Learn with Songs: Amigo é Pra Essas Coisas, MPB4

This old Brazilian song called Amigo é pra essas coisas was popping in my mind for no apparent reason. The lyrics are a dialogue between old friends who meet at a bar. One of them is feeling pretty down because his girlfriend broke up with him. You know how they say that there is a reason for something to insist on popping in your mind? Last week, while singing it in the shower, it occurred to me that Portuguese learners would benefit a lot from the song. It is a casual dialogue between friends and although it was written a few decades ago, most of its language is still current and useful.

Songs are an integral part of our class material at Street Smart Brazil. Polyglot, world traveler, and language instructor Susanna Zarayasky, author of Language is Music, tells us that “Music engages more parts of your brain than language does and it sticks in the brain better than language.” Speaking specifically about Portuguese, Susanna believes that “Songs can truly help you learn Portuguese vocabulary, pronunciation, and word order. You can even learn grammar with Brazilian songs.”

Book: Language is Music, by Susanna Zaraysky

“Amigo é pra essas coisas” was written by famous Brazilian songwriter Aldir Blanc and Sílvio da Silva Júnior, and  was recorded by the group MPB4 in 1970.

Below I offer a free translation, not a literal one. At the very bottom please find a video of the song.

Did you know?

In English we use quotation marks to set off dialogue from narrative. In Portuguese we start each sentence in the dialogue with the em dash which is a longer dash.

Amigo É Pra Essas Coisas

(1) L'Argent (Money): There is a novel and a movie called L’Argent. They are unrelated. The novel was written by Émile Zola in 1890. The film is a “1983 French drama film directed by Robert Bresson. It is loosely inspired by the first part of Leo Tolstoy's nouvelle The Forged Coupon. It was Bresson's last film. It earned its maker the Director's Prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival.” (Wikipedia)

(2) No jogo: I translated it as playing cards, but it could be other games and/or betting.

(3) Um cabral: From 1942 to 1984 the Brazilian currency was called Cruzeiro. The note of 1,000 cruzeiros had a picture of Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral regarded as the discoverer of Brazil. Instead of referring to this note by its money denomination, Brazilians used to call it “cabral”. Learn more about the history of Brazilian currency on Wikipedia. This slang is not current anymore. Because the Brazilian currency went through several transitions during  a period of hyperinflation, it is difficult to say how much um cabral would be worth today.

Um cabral

(4) You may find three different spellings of this expression: “ao Deus dará”, “ao Deus-dará”, and “ao deus-dará”. Here are a few more examples with the expression “ao deus-dará”:

• Aquela casa está ao Deus dará há muito tempo. = That house has been abandoned for a long time.
• Ele foi deixado ao Deus dará. = He was abandoned to his own luck.
• Ela vive ao Deus dará = She lives randomly, abandoned, and without direction.

Momento Aula Viva:

The second video below shows a fun interpretation of the song. Try doing the same. Sing it aloud until you feel comfortable saying each sentence with good rhythm and pronunciation.