"Retrato em Branco e Preto" (aka "Portrait in Black and White" and "Zingaro") is a Brazilian song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim, with lyrics in Portuguese by Chico Buarque.
In a later interview, Jobim said, "It was the story of a musician who eventually has to pawn his violin, has no place to work, is left without his music, totally empty-handed.
Biographer Helena Jobim says that "Tom repeated the theme of 'Zingaro' over and over again, and loads of images, words, sounds, and harmonies came to both musicians... Buarque recorded the melody on tape to elaborate on the verses at home.
"[2] The new piece was re-titled "Retrato em Branco e Preto," which translates into English as "Portrait in White and Black."
Buarque responded that if he had written "preto e branco" (black and white), the only word that would have rhymed was "tamanco," a kind of clog.