Samba Saravah

Being happy is more or less what we seek
I love to laugh, sing, and I don't prevent
People who are well from being joyful
Yet if there is a samba without sadness
It's a wine that doesn't give drunkenness
A wine that doesn't give drunkenness, no
It's not the samba I want

I know some are bothered by the song
Others for whom it's just a trend
Others who enjoy it without loving it
I love it and I've traveled the world
Searching for its wandering roots
Today to find the deepest ones
It's the samba-song that must be sung

I was told it comes from Bahia
That its rhythm and poetry are owed to
Centuries of dance and pain
But whatever feelings it expresses
It's white in form and rhyme
White in form and rhyme
It's black, very black, in its heart
But whatever feelings it expresses
It's white in form and rhyme
White in form and rhyme
It's black, very black, in its heart