Nara Lofego Leão (January 19, 1942, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil — June … Read Full Bio ↴Nara Lofego Leão (January 19, 1942, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil — June 7, 1989, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), best known as Nara Leão, was a diverse MPB singer, acoustic guitarist and occasional actress and songwriter, associated with many genres and movements, such as bossa nova, samba de morro, protest song, Tropicália, música nordestina and others, quickly gaining the title of "Musa da Bossa Nova" (Muse of Bossa Nova) ever since the beginning of her career.

When she was twelve, her father gave her a guitar since he was worried about her being shy. Popular musician and composer Patricio Teixeira and classical guitarist Solon Ayala were her teachers. While still a teenager, she met a number of singers and composers who took part of Bossa Nova's musical revolution, in late 50s and early 60s, including Roberto Menescal, Carlos Lyra, Ronaldo Bôscoli, João Gilberto and Antônio Carlos Jobim.

By 1963, after singing as an amateur for a few years, she became a professional and toured with Sergio Mendes. In the mid-1960s, the institution of military dictatorship in Brazil led her to sing increasingly political lyrics. Her show "Opinião" reflected her political beliefs and she had largely switched to political music by this point. In 1964, she even spoke against bossa nova as a movement, calling it "alienating". In 1968, being part of the Tropicália movement, she appeared on the album Tropicália: ou Panis et Circenses, performing "Lindonéia."

She later left Brazil for Paris and in the 1970s abandoned music to focus on her family. She returned to music later and when she discovered, in 1979, that she had an inoperable brain tumor she increased her productivity as much as possible. She died in 1989, leaving a great legacy behind her succesful years of career.

Este Seu Olhar
Nara Leão Lyrics

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Este seu olhar
Quando encontra o meu
Fala de umas coisas
Que eu não posso acreditar

Doce é sonhar
É pensar que você
Gosta de mim

Como eu de você

Mas a ilusão
Quando se desfaz
Doí no coração
De quem sonhou, sonhou demais

Ah se eu pudesse entender
O que dizem os teus olhos

Esse seu olhar
Quando encontra o meu
Fala de umas coisas
Que eu não posso acreditar

Doce é sonhar
É pensar que você
Gosta de mim
Como eu de você

Mas a ilusão
Quando se desfaz
Doí no coração
De quem sonhou, sonhou demais

Ah se eu pudesse entender
O que dizem os teus olhos

Overall Meaning

In Nara Leão's song "Este Seu Olhar," the lyrics seem to capture the feeling of a love that is unrequited or not fully realized. The singer is describing the intense emotions that are conveyed through glances between two people. The look in the other person's eyes is so powerful that it seems to speak of things that the singer cannot believe or fully comprehend. The lyrics capture the bittersweet nature of hopeful love, which is both sweet and painful at the same time.

The chorus of "Doce é sonhar, é pensar que você gosta de mim, como eu de você" (Sweet is to dream, to think that you like me, like I like you) captures the idea of the hope that comes with new love, and how that hope is both exhilarating and fleeting. The verse "mas a ilusão quando se desfaz doí no coração de quem sonhou, sonhou demais" (But the illusion when it fades hurts the heart of those who dreamed, dreamed too much) speaks of the inevitable disappointment that comes when those hopes are unfulfilled.

Overall, "Este Seu Olhar" is a beautiful and poignant song that speaks to the universal experience of love and the complexities that come with it.

Line by Line Meaning

Este seu olhar
The way you look at me

Quando encontra o meu
When it meets mine

Fala de umas coisas
It speaks of things

Que eu não posso acreditar
That I cannot believe

Doce é sonhar
Sweet is to dream

É pensar que você
To think that you

Gosta de mim
Like me

Como eu de você
As I do of you

Mas a ilusão
But the illusion

Quando se desfaz
When it fades away

Doí no coração
Hurts the heart

De quem sonhou
Of those who dreamed

Sonhou demais
Dreamed too much

Ah se eu pudesse entender
Oh if I could understand

O que dizem os teus olhos
What your eyes are saying

Esse seu olhar
That look in your eyes