Lyrics from Retrato em branco e preto by Tom Jobim and Chico Buarque (1968)

Good Audio Version (Elis Regina) Im familiar with each step along this road I know it goes nowhere I know its secrets by heart Im familiar with the stones in the path And I know, too, that there, alone, Im going to end up so much the worse What can I do to fight the enchantment Of this love that I deny so much, I avoid so much And that, nevertheless, always recasts its spell With its same sad old facts that, in a picture album, I insist on collecting Here I go again, like a fool, seeking the despondency Of whose acquaintance Ive grown weary New sad days, sleepless nights Verses, letters, my dear And still I write to you again, to tell you this is a sin My breast is so scored with memories from the past And you know the reason Im going to collect one more sonnet, another portrait in white and black To mistreat my hear

Interpretation Chico Buarque (L), Tom Jobim, and Vinicius de Moraes. Photo via Catraca Livre. This was the first song that Tom Jobim and Chico Buarque worked on together, and its instrumental version has become a jazz standard.

Chico Buarque (standing) and Tom Jobim. Jobim and Buarque were introduced in 1964 or 1965, as Chico recalls, by the music producer Alosio de Oliveira; later, their mutual friend and partner Vinicius de Moraes brought them closer. In 1967 Tom asked Chico to write the lyrics to this song, which hed already released in its instrumental version as Zngaro, meaning gypsy. (The use of half tones in the first verses evokes a certain aimlessness.) Chico was nervous. He had only written lyrics for one song that was not his own a partnership with his close friend Toquinho, Lua Cheia and he was unsure of his talents as a lyricist. But he recounts that at this point, Tom treated him more like a pupil than a partner, offering effusive encouragement and telling him that his lyrics were simply splendid. As Charles Perrone points out in Seven Faces: Brazilian Poetry since Modernism, Chicos sonnetlike lyrics, with two fourteen-line stanzas, recall Vinicius de Moraess romantic poems, which is not surprising since Chico had grown up admiring Vinicius, a close friend of his father, Srgio Buarque de Holanda. Toms only question which you, too, may have wondered was why they should use portrait in white and black when everyone says black and white. Chico defended his phrasing by suggesting that, were the word order reversed, the only word he might rhyme with branco (white) would be tamanco a woodsoled shoe. Tom preferred the singer collect another sonnet, and not a shoe. Chico, for his part, tried to change the lyrics shortly before recording, asking Tom if they might substitute the words peito to marcado translated here as breast so scored with peito carregado, or heavy breast; he said hed used so in the first version merely as a crutch. But for Tom, Chicos suggested change called to mind a tuberculosis patient, since peito means both breast and chest in Portuguese, and carregado can mean gloomy or heavy, but can also mean full, loaded, or in some cases, congested. So they stuck with the original lyrics, and Joo Gilberto recorded the song in 1968. (Here he is singing it.) As the pair continued working together, Tom abandoned his accepting attitude and second-guessed many of Chicos lyrics. In the following posts you can read about their spirited spats over the lyrics for Piano na Mangueira and Sabi.

Lyrics in Portuguese J conheo os passos dessa estrada Sei que no vai dar em nada Seus segredos sei de cor J conheo as pedras do caminho E sei tambm que ali sozinho Eu vou ficar, tanto pior O que que eu posso contra o encanto Desse amor que eu nego tanto Evito tanto E que no entanto Volta sempre a enfeitiar Com seus mesmos tristes velhos fatos Que num lbum de retrato Eu teimo em colecionar L vou eu de novo como um tolo Procurar o desconsolo Que cansei de conhecer Novos dias tristes, noites claras Versos, cartas, minha cara Ainda volto a lhe escrever Pra dizer que isso pecado Eu trago o peito to marcado De lembranas do passado E voc sabe a razo Vou colecionar mais um soneto Outro retrato em branco e preto A maltratar meu corao Main sources for this post: Interviews with Chico Buarque on Tom Jobims website and Histrias de Canes: Tom Jobim, by Wagner Homem and Luiz Roberto Oliveira.

Retrato em branco e preto

(Tom Jobim e Chico Buarque)
Int.: Cm G7 Cm G/B A#m6 J conheo os passos dessa estrada, sei que no vai dar em nada A5+/7 Fm/G# Seus segredos sei de cor A#7/9 D#7+ D#6 Am5-/7 J conheo as pedras do caminho e sei tambm que ali sozinho C G5+/7 Cm Eu vou ficar, tanto pior, o que que eu posso contra o encanto G/B Desse amor que eu nego tanto, evito tanto A#m6 A5+/7 Fm

E que no entanto volta sempre a enfeitiar F# Cm/G Com seus mesmos tristes velhos fatos G#7+ Fm/G# G5+/7 Cm Que num lbum de retrato eu teimo em colecionar G/B A#m6 L vou eu de novo como um tolo, procurar o desconsolo A5+/7 Fm/G# Que cansei de conhecer A#7/9 D#7+ D#6 Novos dias tristes, noites claras, versos, cartas Am5-/7 C Minha cara, ainda volto a lhe escrever G5+/7 Cm G/B Pra lhe dizer que isso pecado, eu trago o peito to marcado A#m6 A5+/7 Fm/G# De lembranas do passado e voc sabe a razo Fm F# Cm/G G#7+ Fm/G# Vou colecionar mais um soneto, outro retrato em branco e preto G5+/7 Cm A maltratar meu corao