Alceu Valença (born July 1, 1946 in São Bento do Una, Pernambuco, Brazil) i… Read Full Bio ↴Alceu Valença (born July 1, 1946 in São Bento do Una, Pernambuco, Brazil) is a Brazilian composer, writer, performer, actor, and poet.

Alceu Valenca was born in countryside Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is considered the most successful artist in achieving an aesthetic balance between traditional northeastern Brazilian music and a broad range of electronic sounds and effects from pop music. One can find traces of maracatu, coco and "repentes de viola" (improvising fast-paced Brazilian folk music) in most of his songs. Alceu was able to utilize the electric guitar the electric bass, and lately even a synthesizer was added to his broad scope of musical instruments.

Because of that, Alceu was able to recreate Northeastern traditional music, like baiao, coco, toada, maracatu, frevo, caboclinhos, embolada and repentes: all sung with a sometimes rock sometimes alternative sounding music background. His music and his themes are intangible, universal and unlimited. However, his aesthetic basis is genuinely Brazilian Northeastern music.

Perdeu o Cio
Alceu Valença Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Nosso amor definhou, definhou
Perdeu o cio
Eu me sinto tão triste, cansado
Estou vazio

Nosso amor foi ficando tão magro
Era um mar, virou lago
Hoje é braço de rio

Definhou, definhou, definhou
Perdeu o cio

Nosso amor é um nó desatado
De arame farpado,
É ponta de espinho
Definhou, definhou, definhou
Perdeu o cio

Nosso amor sempre foi desatado
Um trem descarrilhado
Entre São Paulo e Rio

Definhou, definhou, definhou
Perdeu o cio

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Alceu Valença’s song “Perdeu o Cio” describe the gradual fading and loss of passion in a once fiery love affair. The repetition of “definhou, definhou” emphasizes the slow and painful process of deterioration. The loss of “cio,” a term that refers to both the heat of passion and the sexual drive of animals, suggests the absence of primal energy that once fueled the relationship.

The singer feels a sense of sadness and exhaustion as he reflects on the state of his love. The image of a river that has lost its force, becoming a stagnant and shallow pool, evokes a sense of forced stillness and stagnation in a relationship that once flowed like a strong current. The use of metaphors such as “nó desatado” (an untied knot) and “arame farpado” (barbed wire) convey the pain and complexities of a love that has become entangled and hostile.

The final lines of the song suggest that the love was never meant to be, comparing it to a “trem descarrilhado” (a derailed train) that was destined to fail, traveling between two distant cities. The repetition of “definhou” and “perdeu o cio” throughout the song creates a haunting and melancholic tone that lingers long after the song has ended.

Line by Line Meaning

Nosso amor definhou, definhou
Our love deteriorated, deteriorated

Perdeu o cio
Lost its spark

Eu me sinto tão triste, cansado
I feel so sad, tired

Estou vazio
I am empty

Nosso amor foi ficando tão magro
Our love became so thin

Era um mar, virou lago
It was a sea, turned into a lake

Hoje é braço de rio
Now it's an arm of a river

Definhou, definhou, definhou
Deteriorated, deteriorated, deteriorated

Perdeu o cio
Lost its spark

Nosso amor é um nó desatado
Our love is an untied knot

De arame farpado
Made of barbed wire