Valle's precocious talent was evident from his high school years, which coincided with the height of the Bossa Nova movement in Rio. His classmates included future legends like Edu Lobo and Dori Caymmi, and his composition Sonho De Maria was included on the Avanço album by the highly influential Tamba Trio in 1963. With his brother Paulo Sérgio Valle as his lyricist, he had already built an impressive portfolio of songs, prompting the Odeon label (a subsidiary of EMI) to sign him to a recording contract. His debut album Samba Demais was released early in 1964. His reputation quickly spread, and his contemporaries on the music scene (including Wilson Simonal, Elis Regina, Nara Leão and many others) lined up to record his songs. A second album, O Compositor e o Cantor, followed in 1965, and featured the debut of what would become his most recognizable song, Samba De Verão (known in English as "So Nice (Summer Samba)"), as well as other instant classics as Deus Brasileiro, Gente and A Resposta.
1966 brought Valle's first trip to the U.S., where he and his then-wife Anamaria teamed up with the also recently-emigrated Sérgio Mendes briefly in an embryonic version of what would later become the latter's hugely successful Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. The threat of being drafted and sent to Vietnam caused him to return quickly to Brazil, however, although the following year saw him return and have a more positive experience which included his debut American release Braziliance! on Warner Bros. Records, several appearances on the Andy Williams TV show. Following session work on Verve records releases by compatriots Walter Wanderley and Astrud Gilberto, the label released Valle's Samba '68 album featuring English-language versions of assorted songs from his earlier Brazilian releases.
Shortly thereafter, feeling homesick, Valle returned to Brazil and entered a new creative phase in his career. 1968's Viola Enluarada album was a more introspective affair, with Valle's songwriting attaining a more mature and reflective tenor far removed from the frothy and lighthearted feel of the "Samba '68" album. The title track became one of Valle's signature compositions and was a duet with the up-and-coming future icon Milton Nascimento. It also featured a surprising political bent previously absent in Valle's work, and the album as a whole pointed to a broader range of musical influences that moved him out of the box marked "bossa nova artist".
This process continued on 1969's Mustang Cor De Sangue, another leap forward that incorporated rock, soul and pop styles, all stamped with Valle's unmistakable melodic style. His work here reflected the sophisticated pop approach of American songwriters such as Jimmy Webb and Burt Bacharach as well as the inescapable influence of The Beatles.
Around this time, Valle was tapped to create theme music for assorted TV programs and "novelas" (soap operas), which over the next few years would become one of the main outlets for his work, along with advertising jingles. 1970's Marcos Valle (often referred to as "The Bed Album" due to its cover shot of Valle in bed) was his most adventurous effort to date as well as his most rock and psychedelic-influenced music up to that point. Backed by Milton Nascimento's backing band Som Imaginário, Valle explored a more eccentric approach, with a number of futuristic tracks and an extended instrumental suite not unlike the work of U.S. composer/producer David Axelrod. 1971's Garra was a career highpoint, a pop masterwork that summed up his music and still stands as one of the finest pop albums of the era, Brazilian or otherwise. Its effervescent pop/jazz/soul/bossa/film soundtrack musical stylings were matched by lyrics that attempted to reconcile Valle's hippie leanings with his status as a wealthy young musician who was also a successful businessman because of his successful novela soundtracks and corporate advertising accounts. Tele-novelas he provided some or all of the music for during this period included O Cafona, Minha Doce Namorada, Pigmalião 70, Os Ossos Do Barão and, most prominently, Selva De Pedra.
1972's Vento Sul album found Valle long-haired and bearded, and backed by the progressive rock band O Terço. His most experimental and left-field effort to date, it was something of a sales flop, although it has accumulated many admirers over the ensuing decades. The following year's Previsão do Tempo fared better and was an innovative effort made in conjunction with the band who initially formed to back Valle at live shows and named themselves after one of his songs, Azimuth (soon to change the spelling to Azymuth). This album had a notable jazz fusion influence due to Azymuth keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami's expertise on the Fender Rhodes keyboard and assorted synthesizers such as the Mini-Moog and the ARP Soloist. This sound would later prove a decisive influence on the Acid Jazz scene in Europe twenty years later.
In 1974 Valle provided the music for "Vila Sésamo", Brazil's version of "Sesame Street". He also released his final album on EMI, another self-titled effort. This album differed yet again from its predecessors in pursuing a piano pop sound reminiscent in turns of Elton John, Todd Rundgren and Bread, and replete with elaborate vocal arrangements. At this point, Valle had grown tired of the strictures of living and working under Brazil's military dictatorship, then in its darkest and bleakest phase. He therefore decided to return to the U.S., where he spent the rest of the decade. Settling in Los Angeles, he entered into collaborations with artists as diverse as Sarah Vaughan, Chicago and rnb singer and songwriter Leon Ware. Valle and Ware found themselves especially compatible, and wrote many songs together, Valle appearing on several of Ware's Elektra album releases.
Estrelar
Marcos Valle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tem que suar
Tem que malhar
Vamos lá
Musculação
Respiração
Ar no pulmão
Vamos lá
Tem que esticar
Tem que dobrar
Tente encaixar
Vamos lá
Um, dois e três
É sem parar
Mais uma vez
Verão chegando
Quem não se endireitar
Não tem lugar ao sol
Domingo é dia de um tititi a mais
E de bumbum pra trás
Vem
Vem brilhar
Mas ser uma estrela sobre o sol
Estrelar mais
Ser mais brilhante do que o sol
Se mostrar
Mas se Deus no céu
Na Terra eu encantar mais
Ser tudo por um dia
Verão tá chegando
Eu quero correr, vou malhar
E perder alguns quilos
Pois também quero um lugar ao sol
À noite dançar, é que eu vou me acabar
Somente isso eu preciso pra noite compensar
Uau, uau, sensual, como ela rebola
Com esse corpo ela pode até me endoidar
É inevitável o que ela faz pra te seduzir
Rebolando
The lyrics to Marcos Valle's song "Estrelar" are all about the pressure to look and feel your best in time for summer. The song opens with a call to action, urging the listener to run, sweat, and work out. The lyrics then describe the various components of a typical workout: weightlifting, controlled breathing, stretching, and repetition. All of this hard work is necessary, according to the song, if you want to have a place in the sun come summertime. The lyrics even caution that if you don't straighten up and fly right, you won't be able to enjoy the long, hot days that are just around the corner.
The overarching theme of the song may be familiar to anyone who has ever worried about their appearance or fitness level. The pressure to be perfect is pervasive, especially when it comes to something like beach season. The lyrics of "Estrelar" reflect this mindset perfectly. As the song progresses, the singer becomes more and more obsessed with getting in shape and showing off their newfound confidence. By the end of the song, they are ready to be a star and outshine everyone around them, even the sun itself.
Line by Line Meaning
Tem que correr
You have to run
Tem que suar
You have to sweat
Tem que malhar
You have to workout
Vamos lá
Let's go
Musculação
Muscle training
Respiração
Breathing
Ar no pulmão
Air in the lungs
Tem que esticar
You have to stretch
Tem que dobrar
You have to bend
Tente encaixar
Try to fit in
Um, dois e três
One, two, and three
É sem parar
It's non-stop
Mais uma vez
One more time
Verão chegando
Summer is coming
Quem não se endireitar
Whoever doesn't straighten up
Não tem lugar ao sol
Won't have a place in the sun
Domingo é dia de um tititi a mais
Sunday is a day for a little gossip
E de bumbum pra trás
And showing off your backside
Vem
Come
Vem brilhar
Come shine
Mas ser uma estrela sobre o sol
But being a star above the sun
Estrelar mais
Shine even brighter
Ser mais brilhante do que o sol
Be more radiant than the sun
Se mostrar
Show yourself
Mas se Deus no céu
But if God in heaven
Na Terra eu encantar mais
I can captivate more on Earth
Ser tudo por um dia
Be everything for a day
Verão tá chegando
Summer is coming
Eu quero correr, vou malhar
I want to run, I'll workout
E perder alguns quilos
And lose a few pounds
Pois também quero um lugar ao sol
Because I also want a place in the sun
À noite dançar, é que eu vou me acabar
At night, I'll dance and have a blast
Somente isso eu preciso pra noite compensar
Only that I need to make up for the night
Uau, uau, sensual, como ela rebola
Wow, wow, sensual, how she moves
Com esse corpo ela pode até me endoidar
With that body, she can even drive me crazy
É inevitável o que ela faz pra te seduzir
It's inevitable what she does to seduce you
Rebolando
Shaking her hips
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: MARCOS VALLE, PAULO SERGIO KOSTENBADER VALLE, LEON WARE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind