“O futebol” by Chico Buarque (1989)
“Soccer”
To fill that net like I dreamed
Only if I were the King
To get the same effect as the player
As a composer
To style the perfect move like a painter
To score in what pinacotheca, dude
A painting more fundamental
Than a shot on goal
With precision
Like an arrow and a dry leaf
To dribble some guy
Down the wing
No
When it’s fatal
To warn about the feint then
When it isn’t
Yes
On the off foot
To advance passage in a geometric wave
Parallel to the impossible, my friend
On the diagonal feeling
Of the goal-man
Scraping the ground
And stitching the line
Parable of the common man
Scratching the sky
One
Hat trick
For the delirium of the cheap seats
In the coliseum
But what king am I
To nullify defensive anti-football
Of the singer
Stopping this loser song, dude
To capture the view
Of a shot on goal
And the emotion
Of the idea when it sways
(To Mané to Didi to Mané Mané to Didi to Mané to Didi to Pagão to Pelé and Canhoteiro)