“Mistérios da meia-noite” (Zé Ramalho, 1985)
Source: AnaïsFernandes, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Thirty-seven years ago today, 100% of Brazilian televisions were tuned to the final episode of the most successful Brazilian telenovela of all time, Roque Santeiro. The show was supported by unforgettable music, including the song by Zé Ramalho that I have translated below, which is the theme song for one of the characters, who happened to be a werewolf.
“Mistérios da Meia-Noite”
Mistérios da meia-noite
Que voam longe
Que você nunca
Não sabe nunca
Se vão, se ficam
Quem vai, quem foi
Impérios de um lobisomem
Que fosse um homem
De uma menina tão desgarrada
Desamparada se apaixonou
Naquele mesmo tempo
No mesmo povoado, se entregou
Ao seu amor, por quê?
Não quis ficar como os beatos
Nem mesmo entre Deus
Ou o capeta
Que viveu na feira
Impérios de um lobisomem
Que fosse um homem
De uma menina tão desgarrada
Desamparada, seu professor
“Midnight Mysteries”
Midnight mysteries
That fly far
That you never
You never know
If they’re staying, if they’re going
Who’s going, who’s gone
Empires of a wolfman
Who wanted to be a man
For a woman so adrift
Abandoned she fell in love
At that same time
In that same village, he gave himself
To his love, why?
He didn’t want to end up like the pious
Not even between God
Or the demon
Who lived in the market
Empires of a wolfman
Who wanted to be a man
For a women so adrift
Abandoned, her teacher
The word I have translated as “adrift” (“desgarrada”) is also a kind of challenge song in Portugal. This is not the style of Zé Ramalho’s song, but the idea of a competition adds something to this love story.