Lyrics and translation Bernard Lavilliers, Quatuor Ébène, Mino Cinelu, Richard Héry & Rémi Rière - Lavilliers: O'gringo

Lavilliers: O'gringo

C'était à Rio de Janeiro
Une ampoule jaune pendait au plafond
Elle me demandait avec son regard étrange
Tu pars, tu pars demain?
Elle a fait glisser sa bague
Autour de ses doigts et posé ses deux mains
Tout près de mon cœur et demandé des nouvelles
D'ailleurs, du monde entier
Sou o gringo que não fala brasileiro
Ele é o gringo que não fala brasileiro
Meu teto é o céu meu leito é o mar
Elle faisait Copacabana
Les vieux allemands tristes
Et les marins saouls
Elle venait du Nord et croyait que la misère
Ici, c'était moins dur
Pendant que les grands s'affrontent
À coup de calibres, de whiskys glacés
Dans les grands salons de Leblon et d'Ipanema
Petit, tu peux crever
J'ai laissé tous mes cruzeiros
Au coin de son lit et je me suis cassé
Seul, dans les chemins qui descendent vers la mer
Le fric, les hauts-placés
Tu ne sauras pas criola
Que cette chanson je l'ai composée
Au petit matin, en descente de Maconha
Pour toi, du monde entier

Lavilliers: O'gringo

It was in Rio de Janeiro
A yellow bulb hung from the ceiling
She asked me with her strange look
Are you leaving tomorrow?
She slipped her ring
Around her fingers and placed both hands
Close to my heart and asked for news
From afar, from all over the world
Sou o gringo que não fala brasileiro
He is the gringo who doesn't speak Brazilian
My roof is the sky, my bed is the sea
She made Copacabana
Sad old Germans
And drunk sailors
She came from the North and believed that misery
Here, it was less hard
While the great ones clash
With calibers, with iced whiskeys
In the great salons of Leblon and Ipanema
Little one, you can die
I left all my cruzeiros
At the corner of her bed and I ran away
Alone, on the paths that go down to the sea
The dough, the high-ups
You won't know, criola
That I wrote this song
In the early morning, coming down from Maconha
For you, from all over the world