"As Vitrines" - my favorite Chico Buarque song

Today Joy Mars commented on my post about the song "Beatriz."

While I wait for Joy to tell me which are her favorite Brazilian songs, I thought I'd post about my favorite song with music and lyrics by Chico Buarque. I chose to share my favorite interpretation of it by Gal Costa:


Here are the lyrics and my (quick) translation, I'm sure it doesn't do Chico's lyrics any justice, but at least it conveys most of the meaning:

Eu te vejo sumir por aí         I see you disappear over there
Te avisei que a cidade          I warned you that the city
era um vão                          was an empty space
- Dá tua mão                      “Give me your hand”
- Olha pra mim                   “Look at me”
- Não faz assim                  “Don’t do that”
- Não vai lá não                  “Don’t go there, no.”

Os letreiros a te colorir         The neon signs coloring you
Embaraçam a minha visão     Entangle my vision
Eu te vi suspirar de aflição     I saw you sigh from affliction
E sair da sessão,                   And leave the screening,
frouxa de rir                          weak from laughter.

Já te vejo brincando,        I already see you playing,
gostando de ser               enjoying to be
Tua sombra                     Your own shadow
a se multiplicar                 multiplying itself
Nos teus olhos                 In your eyes
também posso ver           I can also see
As vitrines                       The shop windows
te vendo passar               Seeing you go by  

Na galeria, cada clarão   In the gallery,* each bright light
É como um dia                Is like a day
depois de outro dia         after another day
Abrindo um salão           Opening into a large room
Passas em exposição      You go by as an exhibition
Passas sem                    You pass by without
ver teu vigia                    noticing your watchman
Catando a poesia           [who’s] picking up the poetry
Que entornas no chão    You pour on the ground

sigh... I just love this. I actually enjoy singing it and hopefully I will later this semester when we have our MPB night at the university.

* Before there were shopping malls in Brazil, the bigger cities had "galleries" which were long "corridors" with shops on both sides on the first floor of commercial buildings. People could actually enter the building on one street and exit onto another street crossing a whole city blog. It was like a small mall. Sometimes galerias were open in the center to the floors above with stairs and balustrades around looking down.