O COCHICHO [English translation]

At Saint John's night, what a stroke of luck

Nobody wants to keep the beak shout

While holdind the skylark in hand, under such circumstances,

Together with a vase of basil.

Come on, marschaw, pheelambaw, tro-lo-law

With torches, hot-air balloons

Among crowds, with people bumping into people

Dancing a solidó will make the hearts beat faster!

Look at the skylark, that can't stop hooting:

Rhee pee pee pee pee pee pee!

And it never is out of tune!

Who among the boy gang wants to hoot

Rhee pee pee pee pee pee pee!

To the girl's skylark?

A dandy, ✝ a fool, a half-dwarf ✝ 1,

Out of the pain of mourning, out of a whim

Seeing I was in the street alone, the idiot

Wanted to rip me off of my skylark

But when that creep 2

Was struck by a punch,

He even cried for his mother

And without giving in, started to toss and turn

The skylark is but mine!

I am not going to give it to anybody else!

1. The text seems to be corrupted, unless some very peculiar regional idioms are involved. The only conclusion I can draw is to correct 'leru' as 'liru', and 'capiru' as 'gabiru'. Still, these expressions feature a vast array of meanins and usages.2. Lit. 'Jew': intended as a dispregiative epithet, the word emphasize that the man doesn't belong there, to the Christian festival.

• Artist:Amália Rodrigues