Wednesday, April 27, 2011


First I have to explain this thing that exists between Argentines and Brazilians. We Argentines think we are superior to Brazilians. Brazilians do not agree so there has been a rivalry of sort for years since almost the beginning of both nations. In fact the founder of the Argentine Navy, Irish-born Guillermo (William) Brown not only defeated the Spanish navy but also a greater Brazilian navy, in a later war against Brazil, in the battle of Juncal in 1827. This rivalry has never quite escalated to an out and out war since, but things flair up for football matches. As things stand in 2011 it seems that Brazil has surpassed  Argentina in just about everything except, some Argentine football fans might point out, that the Argentine player for Barcelona, Lionel Messi, is playing havoc on the championship chances of bitter rival Real Madrid. Real Madrid is led by its trainer José Mourinho who even though he is Portuguese stands in for Brazil!


In 1966 I was on board a very slow Argentine merchant marine steamer on its way from Buenos Aires to Veracruz, Mexico. It stopped on just about every port in Brazil. As the only passenger I made friends with the young officers who were all about my age. We thought we were superior to all Brazilians and in particular to Brazilian men. We held to the idea Brazilian women fell for Argentine men because their own kind was a bunch of sissies (to use a kinder epithet here). Our first experience in the port of Santos did not quite set us straight.

Santos, which is the port closest to Brazilian megalopolis of Sao Paulo, is everything Rio isn’t. What that means is that Santos isn’t pretty as it is industrial. Here we disembarked with the idea of painting the town red. We avoided the infamously called red-light district called “Penicilina Estreet” and headed for the superior cafés. It was here that the four of us ran into four lovely girls who were a mixture of white and black. They were exotic and dressed to kill. We invited ourselves to their table (it is strange but it is easier to understand Spanish if you speak Portuguese and the inverse is quite the opposite) and we were soon having the four girls swoon over us. One of them offered us cigarettes from what looked like a gold cigarette case. I noticed that the cigarettes were pastel coloured (each one of a different colour) Balkan Sobranies with gold tips. After a while the girls suggested we go to a night club. By then we were wondering if we might later manage to bring the girls to the ship or find a hotel where we would bed them.



At the loud night club I could hear a Roberto Carlos (at the time an extremely popular Brazilian rocker) the song sung by nondescript musicians. The song was called Namoradinha de un Amigo Meu (I am in love with my best friend’s girl). The girls ordered Scotch. On their Argentine Merchant Marine salaries the boys ordered rum. It was at that point that I realized we had been had and that the girls were probably drinking ginger ale laced with some common alcohol and that we had been lured to unload our pesos. We made a quick retreat but still kept up with our idea of Argentine superiority.

At another port, Paranaguá (famous as a place were ships load Brazilian coffee) I went to a pharmacy to buy a comb. To my bothered surprise all the combs had the name Roberto Carlos on them. I enquired if there were any that were unmarked. I was told that I would have to travel to the provincial capital of Curitiba to find such an item. Before we shoved off I made up my mind to find out who this Roberto Carlos was and purchased a record. What you see here are partial record cover scans.

We played the record on board the ship  (the Río Aguapey) and we laughed at the over-dramatic song tiles such as I would give you the sky, They want to finish me off, I am passionate for you, You do not need to cry and so on. Besides the trademark I am in love with my best friend’s girl I was partial for Negro Gato all about a nasty black cat.

I have kept the album all these years. Roberto Carlos went on to be one of Brazil’s best known singers (who did not sing Bossa Nova!). I regret that I never did buy that Roberto Carlos comb.

The song has come back to me these days as a loved one of my family (hint she is under 20) told me a few days ago that she likes this boy who likes her best friend. “Why does this happen?” she asked me. I gently explained (and being amazed that I would have never approached my own grandmother with such a problem/question) that love was very much like two parked cars with their four way lights going. Only every once in a while would the lights of one car coincide with the lights of the other. The formula for figuring it out, perhaps as complicated as love itself, comes with the study of sine waves. I further told me that when lights do coincide we should consider ourselves lucky and take advantage.

I believe I will be playing the Roberto Carlos record in the next few days and that I will not be alone to listen to it.

Roberto Car;los- Negro Gato

Estou amando loucamente
A namoradinha de um amigo meu
Sei que estou errado
Mas nem mesmo sei como isso aconteceu
Um dia sem querer
Olhei em seu olhar
E disfarcei até pra ninguém notar

Não sei mais o que faço
Pra ninguém saber que estou gamado assim
Se os dois souberem nem mesmo sei o que eles
Vão pensar de mim

Eu sei que vou sofrer
Mas tenho que esquecer
O que é dos outros não se deve ter

Vou procurar alguém
Que não tenha ninguém
Pois comigo aconteceu gostar da namorada
De um amigo meu

Comigo aconteceu gostar da namorada
De um amigo meu

Não sei mais o que faço
Pra ninguém saber que estou gamado assim
Se os dois souberem nem mesmo sei o que eles
Vão pensar de mim

Eu sei que vou sofrer
Mas tenho que esquecer
O que é dos outros não se deve ter

Vou procurar alguém
Que não tenha ninguém
Pois comigo aconteceu gostar da namorada
De um amigo meu

Comigo aconteceu gostar da namorada
De um amigo meu