I always mumbled Ratamahatta without understanding what’s it about. I did get literal translation from some friends, but I still didn’t understand what was it about. Nowadays I’m lucky that some of my colegues are Brazilians so I could ask for the deeper meaning of the words. The colegue in question is Fernando Seidler.

Biboca, garagem, favela
Biboca, garagem, favela!
Fubanga, maloca, bocada
Fubanga, maloca, bocada!

Maloca, bocada, fubanga
Maloca, bocada, fubanga!
Favela, garagem, biboca
Favela, garagem, biboca, porra!

So, these are words that make reference to slums or simple/dangerous places. Biboca is a word for a simple, humble place. Garagem is a garage. Favela is slum. Fubanga is a ugly, non-attractive woman. Maloca is a kind of indigenous habitation and Bocada is the place where people sell drugs.

Um, dois, três, quatro
Zé Do Caixão, Zumbi, Lampião
Zé Do Caixão, Zumbi, Lampião
Zé Do Caixão, Zumbi, Lampião
Zé Do Caixão, Zumbi, Lampião

Those 3 are some people from Brazil. Zé do Caixão is the character of a cult terror/bizarre genre. The actor is considered the father of Brazilian terror cinema. Zumbi makes reference to “Zumbi dos Palmares”, a guy who was a leader for slaves that ran away from their “masters” (I really hate the word “masters” in this context) and went to “Quilombo dos Palmares”, a settlement for escaped slaves. And Lampião was a bandit that is almost a myth: for the police he was a criminal, for the population at the time, a hero, so much that he received the nickname “Robin Hood da Caatinga”.

Vamos detonar essa porra
É, porra!

In a kind of literal translation:

“Let’s fuck this shit up
Yeah, fuck it”

For the end, here’s one formula: Ratamahatta = Ratos(rats) + Manhattan.

According to Carlinhos Brown, in an interview with UOL, the song was inspired by the rats of New York, that is, these animals do not only inhabit unhealthy places. “I had this title ‘Ratamahatta’ in my head and I needed to finish it. Max helped me. When I was in Manhattan, I was impressed by their rats. They look like the opossums here in Bahia. And opossums here go to the pot! But people said that the rats in Manhattan were not good to eat, because they were dirtier. That’s why the lyrics have the words “garagem” “biboca” and “favela”. The rat is not present only in the big cities. It is everywhere. It is at fubanga, maloca, bocada. Who is the rat? He is the recycling boss. This is what the song means: Talks about a Manhattan rat who goes around the world and connects with everybody.