Se a Vida É (That’s the Way Life Is) Lyrics
Come outside and see a brand new day
The troubles in your mind will blow away
It's easy to believe they're here to stay
But you won't find them standing in your way
[Chorus]
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Come outside and feel the morning sun
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Life is much more simple when you're young
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
[Post-Chorus]
Come on, essa vida é
That's the way life is
That's the way life is
[Verse 2]
Although we see the world through different eyes
We share the same idea of paradise
So don't search in the stars for signs of love
Look around your life, you'll find enough
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Come outside and feel the morning sun
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Life is much more simple when you're young
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
[Post-Chorus]
Come on, essa vida é
That's the way life is
That's the way life is
[Bridge]
Why do you want to sit alone in gothic gloom
Surrounded by the ghosts of love that haunt your room?
Somewhere there's a different door to open wide
You gotta throw those skeletons out of your closet and come outside
[Verse 3]
So you will see a brand-new day
The troubles in your mind will blow away
It's easy to believe they're here to stay
But you won't find them standing in your way
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Come outside and feel the morning sun
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Life is much more simple when you're young
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
[Post-Chorus]
Come on, essa vida é
That's the way life is
That's the way life is
Come on, essa vida é
That's the way life is
That's the way life is
[Chorus]
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Come outside and feel the morning sun
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
Se a vida é, I love you
(Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh)
Life is much more simple when you're young
(Aah-aah-aah-aah)
Se a vida…
About
This was the second single released from the Pet Shop Boys‘ 1996 album Bilingual. It was released in the U.K. on 12 August 1996 (and on April 1, 1997 in the U.S.) and peaked at #8 on the U.K. Singles Chart.
The video for the song, directed by Bruce Weber, was filmed at the Wet ‘n Wild water theme park in Orlando, Florida and featured actress Eva Mendes as a teenager, along with a plethora of shirtless boys and young men (because Bruce Weber).
The proper English translation of the Portuguese expression “Se A Vide É” is “If Life Is”. A closer translation to “That’s the way life is” would be “É assim que a vida é”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Via the official PSB website:
Having mistranslated the phrase as ‘that’s the way life is’ it means something like ‘if life is’ in Brazilian Portuguese dialect – I was thinking what the lyric was going to be about”, says Neil, “and a friend of mine at the time of writing this was very depressed about various things in his life, sitting around being miserable about the fact that his life is taking the wrong direction, and the lyric was trying to cheer him up. And it did, in fact. I thought about the line ‘life is much more simple when you’re young’, a lot. Chris, of course maintains that life is more complicated when you’re young, and I sort of agreed with him for a while and I thought of changing it, but what I meant is that you see life as either black or white, you don’t see the shading so much, so things appear totally depressing or totally wonderful.”
- 1.Discoteca
- 4.Electricity
- 5.Se a Vida É (That’s the Way Life Is)
- 10.Before
- 11.To Step Aside
