Lua E Flor Lyrics in English by Eduardo Costa
Cabaré translates to "cabaret" in English. It's a word that evokes a specific atmosphere of entertainment, often associated with music, dance, and a certain romantic or melancholic charm.
In the song, the lyric "De qualquer clichê de cabaré, de lua e flor" suggests a classic, almost theatrical, kind of love or sentimentality. It's an interesting word because it paints a vivid picture and is less common in everyday conversation, making it memorable and enticing for a learner.
Every verse opens on the same two words — "Eu amava" [I loved] — and then goes hunting for something to compare that love to. A singer in love with cliche, "De cabaré, de lua e flor" [of cabaret, of moon and flower]. "E sonhava como a feia na vitrine" [and I dreamed like the ugly woman in the shop window]. Letters "Que se assina em vão" [signed in vain]. Each comparison is of somebody attached to the shape of a feeling rather than to whoever it was meant for.
The clearest is the fisherman, "Que se encantava mais / Com a rede que com o mar" [who was more enchanted with the net than with the sea]. Then the closing couplet turns the whole song over: "Eu amava, como jamais poderia / Se soubesse como te encontrar" [I loved, as I never could if I knew how to find you]. He could love like that only because he never found her. Oswaldo Montenegro wrote the song; Eduardo Costa recorded this reading with one guitar, and after a long instrumental stretch in the middle those last six lines come back twice more — a man repeating an argument he has already lost.
