In memory of Vinicius de Moraes (October 19, 1913 – July 9, 1980)

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“Parece que tudo já foi dito sobre Vinicius. Agora só vale a pena dizer da saúdade que ele deixou”.

Carlos Drummond de Andrade



 

Sítio das Hortas, Alcochete, 2013

 

 

 

“Nature Boy”

(Éden / Ahbez)

 

There was a boy…

A very strange enchanted boy

They say he wandered very far, very far

Over land and sea

Of little size and sad of eyes

But very wise was he

And then one day

A magic day, he passed my way

And while we spoke of many things

Fools and kings

This he said to me

“The sweetest thing you’ll ever learn

Is just to love and be loved in return”

 

Era um rapaz

Estranho e encantador rapaz

Ouvi que andara a viajar, viajar

Toda terra e o mar

Menino só

E tímido

Mas sábio demais

Eis que uma vez

Num dia mágico o encontrei

E ao conversarmos lhe falei

Sobre os reis, sobre as leis e a dor

E ele ensinou

Nada é maior

Que dar amor

E receber de volta

Amor

 

 

 

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Old Brown Shoes

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“Old Brown Shoe” – The Beatles (George Harrison) / 1969

I want a love that's right but right is only half of what's wrong.
I want a short haired girl who sometimes wears it twice as long.
Now I'm stepping out this old brown shoe, baby, I'm in love with you.
I'm so glad you came here, it won't be the same now, I'm telling you.

You know you pick me up from where some try to drag me down
And when I see your smile replacing every thoughtless frown.
Got me escaping from this zoo, baby, I'm in love with you.
I'm so glad you came here, it won't be the same now when I'm with you.

If I grow up I'll be a singer wearing rings on every finger.
Not worrying what they or you say I'll live and love and maybe someday
Who knows, baby, you may comfort me.

I may appear to be imperfect, my love is something you can't reject
I'm changing faster than the weather, If you and me should get together
Who knows baby, you may comfort me.

That love of yours, to miss that love is something I'd hate.
I'll make an early start, I'm making sure that I'm not late.
For your sweet top lip I'm in the queue, baby, I'm in love with you.
I'm so glad you came here, it won't be the same now when I'm with you.
I'm so glad you came here, it won't be the same now when I'm with you.

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Bird On A Wire

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“Like a Bird on a Wire” (original lyrics by Leonard Cohen – 1968?)

 

Like a bird on a wire,
Like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a baby on a hook,
Like a knight from an old fashioned book,
I have saved every freedom for thee.
And if I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go on by.
And if I, if I have ever been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.

 

I have saved every freedom for thee.

 

I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said − I heard him say to me − “You must not ask for so much”,
And a pretty woman standing in her dark door,
I say – I heard her sayin’ − “Why, why not ask for more?”.

Like a drunk in a midnight choir,
I have tried, I have tried in my way to be free.

From the Album by Tim Hardin “Bird on a Wire” – 1971

(in my mind an outstanding and timeless record!)

 

 

 

 



This song has many cover versions by several artists, including Judy Collins, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Rita Coolidge, Jennifer Warnes, etc., etc.

I have tried to transcribe the slightly different – and shorter −  words by Tim Hardin, as far as I can understand them.

I apologize for any possible mistake.

 

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Happy Birthday Helena

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“Coming Back To Me” – Jefferson Airplane (Marty Balin)

The summer had inhaled
And held its breath too long.
The winter looked the same,
As if it had never gone,
And through an open window,
Where no curtain hung,
I saw you, I saw you,
Coming back to me.

One begins to read between
The pages of a book.
The shape of sleepy music,
And suddenly, you're hooked.

Through the rain on the trees

That kisses on the run,
I saw you, I saw you,
Coming back to me.

You came to stay and live my way,
Scatter my love like leaves in the wind.
You always say you won't go away,
But I know what it always has been,
It always has been.

A transparent dream
Beneath an occasional sigh...
Most of the time,
I just let it go by.
Now I wish it hadn't begun.
I saw you, I saw you,
Coming back to me.

Strolling the hills
Overlooking the shore,
I realize I've been here before.
The shadow in the mist
Could have been anyone -
I saw you, I saw you,
Coming back to me.

Small things like reasons
Are put in a jar.
Whatever happened to wishes,
Wished on a star?
Was it just something
That I made up for fun?
I saw you, I saw you,
Coming back to me.

 

From the record "Surrealistic Pillow" (1967)

 

 

 

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High Time

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Mourão, Portugal - August 1985

(Hasselblad 500 EL/M)

“High Time” – Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter

You told me goodbye, how was I to know

you didn't mean goodbye, you meant please don't let me go?

I was having a high time, living the good life, well I know

The wheels are muddy, got a ton of hay,

now listen here, Baby, 'cause I mean what I say.

I'm having a hard time, living the good life, well I know.

I was losing time, I had nothing to do,

no one to fight, I came to you.

Wheels broke down, leader won't draw,

the line is busted, the last one I saw.

Tomorrow come trouble, tomorrow come pain,

now don't think too hard Baby, 'cause I know what I'm saying.

I could show you a high time, living the good life, don't be that way.

Nothing's for certain, it could always go wrong,

We could have us a high time, living the good life, well I know.

From the album “Workingman’s Dead” by the Grateful Dead (1970)

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St. Stephen - The Eleven

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Mourão, Portugal - August 1985

(Hasselblad 500 EL/M)

“Saint Stephen” – Jerry Garcia/Phil Lesh/Robert Hunter

Saint Stephen with a rose, in and out of the garden he goes,

Country garden in the wind and the rain,

Wherever he goes the people all complain.

Stephen prospered in his time, well he may and he may decline.

Did it matter, does it now? Stephen would answer if he only knew how.

Wishing well with a golden bell, bucket hanging clear to hell,

Hell halfway twixt now and then,

Stephen fill it up and lower down and lower down again.

Lady finger, dipped in moonlight, writing "What for?" across the morning sky.

Sunlight splatters, dawn with answer, darkness shrugs and bids the day goodbye.

Speeding arrow, sharp and narrow,

What a lot of fleeting matters you have spurned.

Several seasons with their treasons,

Wrap the babe in scarlet colors, call it your own.

Did he doubt or did he try? Answers aplenty in the bye and bye,

Talk about your plenty, talk about your ills,

One man gathers what another man spills.

Saint Stephen will remain, all he's lost he shall regain,

Seashore washed by the suds and foam,

Been here so long, he's got to calling it home.

Fortune comes a crawlin', calliope woman, spinnin' that curious sense of your own.

Can you answer? Yes I can. But what would be the answer to the answer man?

Recorded by the Grateful Dead on the albums “Aoxomoxoa” and “Live/Dead” (1969)

“The Eleven” – Phil Lesh/Robert Hunter

High green chilly winds and windy vines

In loops around the twisted shafts of lavender,

They're crawling to the sun.

Underfoot the ground is patched

With arms of ivy wrapped around the manzanita,

Stark and shiny in the breeze.

Wonder who will water all the children of the garden

When they sigh about the barren lack of rain and

Droop so hungry neath the sky.

William Tell has stretched his bow till it won't stretch

No furthermore and/or it may require a change that hasn't come before.

No more time to tell how, this is the season of what,

Now is the time of returning with our thought

Jewels polished and gleaming.

Now is the time past believing the child has relinquished the rein,

Now is the test of the boomerang tossed in the night of redeeming.

Seven faced marble eyed transitory dream doll,

Six proud walkers on the jingle bell rainbow,

Five men writing with fingers of gold,

Four men tracking down the great white sperm whale,

Three girls waiting in a foreign dominion

Riding in the whale belly, fade away in moonlight,

Sink beneath the waters to the coral sands below.

By the Grateful Dead, from the “Live/Dead” album (1969)

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Morning Dew

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Mourão, Portugal - August 1985

(Hasselblad 500 EL/M)

“Morning Dew” – Bonnie Dobson (1962)

Walk me out in the morning dew my honey,

Walk me out in the morning dew today.

I can't walk you out in the morning dew my honey,

I can't walk you out in the morning dew today.

I thought I heard a baby cry this morning,

I thought I heard a baby cry this today.

You didn't hear no baby cry this morning,

You didn't hear no baby cry today.

Where have all the people gone my honey,

Where have all the people gone today.

There's no need for you to be worrying about all those people,

You never see those people anyway.

I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning,

I thought I heard a young man mourn today.

I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning,

I can't walk you out in the morning dew today.

Walk me out in the morning dew my honey,

Walk me out in the morning dew today.

I'll walk you out in the morning dew my honey,

I guess it doesn't really matter anyway,

I guess it doesn't matter anyway,

I guess it doesn't matter anyway,

Guess it doesn't matter anyway.

Recorded, among others, by the Grateful Dead on their live triple album “Europe’72” (1972).

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