Francisco Buarque de Hollanda, better know as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian… Read Full Bio ↴Francisco Buarque de Hollanda, better know as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic and cultural reflections on Brazil.

The firstborn son of Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rome. He wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through the bossa nova compositions of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time. Buarque, along with several Tropicalist and MPB musicians, was threatened by the Brazilian military government and eventually left Brazil for Italy in 1969. However, he came back to Brazil in 1970, and continued to record, perform, and write, though much of his material was suppressed by government censors. He released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2019, Buarque was awarded the Camões Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language.

Bastidores
Chico Buarque Lyrics

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Chorei, chorei
Até ficar com dó de mim
E me tranquei no camarim
Tomei o calmante, o excitante
E um bocado de gim

Amaldiçoei
O dia em que te conheci

Com muitos brilhos me vesti
Depois me pintei, me pintei
Me pintei, me pintei

Cantei, cantei
Como é cruel cantar assim
E num instante de ilusão
Te vi pelo salão
A caçoar de mim

Não me troquei
Voltei correndo ao nosso lar
Voltei pra me certificar
Que tu nunca mais vais voltar
Vais voltar, vais voltar

Cantei, cantei
Nem sei como eu cantava assim
Só sei que todo o cabaré
Me aplaudiu de pé
Quando cheguei ao fim

Mas não bisei
Voltei correndo ao nosso lar
Voltei pra me certificar
Que tu nunca mais vais voltar
Vais voltar, vais voltar

Cantei, cantei
Jamais cantei tão lindo assim
E os homens lá pedindo bis
Bêbados e febris
A se rasgar por mim

Chorei, chorei
Até ficar com dó de mim

Overall Meaning

In this song, Chico Buarque sings about the backstage of a cabaret show, where he has just finished singing a cruel and heart-wrenching song. He describes his emotional state as he wept, took pills, drank gin, and cursed the day he met someone who has hurt him deeply. He goes on to describe how he put on his sparkly clothes and makeup, belted out his song, and saw his tormentor laughing at him from across the room. After he finished his performance, he ran back to his home to ensure that this person would never come back to him. He then goes back to the cabaret, sings even better, and the drunk and feverish men in the audience beg for an encore, but he refuses and cries again until he feels sorry for himself.

Line by Line Meaning

Chorei, chorei
I cried, I cried

Até ficar com dó de mim
Until I felt sorry for myself

E me tranquei no camarim
And locked myself in the dressing room

Tomei o calmante, o excitante
I took a sedative, a stimulant

E um bocado de gim
And a bit of gin

Amaldiçoei
I cursed

O dia em que te conheci
The day I met you

Com muitos brilhos me vesti
I dressed up with a lot of sparkles

Depois me pintei, me pintei
Then I painted myself, I painted myself

Cantei, cantei
I sang, I sang

Como é cruel cantar assim
How cruel it is to sing like this