Learning with Songs
"Fazemos um Dia Para Nós" - a song about being in love in Portugal.
I have been very busy creating all sorts of bits and bobs to feed my obsession with learning EU Portuguese. ( Yes, this has at times created some friction within the meeting rooms, hallways, ballrooms and offices of Casa King. But this post is about both a song and how much I love my wife. So I will probably get away with it.)
Tu e Eu, Sós - or- Fazemos um Dia Para Nós is a triplet of songs.
I wanted to create a song that would let me listen to the verb fazer conjugated in the present, past and future. The simple plan was to write one song in the present and then see if I could reproduce the same images / narrative but set them in the past or future.
I wanted it to remind me of Portugal and, of course, to try to capture something of how I feel about my wife. This is what I came up with:
Here are the lyrics, with the translation in brackets.
Eu faço café de manhã, (I make coffee in the morning,)
tu ainda meia a dormir, (you are still half asleep,)
abres os olhos devagar, (you open your eyes slowly,)
e já me fazes sorrir. (and you already make me smile.)
oh, oh
Tu fazes bolo na cozinha, (You make cake in the kitchen,)
com música velha no ar, (with old music in the air,)
eu faço silêncio só para (I stay quiet just so)
o teu riso continuar. (your laughter can continue.)
oh oh
Tu e eu, sós (You and me, alone)
oh oh
Às vezes vem vento, (Sometimes the wind comes,)
às vezes vem trovão, (sometimes thunder comes,)
mas até os dias cinzentos (but even the grey days)
merecem canção. (deserve a song.)
Eu faço café, tu fazes bolo, (I make coffee, you make cake,)
fazemos a vida pouco a pouco, (we build our life little by little,)
fazemos a cama devagar, (we make the bed slowly,)
fazemos estrelas no olhar. (we make stars in our eyes.)
oh
Tu fazes a chuva cantar, (You make the rain sing,)
eu faço do amor verão, (I make love into summer,)
e fazemos da Terra inteira (and we make the whole Earth)
uma praia no mar das estrelas. (a beach in the sea of stars.)
oh oh
O café faz barulho, (The café makes noise,)
fazem confusão na rua, (they’re making a racket in the street,)
e mesmo no meio de todos (and even in the middle of everyone,)
continuo perto de ti. (I stay close to you.)
oh oh
Tu e eu, sós (You and me, alone)
oh oh
Tu fazes festa com pouco, (You make a celebration out of very little,)
vinho, pão e luz acesa, (wine, bread and a light left on,)
e o tempo para (and time stops)
quando dançamos pela casa. (when we dance around the house.)
Às vezes vem vento, (Sometimes the wind comes,)
às vezes vem trovão, (sometimes thunder comes,)
mas até os dias cinzentos (but even the grey days)
merecem canção. (deserve a song.)
oh oh
Tu e eu, sós (You and me, alone)
Eu faço café, tu fazes bolo, (I make coffee, you make cake,)
fazemos a vida pouco a pouco, (we build our life little by little,)
fazemos a cama devagar, (we make the bed slowly,)
fazemos estrelas no olhar. (we make stars in our eyes.)
Tu fazes a chuva cantar, (You make the rain sing,)
eu faço do amor verão, (I make love into summer,)
e fazemos da Terra inteira (and we make the whole Earth)
uma praia no mar das estrelas. (a beach in the sea of stars.)
O café… (the coffee...)
tu ainda a dormir… (you still sleeping...)
e fazemos da manhã (and we make the morning)
mais um dia para nós. (one more day for us.)
Tue e eu, sós.
This is what I liked:
It is catchy. I like listening to it.
Time standing still while a couple dance through their house. That’s nice.
Many of the things that make me smile are mentioned; making coffee for my wife on a morning; the beautiful night sky here in Portugal and the noise in the street being two of the most important. (Here in Portugal the community lives in the street and in the cafe and at the festas and of course, the church. It is bustling and often quite loud. However, your home in Portugal is a special place and it is rare to be disturbed directly by a knock on the door. )
I like the image of two people feeling as if the whole Earth contains only them; when they look at the stars, the Earth becomes a beach surrounded by a sea of stars. I am blessed to live both on a ordinary street, next door to a very busy cafe and at the same time on that imaginary beach. It’s brilliant.
I like the wind and thunder being mentioned, and I also appreciate merecer (to deserve) getting a turn in the lyrics. It’s a smashing verb.
I like the slightly overextended line about turning the planet into a beach under the stars. Overextending a line is just so human.
Things I don’t like - I think “meia a dormir” (literally ‘half sleeping’) is clunky and not very natural Portuguese. And honestly, that is about it.
In my next post I will be writing about the imperfect tense, and why this song’s next version uses it. Hope you liked the song.
If you already have a subscription to a streaming platform, you may wish to add this one to your playlist and explore some of the other songs I wrote:
I find being able to pick out the words in a song is tremendously rewarding in any language.
Listen, I do this in my spare time because I enjoy it. It also means that if you have a question, or want to say something, I would get a kick out of replying.
Enjoy!