A Minha Casinha

"A Minha Casinha" is older than any of the men who made it famous. Composed by António Melo with words by João Silva Tavares, it was first sung by the actress Milú in the 1943 film O Costa do Castelo, backed by the variety orchestra of the national broadcaster. Its writers had imagined it as a fado accompanied by strings; the title means my little house. Decades later it became a closing number for the rock band Xutos & Pontapés. They are thought to have first played it around 1986 at the Rock Rendez-Vous, the Lisbon club where most Portuguese rock bands of the 1980s passed through, and according to singer and bassist Tim they used it to end their concerts and have fun. On their 1988 album 88 they recorded it properly, swapping the orchestra for electric bass, synthesisers, guitars and drums, singing only the first verse and shuffling some of the words. That version became one of the songs Portugal sings together. At the Euro 2016 final in the Stade de France, thousands of Portuguese fans celebrated victory by singing it, and the next day the national team adopted it, singing it as they paraded through Lisbon to meet the president. When guitarist Zé Pedro died in November 2017, Metallica paid tribute by playing it at a Lisbon concert. A 1943 film tune that a rock band played for fun has become, in the words of the broadcaster RTP, one of the most sung Portuguese songs ever.