Roda Viva [English translation]

There are days we feel

Just as who left or died

We stopped suddenly

Or it's the world that has grown...

We want to make our voices heard

Our own destiny dictate

But there comes the living wheel

And takes our destiny away

Spin the world, spin the giant1

Spin the windmill, spin the top

Time has spinned2 in a flash

Inside the rounds of my heart

We go against the tide

'Till we can't resist

At the boat's return we feel

How much was left undone

For so long we have grown

The most beautiful rosebush there is

But there comes the living wheel

And takes the rosebush away...

Spin the world, spin the giant

Spin the windmill, spin the top

Time has spinned in a flash

Inside the rounds of my heart

Mulata's skirt hemline

Won't spin no longer sir

I can't play serenades

The samba's round3 is no more

We take the initiative,

Viola sings on the way

But there comes the living wheel

And takes the viola away...

Spin the world, spin the giant

Spin the windmill, spin the top

Time has spinned in a flash

Inside the rounds of my heart

The samba, the viola, the rosebush

Which once the fire have burned

Were all fleeting illusions

That the first breeze carried away

In the chest nostalgia enthralled

Strives for time to stop

But there comes the living wheel

And takes the nostalgia away

Spin the world, spin the giant

Spin the windmill, spin the top

Time has spinned in a flash

Inside the rounds of my heart... (4x)

1. "roda gigante" can both mean "to spin a giant" as "Ferris wheel"; to keep the "spin" repetition, akin to the "roda" repetition in the original, I decided to go for the literal translation, but keep in mind that "Ferris wheel" is the much more accepted meaning for this among Brazilians.2. here, "rodou" means "has changed", but I decided to keep the "spin" repetition3. a "roda de samba" is a gathering of people, usually in a circle, to play and dance to samba; I decided to translate "roda" in this case as "round" to keep the song's idea of circles, movement and change

• Artist:Chico Buarque
• Album:Chico Buarque de Hollanda - Vol. 3 (1968)