Chico Buarque - Roda Viva (English translation)
English translation
The wheel of life
There are days that we feel
Just as someone that has left or died
Maybe, we have stopped in time
Or either the world is the one who has evolved
We want to make our voices heard
and be the owners of our own destiny
But there comes the wheel of life
and takes our destiny far away
The world turns, big wheel,
The windmill turns, the trompo turns
Time has twirled in a flash
Among the turnarounds of my heart
We go ahead against the tide
until we can no longer resist
It's only at the ship's homecoming that we notice
how much we had left undone
For so long we have grown
the most beautiful rose that exists
But there comes the wheel of life
and takes the rose far away
The world turns, big wheel
The windmill turns, the trompo turns
Time has twirled in a flash
Among the turnarounds of my heart
Her long hemline skirt,
the mulata doesn't want to swirl it anymore
I don't play serenades anymore*
The circle/party of samba is over
We take the iniciative,
putting our violas out in the streets to sing
But there comes the wheel of life
and takes the violas far away
The world turns, big wheel
The windmill turns, the trompo turns
Time twirled in a instant
Among the turnarounds of my heart
The samba, the violas, the rose
which one day, the fire has burned
All were only brief illusions,
which the early breeze has carried away
In our hearts, the nostalgia grows
It tries hard to stop time
But there comes the wheel of life
and takes the nostalgia far away
The world turns, big wheel
The windmill turns, the trompo turns
Time twirled in a instant
Among the turnarounds of my heart
Submitted by 
algebra on Wed, 12/01/2011 - 21:57
algebra on Wed, 12/01/2011 - 21:57
Collections with "Roda Viva"
| 1. | Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Brazilian Songs |
Chico Buarque: Top 3
| 1. | Construção |
| 2. | Atrás da Porta |
| 3. | O Que Será |
See also
Portuguese → English: All Translations
Comments
kyonaute
OzzySCCP
This song came out in the time of Brazilian dictatorship, so "roda viva" means life, destiny, etc, and is also some kind of metaphor to mean the censorship at the time.
*That's why we can also get :
Não posso fazer serenata
I'm not allowed to play serenades anymore
# the mulatta skirt is an open reference to the slavery time in our country. it feels like "the mulata doesn't want to dance as she was told". Obviously he means that he wouldn't stand still at the censorship and all the manipulations of the government - a sort of slavery, I mean.
Here a nice explanatory source in Portuguese:
http://www.tvcultura.com.br/aloescola/literatura/poesias/chicobuarquedeh...
Cheryl, it's for you