The lyric emerged when doing some research about whether to bring my uke on a trip to Portugal and
discovering the precursor to the uke came from Portugal and was taken to Hawaii by a ship of carpenters and
musicians, then exploring the Fado style of songs.
Orig 6/6/26
Latest 4/7/26
Link to Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/gerrimango/l-dont-want-to-sing-a-fado?si=afab98d501f349c8bde1e9de6f2df2ab&utm_
source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Chorus
[Am] [Dm]
I don't want to sing a fado
[E7] [Am]
Song of unbearable grief
[Am] [Dm]
While I can still feel
[E7] [Am]
Our Love is alive
(Love has hope and can fly)
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
The Portuguese sing the Fado
[E7] [Am]
Aching melancholia
[Am] [Dm]
For what is lost, Saudade
[E7] [Am]
Maybe gone forever
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
Long before the Ukulele
[E7] [Am]
Cavaquinho and Braguinha
[Am] [Dm]
Of Portugal and Madeira
[E7] [Am]
Add a Spanish “rasgueado"
Chorus
[Am] [Dm]
I don't want to sing a fado
[E7] [Am]
Song of unbearable grief
[Am] [Dm]
While I can still feel
[E7] [Am]
Our Love is alive
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
‘Garganta com fado’
[E7] [Am]
The tear in the voice
[Am] [Dm]
The heart feels so raw
[E7] [Am]
In broken pieces
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
It’s so hard to feel
[E7] [Am]
Your unbearable grief
[Am] [Dm]
Fierce outbursts of pain
[E7] [Am]
We share and we chime
(Modal chords, aeolian)
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
I wake, and see and feel
[E7] [Am]
The wet sobbing tears
[Am] [Dm]
On a far away face
[E7] [Am]
All I cannot replace
Chorus
[Am] [Dm]
I don't want to sing a fado
[E7] [Am]
Song of unbearable grief
[Am] [Dm]
While I can still feel
[E7] [Am]
Our love is alive
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
I try to drive down the road
[E7] [Am]
And the place is gridlocked
[Am] [Dm]
I come home and crouch like a child
[E7] [Am]
On the rug, on the floor, and I sob
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
In Coimbra Fado
[E7] [Am]
Male singers, guitarists
[Am] [Dm]
Baritones and tenors
[E7] [Am]
Sing in the open air
Verse
[Am] [Dm]
Dressed like vintage professors
[E7] [Am]
In Moonlit stone courtyards
[Am] [Dm]
Their long black capes billow
[E7] [Am]
Under their lover’s window
Chorus
[Am] [Dm]
I don't want to sing a fado
[E7] [Am]
Song of unbearable grief
[Am] [Dm]
While I can still feel
[E7] [Am]
Our Love is alive
