Não sei porque te foste embora

I don't know why you went away

As so often in fado, this song tells the story of a lost love. 'I don’t know why you went away…’, sings Amália to the absent beloved. Again, as is so common in fado, the song depicts a complex and conflicted world of powerful emotion, in which the individual is torn between two contrasting desires. There is an evident dichotomy between head and heart, between a rational quest to forget, and an emotional pull to remember. As always in fado, it is the heart which wins the battle.

Amália, who, as I mentioned in my introductory post, Tudo isto é fado, is considered the ultimate grande dame of fado, was at the height of her fame when she sang this song. This particular clip is taken from the Portuguese film Capas Negras, of 1947. The film is set in Coimbra, and relates the lives and loves of a group of university students, the capas negras of the title referring to the black cloaks traditionally worn by the students of the University of Coimbra. The 1940s was a golden age for Portuguese cinema, with the state sponsoring cinematic projects as nationalistic propaganda, which made it possible for fado to move out of the taverns and onto the big screen, reaching a wider audience than ever before. It was in Capas Negras that Amália made her acting debut, and this film is still considered one of the most significant successes of Portuguese cinema.

Amália sings here directly to her lover, as she struggles to understand his absence, and her own feelings about him. She claims to have no interest in him now. She doesn’t know whether he still thinks of her, and she doesn’t care. She is not waiting for him, and she doesn’t want to see or speak to him again. So why is she insisting so much? As always, the truth is revealed in the final refrain. She does not want to see him again, not because she has ceased to desire him, but because she does not want him to see how she really feels; to see that her love, which he does not desire, desires only his love…

Amália Rodrigues singing Não sei porque te foste embora:





Não sei porque te foste embora
não sei porque te foste embora
não sei que mal te fiz, que importa
só sei que o dia corre e aquela hora
não sei porque não vens bater-me à porta

não sei se gostas d'outra agora
se eu estou ou não p'ra ti já morta
não sei não sei nem me interessa
não me sais é da cabeça
que não vê que eu te esqueci
não sei não sei o que é isto
já não gosto e não resisto
não te quero e penso em ti

não quero este meu querer no peito
não quero esperar por ti nem espero
não quero que me queiras contrafeito
nem quero que tu penses que eu te quero
depois deste meu querer desfeito
nem quero o teu amor sincero
não quero mais encontrar-te
nem ouvir-te nem falar-te
nem sentir o teu calor
porque eu não quero que vejas
que este amor que não desejas
só deseja o teu amor

porque eu não quero que vejas
que este amor que não desejas
só deseja o teu amor


Je ne sais pourquoi tu es parti
Je ne sais pourquoi tu es parti
Quel mal je t’ai fait, qu’importe
Je sais seulement que les jours passent, et qu’à cette heure
Je ne sais pas pourquoi tu ne viens pas battre à ma porte

Je ne sais si tu aimes une autre maintenant
Si je suis pour toi déjà morte, ou pas
Je ne sais, je ne sais, et ça ne m’intéresse pas
Tu ne sors pas de ma tête
Qui ne voit pas que je t’ai oublié
Je ne sais, je ne sais, ce que c’est
Déjà je n’aime plus, je ne résiste plus
Je ne te veux pas, je ne pense pas à toi

Je ne veux pas de ce désir dans mon cœur
Je ne veux pas t’attendre, et je ne t’attends pas
Je ne veux pas que tu me désires à contre cœur
Je ne veux pas que tu penses que je te veux
Puisque mon désir s’est défait
Je ne veux pas de ton amour, même sincère
Je ne veux plus te rencontrer
Ni t’entendre, ni te parler
Ni sentir ta chaleur
Parce que je ne veux pas que tu voies
Que cet amour que tu ne désires pas
Ne désire que ton amour

Parce que je ne veux pas que tu voies
Que cet amour que tu ne désires pas
Ne désire que ton amour


I don’t know why you went away
I don’t know why you went away
I don’t know what I did wrong, what does it matter?
I only know that days go by, and at this moment
I don’t know why you don’t come knocking on my door

I don’t know if you love another now
Whether or not, for you, I am already dead
I don’t know, I don’t know, nor does it interest me
The memory of you does not leave my mind -
It does not know that I have forgotten you
I don’t know, I don’t know what this is
I no longer love and no longer resist
I do not want you, nor do I think of you

I do not want this desire in my heart
I do not want to wait for you, and nor do I wait
I do not want you to want me against your will
Nor do I want you to think that I want you
After my wanting has been undone
I do not want your sincere love
I do not want to meet you again
Nor hear you, nor speak to you
Nor feel your warmth
Because I do not want you to see
That this love which you do not desire
Desires only your love

Because I do not want you to see
That this love which you do not desire
Desires only your love