An uncommon artist with an uncommon sopranino voice, Ney Matogrosso fell in the Brazilian popular music scene like a bomb in the '70s aboard the Secos & Molhados. The end of the group marked the beginning of a fertile and successful solo career in which he began exploring his sensuous and charismatic persona through satiric and ironic repertories. As time passed, he substituted self-contained and deeply sensitive interpretations of classics for the popular and classical Brazilian music. Along with his representative and prolific solo discography, for which he received three platinum and three gold records, Matogrosso recorded in Itália with Astor Piazzola, performed in Argentina, Uruguay, participated in two Montreux Jazz Festivals (Switzerland), and toured Portugal several times. He also performed in Israel and the U.S., but always refused invitations to develop an international career. Matogrosso also worked as an actor in Sonho de Valsa (by Ana Carolina, the director, not the singer/composer) and Caramujo Flor (short subject by Joel Pizzini), and directed shows by RPM, Cazuza, and Simone.
Arriving in Rio de Janeiro in 1966, Matogrosso became a hippie leather artisan and divided his time between Rio, São Paulo, and Brasília, where he was a close friend of singer/composer Luli. Through her he met João Ricardo, who had a vision for a groundbreaking group and was searching for a high-pitched male voice. Invited by Ricardo, Matogrosso moved to São Paulo where he spent one year dedicating himself to exhaustive rehearsals, artisanship, and theater plays. With the explosive success of Secos e Molhados and the group's final dissolution, Matogrosso started his solo career exploring his unusual voice timbre, his mesmerizing scenic persona, and his androgynous visuals, enhanced by innovative and exotic costumes. A second solo album, Água do Céu - Pássaro, was supported by the show Homem de Neanderthal, in 1975, with which Matogrosso opened in Rio de Janeiro, drawing both raves and packed houses. "Barco Negro" and "Homem com H" appeared amongst considerable polemics aroused by the usual conservatives on duty. In that period, he worked with Astor Piazzola in Milan, Italy, where he recorded a double single with the Argentinean composer. A cleaner Matogrosso recorded Bandido in 1976, having his first national hit as a solo artist with "Bandido Corazón," written especially for him by Rita Lee.
Com A Boca No Mundo
Ney Matogrosso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Se eu não faço nada a não ser cantar,
Quantas vezes, eles vão me responder
Que não há saída a não ser morrer!
Isso não tem mais jeito
Foi tudo dito e feito
Agora não é tempo
Tenho mais é que botar a boca no mundo
Como faz o tico-tico quando quer comer
Essa fome é vontade de viver
Chamar atenção pra você me ver!
Em pleno movimento
Meu corpo é um instrumento
Eu sopro aos sete ventos
Pra você me escutar
Pra você me ver
Pra me ouvir falar
Disso tudo
Essa melodia não acaba
Quando eu resolver parar de cantar!
In Ney Matogrosso's song "Com A Boca No Mundo," the lyrics express the frustration and misunderstanding that the singer faces as an artist. He poses the rhetorical question of how many times people will ask him if he does anything other than sing, and in response, how many times they will tell him that there is no other way out for him other than death. He acknowledges that there is no fix for the situation and that it's all been said and done.
Despite all this, he asserts that he must put his voice out into the world, like the tico-tico bird when it wants to eat. He hungerously desires to live his life and wants to bring attention to himself. He views his body as an instrument that he can use to express his message to the world. His melody will not end, even if he decides to stop singing.
The lyrics of "Com A Boca No Mundo" captures the essence of the artist's struggle, the desire to share his work with the world and to be seen and heard, and the pushback and misunderstanding that artists often face. It is a rallying cry for artists to continue to put their voice out there, despite the adversities they may come up against.
Line by Line Meaning
Quantas vezes eles vão me perguntar
How many times will they ask me
Se eu não faço nada a não ser cantar,
If I do nothing but sing,
Quantas vezes, eles vão me responder
How many times will they respond to me
Que não há saída a não ser morrer!
That there is no way out but to die!
Isso não tem mais jeito
There is no more hope,
Foi tudo dito e feito
Everything has been said and done,
Agora não é tempo
It's not time now,
Da gente se esconder
To hide ourselves,
Tenho mais é que botar a boca no mundo
I have to speak out loudly,
Como faz o tico-tico quando quer comer
Like a bird when it's hungry,
Essa fome é vontade de viver
This hunger is a desire to live,
Chamar atenção pra você me ver!
To grab attention and make you see me!
Em pleno movimento
In full motion,
Meu corpo é um instrumento
My body is an instrument,
Eu sopro aos sete ventos
I blow in every direction,
Pra você me escutar
So that you can hear me,
Pra você me ver
So that you can see me,
Pra me ouvir falar
So that you can listen to me talking,
Disso tudo
From all of this,
Essa melodia não acaba
This melody never ends,
Quando eu resolver parar de cantar!
Even when I stop singing!
Contributed by Brayden Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.