MovieChat Forums > Un homme et une femme (1966) Discussion > samba saravah

samba saravah

posted 19 years ago by isotope_217
12 replies | jump to latest

I've never seen this movie, but I have the original sountrack on vinyl and listen to it all the time. The song "Samba Saravah" on the soundtrack is one of the prettiest pieces of music I've ever had the pleasure to listen to - it's light and romantic and effective. I've searched everywhere on the internet for the original lyrics in french and have yet to find them anywhere. Does anyone have/know the lyrics? I can read some french but have a hell of a time understanding it when spoken. From what I gather, the narrator is telling a little piece/story about having a vagabond heart and what love is.
Anyway, even if no one has/knows the lyrics, I suggest everyone try to track down the original soundtrack - it's wonderful, particularly "Samba Saravah", an utterly vulnerable, longing and romantic song.

"Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie." - Orson Welles.

[–] ah_lior 19 years ago

The original is not in french but in portuguese.
If you want a translation email me at ah_lior@netvision.net

[–] jyarden 19 years ago

If you buy or rent the DVD you'll see the translation of the lyrics.

[–] Mat-37 19 years ago

The original song is called Samba de Bensao, music by Baden Powell and sung by Vinicius de Moraes who wrote the lyrics. The singer of the French version, Pierre Barouh translated the lyrics to French, and they go like this:

Etre heureux, c'est plus ou moins ce qu'on cherche
J'aime rire et chanter et je n'empêche
Pas les gens qui sont bien d'être joyeux
Pourtant s'il est une samba sans tristesse
C'est un vin qui ne donne pas d'ivresse
Un vin qui ne donne pas l'ivresse
Non ce n'est pas la samba que je veux

J'en connais que la chanson incommode
D'autres pour qui ce n'est rien qu'une mode
D'autres qui en profitent sans l'aimer
Moi je l'aime et j'ai parcouru le monde
En cherchant ses racines vagabondes
Aujourd'hui pour trouver les plus profondes
C'est la samba chanson qu'il faut chanter

On m'a dit qu'elle venait de Bahia,
Qu'elle doit son ryhthme et sa poésie à
Des siècles de danse et de douleur
Mais quel que soit le sentiment qu'elle exprime
Elle est blanche de formes et de rimes
Blanche de formes et de rimes
Elle est Nègre, bien Nègre dans son coeur.

Which means something like that:

To be happy is more or less what everybody wants
I like to sing and to laugh, and I don't stop
Those who feel good to be joyous (?)
Yet if there is a samba without sadness
It is a wine that does not make you drunk
A wine that does not make you drunk
That is not the samba that I want

I know some who don't like 'chanson'
Some for whom it's just a fashion
Some who exploit it without loving it
Me, I love it, and I've been all over the world
Looking for its vagabond roots
And today, to find the deepest ones,
Let's all sing this samba-song

I've been told it was born in Bahia
That it owes its rythm and its poetry
To centuries of dance and pain
But whatever is the feeling it expresses
It is White in its form and in its rhymes
White in its form and in its rhymes
But it is Black in its heart.

btw the movie is no good (although you do get to see Pierre Barouh singing the song), don't bother to watch it, the soundtrack is the highlight.

- A point in every direction is the same as no point at all.

[–] nubka 19 years ago

Pierre Barouh was also married to Anouk Aimee...

[–] wim-vorster 17 years ago

The movie is no god???? Ouch!!!!

[–] ilyamilstein 17 years ago

Just to say, don't take Mat-37's English translations too seriously, they're not overwhelmingly accurate.

Either way, a fantastic song, and a fantastic film.

[–] chinaskee 17 years ago

Where else has this song been used before ? Was it written originally for this film ? I just saw the movie for the first time but I know I have heard this song before. Have other filmmakers used it as an a homage to the film or is it just some song I've heard on the radio ?

[–] doinelrj 17 years ago

No This music is one of the most loved musics from Brasilina popular music. I have in mp3 the original song in Portuguese, if y want

[–] dioro 17 years ago

It's originally by Vinicius de Moraes, who wrote the lyrics, under the title of Samba da Bençao. Baden Powell wrote the music.

[–] magnificent_b-stard 17 years ago

Does anyone know if the version that was recorded in English for the dubbed version of the film is available anywhere? The French version is obviously superior- in truth, the engish translation is abominable, but nevertheless has a special place in my heart- any clues?

Magnificent B'stard

"I've got an itch- down... there. Would you mind?"

[–] dioro 17 years ago

You guys might want to try to track down or rent a copy of Vinicius, a recent Documentary about Vinicius de Moraes. I've heard it is very good and this song features in the documentary.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493175/

[–] rosedale 17 years ago

Like you, a few years ago, I searched high and wide for the lyrics to Samba Saravah on the net and couldn't find them. I finally tracked down an email address for a record company in France connected to Pierre Barouh, and wrote asking if anyone could help me. I got a nice note back from someone (not Barouh) who, I think, probably just listened to the song 50 times for me and wrote down what he could decipher. The lyrics posted by Mat-37 above are almost identical to the ones I received. But I also have the first vocal section:
"Faire une Samba sans tristesse, c’est aimer une femme qui ne serait que belle.
Ce sont les propres paroles de Vinicius de Moraès, poète et diplomat, auteur de cette chanson
et comme il a dit lui même, le blanc le plus noir du Brésil.
Moi qui suis peut être le français le plus brésilien de France
J’aimerais vous parler de mon amour de la Samba comme un amoureux
qui n’osant pas parler à celle qu’il aime, en parlerai à tous ceux qu’il rencontre..."
Roughly translated by me (an English Canadian), it says "to make a samba without sadness is to love a woman who's only beautiful. These are the words of Vinicius de Moraes, poet and diplomat, author of this song, and as he himself has said, the 'blackest white person in Brazil'. As probably the most Brazilian French person in France, I want to tell you of my love for the samba, like a lover who doesn't dare to speak to the one he loves, but will speak to everyone he meets..."
The next spoken section is a tribute to all the Brazilian samba legends, including Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes, who wrote the original Samba da Bencao. Also mentioned are Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Dolores Durand. Sorry I don't have that portion (I guess mon ami got bored transcribing!)

By the way, I completely disagree with Mat-37 that the movie is no good. It may be a bit slow for today's attention spans, but it's still a great film to look at, the acting was terrific, the music outstanding, and it's a fine example of French cinema of the 1960's! Salut...