My friends and I spent Easter weekend at my friend’s farm a ways away outside São Paulo City, and since we were in the countryside, we decided to jam pack our playlists with sertanejo, or Brazilian country music. It’s pretty popular amongst the younger crowd here, like with singers such as Luan Santana, who’s only 20! But what we brought to the farm was real old-school sertanejo, like Tonico & Tinoco, one of the most popular duplas sertanejas in Brazilian history, and who are from a town near where we stayed, Botucatu, SP.

Here’s one of the songs that made me remind of sitting on my grandma’s porch in her countryside home… maybe it’s because it’s from her época…

*Note: In many places where there should be an “l,” they pronounce an “r” – that’s a real caipira, or country accent!

A Moda da Mula Preta – Tonico e Tinoco

Eu tenho uma mula preta
Com sete palmo de altura
A mula é descanelada
Tem uma linda figura
Tira fogo na calçada
No rampão da ferradura
Com morena na garupa
A mula vai segura
A mula fica enjoada
Pisa só de andadura

No ensino da criação
Veja o tanto que regula
O defeito do mulão
Se eu contar ninguém calcula
Moça feia e marmanjão
Na garupa a mula pula
Chega a fazer serração
Cada pulo dessa mula
O cabra fica tremendo
Sendo preto fica fula

Eu passear na cidade
Só numa volta que eu dei
A mula deidou saudade
Nos lugares que passei
No mulão de qualidade
Quatro milhão enjeitei
Pra dizer mesmo a verdade
Nem satisfação eu dei
Fui dizendo boa tarde
Pra minha casa voltei

Soltei a mula no pasto
Veja o que aconteceu
Uma cobra venenosa
A minha mula mordeu
Com o veneno dessa cobra
A mula nem se mecheu
Só durou mais quatro horas
Depois a mula morreu
Acabou-se a mula preta
Que tanto gosto me deu

—

(this translation was a little tough given the caipira-ness of it , but I hope you can get the picture!)

I have a black mule
That’s 7 palms tall
The mule has no calves (this is a caipira saying for elegant)
She has a beautiful figure
Fires on the sidewalk
On the iron ramp
With a morena on her back
The mule travels safely
The mule gets nauseous
Steps by gait

In her upbrining
See how much is regulated
In the flaws of the bigger mule
If I tell you, nobody will calculate
An ugly girl and grown man
On the back of the mule, will jump
Play see-saw
With every jump of the mule
The goat trembles
Being black he gets nervous

I take a stroll in the city
And in one stroll (around a block) that I take
The mule misses me
In the places I have visited
On my quality mule
Four million foundling
To tell the same truth
I didn’t even indulge in it
I went along saying good afternoon
And returned to my home

I let the mule loose in the pasture
See what happened
A poisonous snake
Bit my mule
With the poison from this snake
The mule didn’t even move
After four hours
My mule died
So long black mule
That made me so proud