vou lá!
No canto do cisco, no canto do olho
A menina dança
Dentro da menina
A menina dança
E se você fecha o olho
A menina ainda dança
Dentro da menina
Ainda dança
Até o sol raiar
Até o sol raiar
Até dentro de você nascer
Nascer o que há!
Quando cheguei tudo, tudo
Tudo estava virado
Apenas viro, me viro
Mas eu mesma viro os olhinhos
“The Girl Dances”
When I arrived everything, everything
Was all upside-down
I just turn away, I manage
But I really avert my little eyes
I only get in the game because
I’ve actually come after
After the end of
The normal 90 minutes
On one hand, a disrespectful glare
And what my upturned nose says
And I’m not backing down
But if you come close, I’ll go there
I’ll go there!
When singing her motet, in the corner of my eye
The girl dances
Inside the girl
The girl dances
And if you close your eyes
The girl still dances
Inside the girl
She still dances
Until sunrise
Until sunrise
Until within you is born
What there is is born!
And when I arrived everything, everything
Was all upside-down
I just turn away, I manage
But I really avert my little eyes