Noel Rosa was born in Rio de Janeiro into a middle-class family of the Vila Isabel neighbourhood. An accident with a forceps at his birth caused the disfigured chin that would haunt him all his short life. He learned to play the bandolim while still a teenager, and soon moved on to the guitar. Although Noel started medicine studies, he gave most of his attention to music and would spend whole nights in bars drinking and playing with other samba musicians. Together with Braguinha and Almirante he formed the musical group "Bando de Tangarás". Soon he started composing sambas, and had his breakthrough with "Com que roupa?", one of the biggest hits of 1931 and the first in a string of memorable compositions.
In the early 1930s Noel Rosa started to show signs of a tuberculosis. He would occasionally leave for treatment on mountain resorts, but always ended up coming back to Rio and the nightlife. In 1934 he married Lindaura Martins, a seventeen-year old neighbour, but that didn't keep him from having affairs with other women. Noel was a heavy smoker, and most of his photographs show him with a cigarette hanging from his lower lip. By the later 1930s his health had seriously deteriorated, and he died in 1937 at the age of 26.
Felicidade
Noel Rosa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Minha amizade foi-se embora com você
Se ela vier e te trouxer
Que bom, felicidade que vai ser!
Trago no peito
O sinal duma saudade
Cicatriz de uma amizade
Eu fico triste
Quando vejo alguém contente
Tenho inveja dessa gente
Que não sabe o que é sofrer
(Felicidade...)
O meu destino
Foi traçado no baralho
Não fui feito pra trabalho
Eu nasci pra batucar
Eis o motivo
Que do meu viver agora
A alegria foi-se embora
Pra tristeza vir morar
(Felicitá...)
The lyrics of Noel Rosa's song Felicidade speak of the singer's lament over the loss of friendship and the emptiness that he feels. He yearns for happiness, which he associates with his friend's return, even though he acknowledges that their friendship is gone. The chorus, which repeats the word "felicidade" (happiness), is a poignant reminder of his quest for joy. He wears the scars of his lost friendship like a badge on his chest, and alludes to the feeling of envy when he witnesses others' excitement, as he can't seem to find his own. The singer's reflections on his destiny as someone who was not meant for work, but instead for making music (batucar), only serve as a reminder of the pain he feels from the loss of his dear friend.
The song's lyrics reveal a deep sense of longing and sorrow that is palpable in the singer's voice. He expresses his desire for happiness, framing it in the response to his friend's potential return, and reveals that he is still haunted by the loss of their friendship. Through the lyrics, Noel Rosa conveys the challenges of coping with the feeling of loneliness and the fragility of personal relationships, while simultaneously illuminating the search for happiness and the human experience of envy.
Line by Line Meaning
Felicidade! Felicidade!
Happiness! Happiness!
Minha amizade foi-se embora com você
My friendship went away with you
Se ela vier e te trouxer
If it comes back and brings you
Que bom, felicidade que vai ser!
How great, the happiness that will be!
Trago no peito
I carry in my chest
O sinal duma saudade
The sign of longing
Cicatriz de uma amizade
Scar of a friendship
Que tão cedo vi morrer
That I saw die so soon
Eu fico triste
I become sad
Quando vejo alguém contente
When I see someone happy
Tenho inveja dessa gente
I envy those people
Que não sabe o que é sofrer
Who don't know what it is to suffer
(Felicidade...)
(Happiness...)
O meu destino
My destiny
Foi traçado no baralho
Was drawn in the cards
Não fui feito pra trabalho
I wasn't made for work
Eu nasci pra batucar
I was born to drum
Eis o motivo
Here's the reason
Que do meu viver agora
Why now in my life
A alegria foi-se embora
Happiness went away
Pra tristeza vir morar
For sadness to come and stay
(Felicitá...)
(Happiness...)
Contributed by Annabelle N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Marcos Junior
Sou completamente apaixonado por Noel. Letras simples mas com uma magia inexplicável. Noel e Chico pra mim são os melhores do Mundo!
Tetezinha Trajano
Concordo plenamente bom gosto
Mara lucia duclos Duclos
Ele tinha o dom da música, sempre um gênio. A música o deixa vivo entre nós.
Maravilhoso!!!
Joaquim Sodré
Para mim é a música mais bonita de Noel Rosa.A que realmente tem seu dna..
Professor Hilbert Vasconcelos
Noel Rosa foi meu primeiro amor, artisticamente. Cantava feito um demônio Fita Amarela, aos quatro anos de idade. Gosto muito desse rapaz folgado!
Samuel Machado Filho
Samba que traz na edição impressa o subtítulo "Que bom, felicidade, que vai ser!", verso final do estribilho. Saiu pela Columbia em fevereiro de 1932, disco 22083-B, matriz 381159.
Noel Rosa
Caro amigo Samuel, primeiramente, gostaríamos de lhe agradecer pelos maravilhosos comentários, dando-nos a descrição de alguns fatos e curiosidades das mais belas obras de Noel. Seria algum problema pra você incluirmos esses relatos na descrição destas canções? Abraços!
jose c. Albuquerque
Como nao ser apaixonado por Noel. O cara e um genio.
Gatusso
genio msm
Valdete Luz
Das cantigas que minha mãe cantava e ficava feliz.