Roda
Gilberto GilI have spent some time creating an English translation of this... | |
RONDE | CIRCLE [1] |
Mon peuple, prête attention Dans la ronde que je t'ai faite Je veux montrer à qui vient Cela que le peuple dit Je peux parler, puisque je sais Je tire les autres à moi Quand je déjeune, je ne dîne pas Et quand je chante c'est comme ça | My people, pay attention In the circle that I’ve made of you I want to show whoever comes What the people have to say I can speak because I know I'll draw the people around me When I have lunch, I don’t eat And when I sing here’s how: |
Maintenant je vais divertir Maintenant je vais commençer Je veux voir qui va sortir Je veux voir qui va rester Ce n'est pas obligé de m'entendre Qui ne veut pas écouter | Now I'm going to have some fun Now I'm going to get started I want to see who will leave I want to see who will stay You don’t have to hear me If you don’t want to listen |
Ceuw qui ont de l'argent dans le monde Plus ils en ont, plus ils veulent en gagner Et nous qui n'avons rien Devennons pire que ce que nous sommes Monsieur, ayez honte Arrêtez la mascarade Laissez l'argent du pauvre Et volez un autre voleur | Whoever has money in the world The more you have, the more you want And for people who have nothing It only ever gets worse My man [2], be ashamed Stop your disgrace [3] Leave the poor their money And rob another thief |
Maintenant je vais divertir Maintenant je vais processer Je veux voir qui va rester Je veux voir qui va sortir Ce n'est pas obligé de m'écouter Qui ne voudrait pas m'écouter | Now I'm going to have some fun Now I’m going to continue I want to see who will stay I want to see who will leave You don’t have to listen If you don’t want to hear me |
Si le riche et le pauvre meurent On enterre le riche et moi Je veux voir qui sépare La poussière du riche de la mienne Si là en bas il y a égalité Ici en haut il doit y avoir Qui veut être plus que ce qu'il est Un jour devra souffrir | If a rich man and a poor man die Bury the rich man and me I want to see who can separate The dust of the rich man from mine If there is equality down there Then there must be up here Whoever wants to be more than they are Will suffer at the end of the day [4] |
Maintenant je vais divertir Maintenant je vais processer Je veux voir qui va rester Je veux voir qui va sortir Ce n'est pas obligé de m'écouter Qui ne veux pas m'écouter | Now I'm going to have some fun Now I’m going to continue I want to see who will stay I want to see who will leave You don’t have to listen If you don’t want to hear me |
Monsieur, faites attention Avec votre exploitation Si je ne vous la donne pas en cadeau Votre tombe par terre Je veux voir qui va dire Je veux voir qui va mentir Je veux voir qui va nier Ce que je viens de dire | My man, be careful With your exploitation If not, I will put you In your grave I want to see who will speak I want to see who will lie I want to see who will deny What I said here |
Maintenant je vais divertir Maintenant je vais finir Je veux voir qui va sortir Je veux voir qui va rester Ce n'est pas obligé de m'entendre Ceux qui ne voudraient pas m'écouter | Now I'm going to have some fun Now I’m going to finish I want to see who will leave I want to see who will stay You don’t have to hear me If you don’t want to listen |
Maintenant je vais terminer Maintenant je vais courir ça et là Qui sait tout le dit tout de suite Ou reste sans rien à dire Je veux voir qui va revenir Je veux voir qui va fuir Je veux voir qui va rester Je veux voir qui va traïr | Now I’m going to finish Now I'm going to elaborate Whoever knows everything had better say it now Or just sit there and be quiet I want to see who will come back I want to see who will run away I want to see who will stay I want to see who will betray |
Pour cela je ferme cette ronde La ronde que je t'ai faite La ronde qui est du peuple Où il se dit ce qui se dit Où il se dit ce qui se dit | With that I close this circle The circle that I made of you The circle that is of the people Where they say what they say |
[2] “Seu moço” is a very interesting informal phrase that has pretty much no English equivalent, and I struggled quite a bit with how to translate it. The two component words are as follows: “Seu” which is the informal version of “Sr.” meaning “Mr.” and “moço” meaning “young man.” Taken together, it is an extremely informal way to address someone in Portuguese. The problem we run into with translating this phrase to English is that there is no informal way to say “Mr.” and saying something like “Mr. young man” sounds like nonsense in English. I have seen various English translations that interpret this phrase as simply “sir” or “young man,” but I feel these are too formal-sounding. “My man” is by no means a perfect translation of “Seu moço,” but I think it is more appropriate as it preserves the informality of the address in English, which is crucial to the meaning of the lyric.
[3] “Descaração” is a bit of informal language with the literal meaning “shamelessness.” This was another tricky one as it’s a word that doesn’t show up in the dictionary. Unfortunately, I do not think it is possible to capture the informality of this word in English as I attempted to do with “seu moço.” We do have informal ways of telling people to “stop their shamelessness” in English but they are typically much more vulgar than what “Acabe a descaração” implies. Therefore, the only change I have made is swapping in the word “disgrace,” because I feel the word “shamelessness” is very clunky-sounding in English.
[4] There are a few other phrases where I have subbed in a close English equivalent rather than a direct translation. For instance, rather than translating “Um dia há de sofrer” literally as “one day will suffer,” I have instead chosen “will suffer at the end of the day,” which means basically the same thing and is far more commonly said among English speakers.