“Aquarela” (watercolour) starts on a blank sheet of paper. With a few lines, a child draws a yellow sun, a seagull, a ship, a castle, a plane — and each drawing becomes a journey across the world. Then, gently, the song turns: the future is a ship we can't steer, time passes, and the colours fade like watercolour in the rain.
Toquinho, a guitarist from São Paulo who worked for years with the poet Vinicius de Moraes, released it in 1983. Brazilians grew up with it in school; it's one of the country's best-loved songs.
The vocabulary is perfect for beginners — colours, shapes, the sky, the sea — sung slowly and clearly. And it hides a grown-up idea under its childlike surface.