Like most of III, that ingenious choice of cover is suffused with what the Brazilians call saudade, a word that defies literal translation but signifies a bittersweet sense of longing. Saudade gives even the breeziest bossa nova melodies a tinge of melancholy and makes them all the more entrancing. All of the tracks here have smart, sing-along arrangements that will draw you in and undercurrents of wistful feeling that will keep you listening raptly for a long time to come. III, you will discover, is also an engrossing soundtrack to a very real story.
In the fall of 2005, after touring North America with their live band-mates, bassist Mikey Onufrak and drummer Mark Robohm, Juju and Chris decided to escape the approaching New York City winter to spend quality time in the places that had inspired their music. Keyboardist Jon, in demand as an engineer-mixer, stayed behind at his studio. The group had already cut almost an album’s worth of tunes, but felt they weren’t ready to release anything yet. First stop was the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. (Check out Juju and Chris’s photos at www.mosquitosnyc.com.) There they witnessed the November Day of the Dead events. As Juju recalls, “It was a beautiful experience. By celebrating death, everyone was really celebrating life. It was a time to talk to the ones who’d left this world.” Juju wept when she left Mexico, but had reason to be happy too: she and Chris were going to see her family in Rio. That’s where the Mosquitos’ sound was created, in a studio/shack near Ipanema, the setting for the group’s oft-licensed tune, “Boombox.”
Back in Rio, Juju hung out a lot with her mom, Anna Morato, a dressmaker. Anna not only supported Juju’s career, she designed her daughter’s stage outfits, which matched in color, fabric and cut the vivacity of the Mosquitos’ music. Three weeks into Juju’s visit, “after a great sushi dinner where we drank caipirinhas and laughed a lot,” Juju explains, her mother, a relatively young woman who’d experienced a few fainting spells earlier that month, suddenly passed away. “The world became a completely different and surreal place for me on the days following her death,” Juju says, “ full of rich life and deep love and sadness mixed together everywhere. When we got back to New York City a little over a month later, I felt that my mother had come with me.”
An acceptance of fate’s role in one’s life is another aspect of saudade; Juju and Chris felt that destiny had sent them on their journey to South America. The songs they wrote or reworked from those earlier sessions became a sort of diary of the joy and sadness, highs and lows, of the previous months. As Chris put it, “We wanted the music to continue to grow the same way we were growing, as a band and as people. We spent more time and thought nurturing the sounds, the vocal performances, the ideas behind the songs.”
Mosquitos’ work has always been partly autobiographical. Their debut disc cheerfully chronicled Chris’ wooing of Juju across two hemispheres. The material on III is personal in a deeper way, though knowledge of the back-story is not a prerequisite to appreciating these tunes. Songs like “Ele” have the same sort of easy-going bossa nova groove as “Boombox” and “Sunshine Barato”; “Mama’s Belly” accelerates that groove and adds a kooky speed-jazz guitar solo from Mikey, switching from bass. “Soap” is early-sixties pop balladry a la “A Summer Place,” with roller-rink organ and record-album scratches, designed specifically for dancing close and slow. “Just A Touch” channels the Lovin’ Spoonful’s cheerful jug-band sound and even features a kazoo solo.
As Juju learned in Mexico, sometimes the best way to deal with the most difficult moments is to celebrate our most treasured ones. III is a celebration of life, love, sex, music, ephemeral pleasures and enduring feelings. It’s guaranteed to warm your heart throughout our chilliest seasons.
-- Michael Hill
Domesticada
Mosquitos Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Achei que a gente ia pintar o sete de novo
Mas você voltou daquela terra prometida
E você não prometia mais nada
Você regrediu, foi domesticada
Encaretou e sumiu
Me deixou nesta roubada
When you fell back into my new world
I was ready just to go and paint the town red again
But you came back from that promised land
You closed your heart, your mind, your hand
And learned nothing
You're walking backwards my friend
You were domesticated
Please, don't even pretend
You left me hanging and I won't take it
The lyrics of Mosquitos's song Domesticada portray the disappointment and frustration of the singer as they reconnect with a former lover, only to find that they have changed for the worse. The song opens with the singer looking forward to reliving the past and having fun with their former lover once again, but they are quickly let down as they realize that the person they once knew has become "domesticated." The term is used to suggest that the person has become less free-spirited and has conformed to societal norms, having lost the spark that once made them exciting.
The lyrics also suggest that the person has regressed in some way - "you regressed, was domesticated, trimmed and faded away." It's almost as though the person has lost their identity or sense of self in their efforts to conform. The singer is left feeling abandoned and trapped in a less-than-desirable situation, realizing that the person they were hoping to reconnect with is no longer the same.
Overall, the lyrics of Domesticada can be interpreted as a commentary on societal pressure and conformity. The singer of the song is frustrated by the fact that their former flame has changed so much, seemingly due to pressure to fit in with what is considered "normal." They, in turn, feel like they have been let down and abandoned, and are left questioning whether it's even worth trying to reconnect with someone who has changed so much.
Line by Line Meaning
Quando você reapareceu na minha vida eu
When you reappeared in my life
Achei que a gente ia pintar o sete de novo
I thought we were going to have fun again
Mas você voltou daquela terra prometida
But you returned from your promised land
E você não prometia mais nada
And you no longer made any promises
Você regrediu, foi domesticada
You regressed, you were tamed
Encaretou e sumiu
You became boring and disappeared
Me deixou nesta roubada
You left me in this tough situation
You're walking backwards my friend
You're going backwards in your life
You were domesticated
You have become dull
Please, don't even pretend
Don't even try to act differently
You left me hanging and I won't take it
You abandoned me and I won't stand for it
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ROOT, SMITH, STULBACH, WAGNER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind