Chega de Saudade is Bossa Nova’s seminal song. Tom composed the music and gave it to Vinicius to write the lyrics. Some say that it took a while to put lyrics to this song. We need to be honest, it has a complex harmony and you need to be a genius like Vinicius to create such beautiful poetry as this.
We could talk about the complex chords, the extensive use of tetrads, tension notes (such as ninths and thirteenths), and diminished or altered chords. But also the tonality transitions swiftly, demanding precision in the ear and fingers of the player. And then comes João Gilberto with his syncopated rhythmic division. Sometimes what looks simple is deeper than we imagine.
Ruy Castro wrote in Chega de Saudade[the biographical book] that Vinicius’ wife, after listening to the finished song, said something like: “don’t you think it is silly?” referring to “pois há menos peixinhos a nadar no mar, do quê beijinhos que eu darei na sua boca” [because there are fewer little fish swimming in the sea than there are kisses I will give on your mouth]. Vinicius, after long days trying to compose the lyrics, just answered: “stop being so elegant, woman” hahahah (personally, I LOVE this story).
Yes, it is silly. However, this isn’t a simple song. And putting lyrics to it was a HUGE challenge. Years later, Vinicius wrote “Acho que em toda a minha vida de letrista nunca levei uma surra assim” [I don’t think in my entire life as a lyricist I’ve ever taken such a beating.]
The song has a Chorinho structure. The melody was originally composed with the density and spirit of a “slow choro” divided into three parts. This instrumental format featured many fast notes and long musical phrases that did not allow natural space for breath pauses or easy word transitions, you know?
The first part of the song is melancholic and plaintive (in a minor key), while the second half opens up in a sunny and joyful way (in a major key). Vinicius needed to create a poetic narrative that accompanied this existential turning point, perfectly transitioning from the painful lament of loneliness to the almost childlike and euphoric celebration of the return of love.
To break the rigidity of the long meter, the poet introduced casual expressions at the end of the lyrics, such as “que é pra deixar desse negócio de você viver sem mim” [this business of you living without me]. Fitting everyday and rhythmic terms without losing poetic elegance required meticulous verbal craftsmanship.
Well, we could talk a lot about this music, but today what came to my mind was its American translation No More Blues.
It was written by Jon Hendricks and Jessie Cavanaugh. And differently from my positive point of view about How Insensitive, I basically hate this version… Those are harsh words, I know…
WHO IS ME? Hahahahah I know, I’m no one to criticize it, but for me it radically alters the original poetic meaning of Vinicius de Moraes, transforming a painful samba-canção about absence and the desire for reconciliation into a generic account of travels and the return home. Chega de Saudade speaks of pain, prayer, little fish in the sea, and millions of hugs to heal the suffering of living without a loved one.
“No More Blues” focuses on traveling the world, returning to one’s hometown, and leaving melancholy behind (“I’m going back home,” “no more tears”). The untranslatable term “saudade” disappears completely, replaced by a literal and simplistic reference to the American musical genre blues…
Yes, I agree that to achieve commercial success in America, the songs needed English lyrics adapted to jazz meter. But, as Tom himself commented during his lifetime, I regret that the subtle poetry of partners like Vinicius and Newton Mendonça is sometimes lost in translation or replaced by a simplified idea of what Brazilian music is supposed to sound and feel like abroad.
Perhaps this is the paradox of translating Brazilian music: the closer you try to translate the words, the further you may get from what made them beautiful in the first place. And with bossa nova, what is left unsaid… the softness, the intimacy, the particular way of expressing love and longing, is often as important as what is actually written.
That is why Chega de Saudade can never be simply No More Blues. Something in saudade resists translation. And perhaps that is precisely why the original is still worth listening to in portuguese.