The Tribute -- Reaching Back and Looking Ahead

RUM CAKE

(COM AÇÚCAR, COM AFETO)

We open this salute to Chico Buarque with “Rum Cake,” (Com açúcar, com afeto, 1966) the first of what would be many songs Chico wrote from a woman’s point of view. Nara Leão requested this one, perhaps on behalf of all the women waiting for their man to come stumbling home, slurring lame apologies. She knows he’s out there having what might pass for the time of his life, but listening between the lines we sense it’s all really no more satisfying than a mug full of flat beer. Nara back then and Andrea Miller on this track capture the truth either way: he’s probably not worth the anguish, but she’s going to keep him around anyway.

Começamos esta saudação a Chico Buarque com “Rum Cake” (versão em inglês de Com Açúcar Com Afeto, 1966), a primeira de muitas canções que Chico escreveu em eu feminino. Nara Leão solicitou esta canção, talvez em nome de todas as mulheres que esperam seu homem voltar para casa aos tropeços e com desculpas esfarrapadas. Ela sabe que ele está na boemia e talvez se divertindo, mas percebemos nas entrelinhas que é bem possível que a diversão não passe de um copo de cerveja choca. Tanto Nara naquela época quanto Andrea Miller nessa interpretação chegam ao âmago da questão: ele provavelmente não vale a angústia, mas ela não irá deixá-lo.

Rum Cake by Chico Buarque, English lyrics by Mark McCaffrey

I made rum cake, spiced it up some, thinking that way I’d see you come

through the door while there’s still light. But Okay,

you need work, you’re on your way now, looking sharp, but I know somehow

you won’t hurry home tonight.

“I’ve got plans for us two, sweetheart.” So you say, and I know my part

is to act like I don’t see. But Okay,

there are places where they’re hiring, but you’re not much for inquiring

as to where the work might be. No, you’ve checked out

all the sports bars, happy hours, karaoke, sweets and sours,

and that team you idolize.

Who’s that pouring drinks at halftime? Tiny skirt and hidden tan lines—

you undress her with your eyes.

Never mind, the night will go on. Once you’ve got a little glow on,

you’ve been known to take the mike.

Sing for all your friends. They loved you long before I even knew you,

and you’re doing what you like.

Come last call, you know I’ll wait up. Like a child, you want to make up

for these nights ‘cuz it’s a crime. Well, Okay,

you tell me you’ll change for my sake, put an end to all this heartache,

no more tears and wasted time.

I look down, you’re all disheveled. What hit you, my handsome devil?

How I’ll hate myself for trying. But Okay,

you sit down, I warm your plate up, kiss your picture, make my way up

to our room of love and crying.

I made rum cake, spiced it up some.

Credits:

Vocals: Andrea Miller

Flute: Fay Roberts

Guitar: Angelo Metz

Piano: Gary Blumer

Bass: Jose Marino

Percussion: Leonardo Costa

SAMBA SCHOOL

(Quem te viu, quem te vê)

Next we feature “Samba School” (Quem te viu, quem te vê), a song that already in 1967 was telling the world that here was a Brazilian songwriter who had novels in him; plays; musicals; poetry … you get the idea. You could have seen it coming in “The Band” (A Banda) and “Masquerade Night” (Noite dos Mascarados) from the year before, but in “Samba School Sound” you have more than a splash of feel-good Fellini (The Band) and more than the sketch of an idea for a musical (Masquerade Night). You have five quatrains in alternating rhyme, a repeating chorus, an arc, a plot, a climax and a touch of irony in the closing line. Give it a listen. That’s Brazilian-born rock guitar master Rafael Moreira on the vocals. You’ll find more on the backstory of this first English-language version in the liner notes below.

Agora gostaria de apresentar Samba School Sound (versão em inglês de “Quem te viu, Quem te vê“), uma música que, já em 1967, estava dizendo a todos que aqui estava um compositor brasileiro que tinha romances para contar; peças de teatro; musicais; poesia, etc. É verdade que o talento já se mostrava em “A Banda” e “Noite dos Mascarados” do ano anterior, mas em “Quem te viu, Quem te vê” Chico mostra mais que um toque de alegria à la Fellini (em A Banda) e mais que um rascunho de um musical (em Noite dos Mascarados). Esta canção tem cinco estrofes, um arco, um enredo, um clímax e um toque suave de ironia no verso final. Dá uma escutada. Nos vocais, o excelente violonista brasileiro Rafael Moreira. Clique abaixo para mais informações sobre estas primeiras versões em inglês das músicas de Chico Buarque.

In our samba school you stood out, someone’s pretty backstreet daughter.

I could live with or without the other girls, but you were hotter.

Now you’re gone and can’t be bothered, but the party hasn’t let up.

You wear evening gowns, you’d rather not break out your samba get-up.

CHORUS : There’s a samba school sound.

Out on the street they’re all looking for you,

(but) you’re not who you were then.

You’re unrecognizable, how do you shed your skin?

We never forgot you – this cannot be you again.

When we’d strike the samba band up you could go your holy mile.

There was no one who could match your samba sway and step and style.

But it’s been the longest while since your style has been sighted.

You give elegant soirees now, but I’ve never been invited.

CHORUS

I was placing to your charms when you first got your samba groove on.

Once I’d rocked in your soft arms I could find nothing to improve on.

But the day you chose to move on to your street of iron gates,

They all knew I’d been hit hard and now the samba school still waits.

CHORUS

All year long I did my best to keep your fantasy aglowin’.

And I dressed you drop-dead gorgeous; you turned heads comin’ and goin’.

Now I don’t quite understand it, and I can’t say what would do it,

But that princess-goddess image—one fine day you bought into it.

CHORUS

Tonight I lead the street dance, you’ll show up with your new crowd now.

I’ll expect a classy entrance – nothing common, crude or loud now.

If you start to feel you miss us, please be cool. Don’t let it show.

Clap your hands as if you meant it – you’re a tourist now, you know.

CHORUS

Vocals: Rafael Moreira, Andrea Miller and Jessica Vautor

Percussion: Leonardo Costa

Bass: Jose Marino

Guitar: Angelo Metz

SAMBA DE ORLY

I had Rafael Moreira on the phone and he wasn’t happy. I wanted him to come to El Cid on Sunset and try out a few of the Chico B. songs I had ready. Maybe he could get his ace rock band Magnetico behind the idea. Either that, or just bring his own formidable guitar chops to the stage and see if 40 or 50 Angelenos could warm up to Rafa, a music man from Brazil who counts Paul Stanley of KISS among his good friends, playing Chico B., another music man from Brazil, who counts Milton Nascimento among his. Two very different kinds of star power, and I wanted to see how they might line up far from the land of MPB . And why was Rafa so incensed? Because at the time El Cid was a pay-to-play venue and he wanted nothing to do with any of that.

That gig never happened, but Samba School (see above) and Samba de Orly did. Rafa gamely took on the lyrics and we worked long hours in his studio to get the cadence and inflection right. For chorus I brought the formidable Andrea Ferraz, once of Minas Gerais, Brazil, and flanked her with two freshly minted music majors from Occidental College, Diego and Santiago Alcantara. They’re a perfect vocal echo for Rafael, who sings the story and tells the song, exactly what’s called for in this cry across the ocean to the home you can’t go back to.

Eu falava com Rafael Moreira no telefone e ele não estava muito contente. Eu queria que ele viesse ao El Cid em Sunset Boulevard e tentasse algumas das músicas de Chico Buarque que eu já tinha prontas. Talvez ele pudesse até convencer sua banda de rock Magnetico a tentar também. Mesmo que não, seria já excelente ele trazer sua formidável maestria no violão para o palco e ver se 40 ou 50 Angelenos poderiam balançar ao som de Rafa, um músico brasileiro que tem Paul Stanley do KISS entre seus bons amigos, tocando Chico Buarque, outro músico brasileiro, que conta com Milton Nascimento entre os seus. Dois tipos muito diferentes de astros, e eu queria ver como eles poderiam se alinhar longe da terra da MPB. E por que Rafa se irritou tanto? Porque, na época, El Cid era um local pago e ele não queria nada com isso.

Esse show nunca aconteceu, mas a Samba School (veja acima) e o Samba de Orly aconteceram. Rafa trabalhou a letra e nós passamos longas horas em seu estúdio para acertar a cadência e a inflexão. Para o refrão, eu trouxe a formidável Andrea Ferraz, natural de Minas Gerais, no Brasil, e pus a seu lado dois recém-graduados em música pelo Occidental College, Diego e Santiago Alcantara. Eles são um eco vocal perfeito para Rafael, que canta a história e conta a música – exatamente o que é necessário nesse grito, do outro lado do oceano, para uma casa à qual não se pode retornar.