Walk through the Baixa of Lisbon today and you might wonder where Portugal went.
The big names of global commerce, Zara, Starbucks, McDonald's, and dozens of international brands—line streets that once belonged almost entirely to local businesses. English is heard more often than Portuguese in some neighborhoods. Apartments have become short-term rentals. Entire districts have been transformed by tourism and tuktuks.
For many Lisboetas, these changes raise an uncomfortable question: Is Lisbon losing part of its identity?
What is remarkable is that this debate is not new.
More than seventy years ago, Lisbon was wrestling with a similar fear. Foreign fashions, foreign habits, and foreign influences were arriving in the capital, prompting concerns that the city was becoming less Portuguese. The influence was French - and out of that anxiety came a song that would become one of the city's most famous musical anthems: Lisboa Não Sejas Francesa ("Lisbon, Don't Become French"), written by Raul Ferrão and José Galhardo and immortalized by Amália Rodrigues. The song reflected concerns that Lisbon was looking abroad for inspiration and forgetting some of the local traditions and character that made it unique.
Back in 1952, as Portugal marked 145 years since the French Invasions of the Napoleonic Wars, Raul Ferrão and José Galhardo penned "Lisboa não sejas francesa" for a musical review. At the time, numerous shops and boutiques in Lisbon had French names, but the song harkened to the French occupation of Lisbon in 1807.
"Lisboa não sejas francesa" was a hit, recorded by the great Amália. And it followed upon the international hit "Coimbra," recorded by dozens of stars under the title of "April in Portugal," including Louis Armstrong, Eartha Kitt, and Bing Crosby.
Here is a link to the catchy fado, who lyrics translate like this:
Don't step out with the French. Menina, Lisbon,
Portugal can be sweet at times
But certain things it does not forgive
Look well in the mirror.
Do not give displeasure to your father.
Lisbon, do not be French
Surely, you will not be happy
Lisbon, what an odd idea
Vain, alfacinha,
To marry Paris
Lisbon, you have any suitors here
What they say, poor things,
With souls in their voice is
Lisbon, do not be French
You are Portuguese
You are only for us.
Do you love the beautiful uniforms?
Girl, Lisbon,You have lieutenants,
Brave and valiant,
Born and bred here,
Go, get decent manners
Whimsical and Bad Lisbon, do not be French
You are Portuguese
You are only for us.
Today, the fears are not so different. The influence is no longer Parisian. It comes from global tourism, international brands, digital nomads, and a rapidly changing economy. Yet the underlying question remains remarkably familiar:
How does a city embrace the world without losing itself?
That question is at the heart of Lisbon's story—and perhaps one of the reasons why Lisboa Não Sejas Francesa still resonates so well today.