Portugal 4711 Eau de Cologne

Torero, music, and chestnuts,
Guitars and singing in the moonlight.
And Spain, always just Spain.
Yes kids, can't you think of anything better?
Torero with Olé,
that's so long gone!

For the last piece of the Cologne-instead-of-Corona series, I saved a special find: The Cologne "Portugal" by 4711. I am gleefully excited to write my first comment on it. It is a fragrance with mysterious backgrounds. I couldn't determine its year of release, not even whether it is 100, 50, or 10 years old. I've never seen it in a drugstore or perfumery. But you can order it online from 4711 in Cologne - which I did. Above all.... - wait! First, let’s address what the verses at the beginning are about.

Since my first Comedian Harmonists LP about 30 years ago, I found the Portugal song, even though it is not as popular as, for example, the sailors, the spring, or the cactus, particularly catchy. And since I discovered this fragrance here and decided to present it in this series, it was clear to me that it had to happen alongside "How about Lisbon".

How about Lisbon?
It's just as beautiful as Spain!
Wine, olives, and geraniums
bloom at windows and balconies.
So off to Lisbon,
to the city of the Portuguese.
You will surely make friends with them,
and you will have a lot of it.

When I listened to the song again and read the lyrics, it still seemed beautiful to me, but also strangely suspicious. It has an escapist quality; its humor is less crazy and cheeky (and therefore at times more knee-slapping) than the most famous couplets of the sextet. And indeed, research shows that it was created in 1934, when the group was increasingly torn apart internally, hardly performing in the Reich (due to the three Jewish members), and was under pressure to deliver optimistic rather than subversive lyrics. Or at most, deliciously silly ones, as in the case of the also 1934-created "In the Bar at the Crocodile".

Although you don't speak Portuguese fluently yet,
the country is paradisiacal.
Full of splendor, palms line every square.
Some Portuguese woman
has a sense for your sympathy
And surely seeks a treasure under the palm trees in the evening.

And perhaps it is no coincidence that the song sounds a bit like tourist advertising. Because while in Spain, which is downgraded at the beginning of the lyrics, the Republic with its left government still existed in 1934, Salazar had already been building the right-authoritarian "Estado Novo" in Portugal since 1932. Actually a great destination for KdF trips. This brings me to a point where the song seems a bit eerie to me. I can no longer enjoy it carefree. Too much knowledge sometimes does not do well.

Let's return to "Portugal". It can be ordered online from 4711, but above all... in Japan. "Portugal" is Big In Japan. Entering the term sequence "4711 Portugal Japan" into your trusted search engine or even more directly visiting the site www.4711.jp shows where the rabbit lies in the wasabi mustard: "Portugal" is apparently the Cologne par excellence in Japan. There, (and apparently only there) alongside this Cologne and a corresponding Eau de Toilette, there is also an aftershave, a body lotion, and, hold on: a hair tonic and a brilliantine. I am surprised that there is not also a toothpaste and condoms with Portugal flavor. Why that is, I do not know. I hope it does not also go back to 1934 and the then-close relationships of Japan with Germany and Portugal.

What is also available on the mentioned Japanese website of 4711 (and only there) is a proper fragrance pyramid for "Portugal" (even in English). It reads:

Top: Mandarin, Orange, Lemon
Heart: Neroli, Petitgrain, Coriander, Artemisia
Base: Ebony, Musk, Moss.

And with that, we come to my scent impressions. "Portugal" begins with a stunningly orange opening, which, while fruity, is not vulgar or meaty, but very noble, finely bitter, and cool. The scent has something almost crackling about it. I think of a crate of oranges made of plywood, where every fourth or fifth fruit is wrapped in a noble silk paper with beautiful graphics on it. After a few minutes, unusual, almost modern niche-like contrasting green-brown, somewhat earthy, warmer, and dirtier notes emerge, which I would most likely attribute to coriander - but they quickly retreat again. Only a citrusy-orange freshness remains closely on the skin, which then connects with the soft and woody notes of the base.

When I consider the top note (the most important aspect of such a fleeting cologne) in isolation, I am almost completely enthusiastic; when viewed in its entirety, it is certainly an exciting, interesting - and not only in its history but also in the scent experience itself, quite a mysterious fragrance.

Charming is this place,
and you never want to leave.
When you are far from Lisbon,
you always just dream of it,
of the city of the Portuguese.