A Spin for All Seasons

Listening Post 244. For better or worse the world always turns, and though the release of Roberta Sá’s Giro (Spin) predates the current global pandemic by several months, it provides a useful lens for looking back with longing and forward with hope at a universe that now seems stuck in the ice of fear, compounded by social distancing. The music reminds us that it’s a beautiful/complicated universe revolving around love—present and absent, creeping and rushing, greedy and sharing. On her sixth album Sá, one of Brazil’s leading exponents of samba, puts her softly enchanting voice in the hands of the venerable Gilberto Gil, who wrote or co-wrote all 11 songs and whose syncopated guitar appears throughout a collection balancing samba, bossa nova and xote (the Brazilian genre that takes its name from the German schottische). Echoing today’s existential yearning, Sá pleads more simply for allowing love to take its course in Fogo de Palha (Flash in the Pan): “Don’t leave my side now/Hold my hand” (video 1). The title track evokes Candomblé and Ecclesiastes, with a positive rotation: “Everything has turned/The world has turned/Hold me boy” (video 2). O Lenço e o Lençol (Handkerchief and Sheet) lays down a woman’s terms: Put me on your lap but not in your pocket (video 3); while a man’s perspective informs Ela Diz Que Me Ama (She Says She Loves Me) about two people going in the same romantic direction but at different speeds (video 4). Sá was Gil’s muse and model for Giro, the album title composed of the initial syllable of each artist’s first name. Extending the concept, the album cover displays a mirror in the composer’s hand showing the singer’s face. This is a record of built-in reflection that works for meditation in every season. It also provides that essential for the in-home refugee: Great music. (Rosa Produções/Deck Produções)

Related Post. Roberta Sá: Delírio, Listening Post 65, Sept. 19, 2016

Roberta Sá: Delírio

Fogo de Palha / Flash in the Pan
By Gilberto Gil & Roberta Sá

(From the Portuguese lyrics)
Whether it’s a flash in the pan/Or a lasting passion
Don’t leave my side now/Hold my hand
Because the accordion is crying/And the moon is illuminating our union

If passion doesn’t catch/Love will still that take hold
Even if you leave/The flirtation never ends
There will always be time/To see you again here in my garden

It’s like this with everyone/And for us it will be the same
When love is real/When affection is heartfelt
There’s no escaping it

Even if it’s a flash in the pan/When the spark ignites
Everything around it will burn

Giro / Spin
By Gilberto Gil

Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin
Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin

I think I’ll only stop when the sun comes out/When the morning breaks
And who decided I should come to Bahia/To be welcomed by Nanã*
Who told me to eat one more slice/Of carimã cake
I think it was in this axé* that I wanted/To become a little sister

Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin
Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, spin
Spin, spin, spin, spin, spin, SPUN

Everything has spun/The world has spun
Hold me boy

Hold me boy/Hold me boy

Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn
Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn

Today is turning into real love/The kind that comes to stay
Today the sun is shining in the city/In the dream of the orisha
Today I’m quenching the nostalgia/That brought me here
Today I’m not doing anything by half/The whole cake just for me

Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn
Turn, turn, turn, turn, turn, turn

Everything has turned/The world has turned
Hold me boy

*Nanã = in Candomblé the orisha known as “Mother of Mothers”
Axé = spiritual energy

O Lenço e o Lençol / Handkerchief and Sheet
By Gilberto Gil

I have no boss/I have no owner
Nobody can fold me/As if I were a handkerchief to could put in your pocket
And take me out to wipe their face

I’ll give my love to the one who sees me/Like a sheet on the clothesline
Someone who comes hugs me and kisses me/And then I’ll skip like it’s Carnival

Skipping Carnival, literally/Or jumping and falling perfectly seated
In the lotus position on the sidewalk/The crowd joyfully passing

I am who I am, I do as I please/Without limit or protocol
Whoever wants me must find the way/To put me on his lap and not in his pocket

Whoever wants me will see me as incredible/Intense like the sunlight
Whoever wants me will see the difference/Between the size of the handkerchief and the sheet

Skipping Carnival, literally/Or jumping and falling perfectly seated
In the lotus position on the sidewalk/The crowd joyfully happily

Ela Diz Que Me Ama / She Says That She Loves Me
By Jorge Ben Jor & Gilberto Gil

I like her so much/And she says she loves me
I like her so much/And she says she loves me

Things start simple/And then they grow, oh, oh
We live our lives/We get involved

Until you discover that you’re happy/Or suffering
Oh, my heart, my heart
Hold on a little longer my brother/Hold on longer

When she says that/She’ll keep waiting for me
Any time I arrive/Any time I go
And she says she loves me/And she says she loves me

Heart, love, reason
Passion, passion

I like her so much/Shoulder, lap, bed
Does she even know/That love is a flame?

She says she loves me
Lights up when it blazes/Goes out when windy

Love is always what you try/It reinvents itself
The day that divides/The night that begins

A plate of tenderness/Seasoned with passion and zeal
Yes today, but tomorrow?
Only for those who hold on tight/To the lifeline

I like her so much/And she says… she says…
I like her so much

Ai, ai, ai/I like her so much
And she says she loves me

Ai, ai/She says…
I like her so much

I like her so much/Reason, passion
Heart/I like her so much