ABOUT THIS SONG
Antonio Pecci Filho, better known as Toquinho is one of the best-known Brazilian musicians today. A curiosity is that the nickname Toquinho was given by his mother. As a teenager, he took guitar lessons with one of the best Brazilian guitar players, Paulinho Nogueira. In 1970, he composed and recorded his first great success with Jorge Ben Jor: “Que Maravilha” (How Wonderful).
The most known partnership Toquinho had was with Vinícius de Moraes, also started in the 1970s. They composed and recorded together 120 songs, 25 albums, and over a thousand shows. Among these songs we can highlight “O Bem-amado” (The loved), “Como dizia o Poeta” (Like the Poet said), “Carta para Tom” (Letter to Tom), and, of course, Aquarela (watercolor).
Curiosity about the song
Watercolor music has a fascinating history. In partnership with Vinícius, they composed a song called a rose in my hand, with a melody by Toquinho and lyrics by Vinícius. This version became the soundtrack of the character Chica Martins, in the soap opera “Fogo sobre Terra” (Fire over Earth). Sometime later, in the early 1980s, the Italian musician Maurizio Fabrizio went to Brazil to work with Toquinho.
Maurizio showed him a song he had just composed that had a melody very similar to the one he had recorded with Vinícius. That’s when they decided to put their ideas together and the melody of the song Aquarela was born. The lyrics were originally composed in Italian by Guido Moura.
Recordings
The first recording was in Italy in 1983 with the title of Acquarello. When he went back to Brazil and after the song’s success in Italy, Toquinho recorded the Portuguese version, with a literal translation of the song released in Italy. Total success.
Score, Tab and Playback
In this video, we present the sheet music and tablature for the guitar solo over the original playback. The video also shows the names of the notes with the piano location, so it is easy to know if it is one octave above or below the number after the note. It’s a very easy piece, so play along with the playback and reduce the video speed if necessary.
Lyrics in Portuguese
Numa folha qualquer
Eu desenho um sol amarelo
E com cinco ou seis retas
É fácil fazer um castelo
Corro o lápis em torno da mão e me dou uma luva
E se faço chover com dois riscos, tenho um guarda-chuva
Se um pinguinho de tinta
Cai num pedacinho azul do papel
Num instante imagino uma linda gaivota a voar no céu
Vai voando, contornando
A imensa curva norte-sul
Vou com ela viajando
Havai, Pequim ou Istambul
Pinto um barco à vela
Branco navegando
É tanto céu e mar num beijo azul
Entre as nuvens vem surgindo
Um lindo avião, rosa e grená
Tudo em volta colorindo
Com suas luzes a piscar
Basta imaginar e ele está partindo, sereno e lindo
E se a gente quiser
Ele vai pousar
Numa folha qualquer
Eu desenho um navio de partida
Com alguns bons amigos
Bebendo de bem com a vida
De uma América à outra
Eu consigo passar num segundo
Giro um simples compasso
E num círculo eu faço o mundo
Um menino caminha
E caminhando chega no muro
E ali logo em frente
A esperar pela gente o futuro está
E o futuro é uma astronave
Que tentamos pilotar
Não tem tempo, nem piedade
Nem tem hora de chegar
Sem pedir licença, muda a nossa vida
E depois convida a rir ou chorar
Nessa estrada não nos cabe
Conhecer ou ver o que virá
O fim dela, ninguém sabe
Bem ao certo onde vai dar
Vamos todos numa linda passarela de uma aquarela
Que um dia enfim (descolorirá)
Numa folha qualquer
Eu desenho um sol amarelo (que descolorirá)
E com cinco ou seis retas
É fácil fazer um castelo (que descolorirá)
Giro um simples compasso
E num círculo eu faço o mundo (que descolorirá)
Lyrics in Italian
Sopra un foglio di carta lo vedi il sole è giallo
Ma se piove due segni di biro ti danno un ombrello
Gli alberi non sono altro che fiaschi di vino girati
Se ci metti due tipi là sotto saranno ubriachi
L’erba è sempre verde e se vedi un punto lontano
Non si scappa o è il buon dio o è un gabbiano e va
Verso il mare a volare
Ed il mare è tutto blu
E una nave a navigare
Ha una vela non di più
Ma sott’acqua i pesci sanno dove andare
Dove gli pare non dove vuoi tu
E il cielo sta a guardare
Ed il cielo è sempre blu
C’è un aereo lassù in alto
E l’aereo scende giu
C’è chi a terra lo saluta con la mano
Va piano piano fuori da un bar
Chissà dove va
Sopra un foglio di carta lo vedi chi viaggia in un treno
Sono tre buone amici che mangiano e parlano piano
Da un’America all’altra è uno scherzo ci vuole un secondo
Basta fare un bel cerchio ed ecco che hai tutto il mondo
Un ragazzo cammina cammina arriva ad un muro
Chiude gli occhi un momento e davanti si vede il futuro già
E il futuro è un’astronave
Che non ha tempo nè pietà
Va su marte va dove vuole
Niente mai lo sai la fermerà
Se ci viene incontro non fa rumore
Non chiede amore e non ne dà
Continuiamo a suonare
Lavorare in città
Noi che abbiamo un pò paura
Ma la paura passerà
Siamo tutti in ballo siamo sul più bello
In un acquarello che scolorirà
Sopra un foglio di carta lo vedi il sole è giallo ma scolorirà
E se piove due segni di biro ti danno un ombrello che scolorirà
Basta fare un bel cerchio ed ecco che hai tutto un mondo che scolorirà
Lyrics Translation To English
In a sheet of paper
I draw an yellow-coloured sun
And with five or six straight lines
I easily draw a castle
I run the pencil to countour my fingers
and I get myself a glove on the paper.
And if I draw the rain ,
By just stroking two dashes,
I easily get an umbrella
If a little drop of paint
drips on a blue portion of my draw
For an instant, I imagine it to be
a beautiful gull, flying in the sky
And she flies on and on
Contouring a huge line over the horizont,
From the north to the south.
And I’m flying along with her
Over Havai
Beijing or Istambul.
I paint a sailboat,
which is smoothly sailing away
There’s so much of the sky and sea’s immensity
into the blue-green colour
Through the clouds a beautiful airplane
in pink and granate is comming over
With its colours, it cheerfully tinges all around,
as it passes by and its lights blink vividly
With a bit of imagination,
I see it taking off, quietly and beautifully
And if you want
I can make it land
In any sheet of paper,
I draw a sail, leaving the quay,
With me and some of my friends in it
Drinking and having a good time, all in peace with life
From America to America*,
I can easily travel in a blink.
I just turn a compass around
and with a circle I draw the world .
A boy is walking on and on
as he reaches a wall
Over this wall, not too far from it,
the future is waiting for us
And the future is a spaceship
Which we try to drive.
But the future is always hurried and merciless.
There’s no right time for it to come,
And without asking or warning us,
It just changes our lives
And then it beckons us
to cry or laugh together
Along this road, it’s not our duty
to know or see what’s comming to us
No one surely knows where it’s heading us to
We’re just going on the way
Crossing a beautiful footbridge
Painted in watercolour
which someday will fade after all
In a sheet of paper, I draw an yellow-coloured sun
(which will fade someday)
And with five or six straight lines I easily draw a castle
(which will fade someday)
I just turn a compass around
and with a circle I draw the world
(which will fade someday)
