O Tico-Tico No Fubá (The Chickadee In The Cornmeal)

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O Tico-Tico No Fubá (The Chickadee In The Cornmeal)

By Thomas Keyes
May 17, 2005

“O Tico-Tico no Fubá” is a delightful Brazilian musical composition that was originally strictly instrumental, but for which lyrics were invented afterwards. The composer was the Brazilian Zequinha Abreu (1880-1935). Note that the words are in Portuguese and are pronounced, not as in Spanish, but thus: U Chicu-Chicu Nu Fubá. A “tico-tico” is actually an Andean sparrow (Brachyspiza capensis), but I thought the word “chickadee” fits the merry spirit of the piece better.

I’ve been playing this piece myself daily on the soprano recorder in my room in the Hotel Plaza here in Asunción, Paraguay. If all goes well, I’ll be returning to Brazil in August, so I’m starting to study Portuguese again, and singing some songs makes it more fun. I have also learned one of the two sets of lyrics, the ones sung by Carmen Miranda (1909-1955), the famous Brazilian songstress and actress. I have reproduced these lyrics below, with my own translation. The whole set of lyrics is repeated three times, with an instrumental interlude.

Here are two URL’s where instrumental versions may be heard:

http://www.nurisite.com/midisonly/brasil/ticotico.mid

http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/6861/brazil/tico_tico_no_fuba.mid

Here is the sheet music, which is in the key of C. I had to transpose it to E-flat, down nine chromatic intervals, to get it in the range of the soprano recorder. The piece has over 1000 notes. Compare this with “Scarborough Fair”, which has fewer than 40 notes.

http://www.soundme.com/eng/brani/ticoimages/ticopart.htm

Here’s a good picture of Carmen Miranda:

http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/glitter_carmen_full.jpg

Here’s a website for pronunciation of Portuguese:

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/portuguese.htm

O TICO-TICO NO FUBÁ (Brazilian-Portuguese Lyrics)

O tico-tico tá,
Tá outra vez aquí.
O tico-tico tá, comendo o meu fubá.
O tico-tico tem, tem que se alimentar.
Que vá comer umas minhocas no pomar?

O tico-tico tá,
Tá outra vez aquí.
O tico-tico tá, comendo o meu fubá.
O tico-tico tem, tem que se alimentar.
Que vá comer umas minhocas no pomar?

Mas por favor, tire esse bicho do celeiro,
Porque ele acaba comendo o fubá inteiro,
E esse tico de cá en cima do meu fubá
Tem tanta coisa que ele pode pinicar.
Eu ja fiz tudo para ver se conseguia.
Botei alpiste para ver se ele comia.
Botei um galo, um espantalho e alçapao*,
Mas ele acha que fubá é que é boa alimentaçao*.

O tico-tico tá,
Tá outra vez aquí.
O tico-tico tá, comendo o meu fubá.
O tico-tico tem, tem que se alimentar.
Que vá comer é mais minhocas e nao* fubá.

O tico-tico tá,
Tá outra vez aquí.
O tico-tico tá, comendo o meu fubá.
O tico-tico tem, tem que se alimentar.
Que vá comer é mais minhocas e nao* fubá.

[* These words have tilde (as in ñ) over the ‘a’ in ‘ao’, but I can’t type it on my present keyboard.]

O TICO-TICO NO FUBÁ (English translation)

The chickadee yes,
Yes here again.
The chickadee yes, eating my cornmeal.
The chickadee has, has something to eat.
Why should he eat worms out in the garden?

The chickadee yes,
Yes here again.
The chickadee yes, eating my cornmeal.
The chickadee has, has something to eat.
Why should he eat worms out in the garden?

But please, remove this beastie from my silo,
Because he is eating up all the cornmeal,
And this chickadee here on top of my cornmeal
Has so many things that he can peck at.
I’ve already done everything to see if it would work.
I put birdseed to see if he would eat it.
I put a rooster, a scarecrow and a trap,
But he finds that cornmeal is what is good food.

The chickadee yes,
Yes here again.
The chickadee yes, eating my cornmeal.
The chickadee has, has something to eat.
What he is going to eat is more worms and no cornmeal.

The chickadee yes,
Yes here again.
The chickadee yes, eating my cornmeal.
The chickadee has, has something to eat.
What he is going to eat is more worms and no cornmeal.

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About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far.

I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents.

Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com

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