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.
O Som Do Mundo
Ney Matogrosso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Murmúrio do subúrbio ao longe
O sol descendo pr'esse lado
Com a pressa de um advogado
Às cinco já nessa vigília
Ao lado, o sono da família
Nenhuma idéia quanto à salvação
Nenhuma queixa ou oração
Quem disse que uma vida só é pouco
"Ó, sol, que bate nesse quarador
Nomeio-te meu procurador"
Antenas, flores e pistilos
Telhados voam mais tranquilos
Vermelhas telhas e orelhas
Abertas para o som do mundo
Mas tudo resiste
Com força e resignação
Mas tudo existe
Do jeito que se pensa ou não
Ele olha o edifício ao lado
Quase tudo ainda calado
Ele olha para o branco do céu
Nada escrito nesse papel.
In Ney Matogrosso's song "O Som do Mundo", the lyrics tell the story of a man who wakes up early in the morning at about 5 am feeling like a monk. The distant murmurs of the suburbs fill his ears as he watches the sun rapidly descending towards the horizon. It feels like the sun is in a hurry, racing like a lawyer on a deadline. His family is still sleeping while he keeps vigil alone, no ideas or prayers are swirling through his mind. He stands there, like a madman, thinking that one life is never enough, so he appoints the sun as his attorney. The world around him seems to be in motion, with antennas, flowers, pistils, roofs, and red tiles, all swaying slightly in the breeze as they absorb the sounds of the world. However, everything seems to be resisting change and clinging to life with resolve and resignation.
The man observes the building next door, where everything is still quiet, and he looks up at the bright blank sky, thinking that life may be confined or limitless, depending on how one sees it. The lyrics show how the man is experiencing a moment of deep contemplation and reflections about life, death, and the world. The song encourages the listeners to reflect on the meaning of life and the beauty of the world around them.
Line by Line Meaning
De pé ás cinco como um monge
Standing at five like a monk
Murmúrio do subúrbio ao longe
Far away murmurs from the suburbs
O sol descendo pr'esse lado
The sun setting on that side
Com a pressa de um advogado
In the hurry of a lawyer
Às cinco já nessa vigília
At five already in this vigil
Ao lado, o sono da família
Next to it, the family sleeping
Nenhuma idéia quanto à salvação
No idea about salvation
Nenhuma queixa ou oração
No complaint or prayer
De pé ás cinco como um louco
Standing at five like a crazy
Quem disse que uma vida só é pouco
Who said that one life is not enough
"Ó, sol, que bate nesse quarador
"Oh, sun, that hits this wash house
Nomeio-te meu procurador"
I appoint you as my attorney"
Antenas, flores e pistilos
Antennas, flowers, and pistils
Telhados voam mais tranquilos
Roofs fly more calmly
Vermelhas telhas e orelhas
Red tiles and ears
Abertas para o som do mundo
Open to the sound of the world
Mas tudo resiste
But everything resists
Com força e resignação
With strength and resignation
Mas tudo existe
But everything exists
Do jeito que se pensa ou não
In the way that it's perceived or not
Ele olha o edifício ao lado
He looks at the building next door
Quase tudo ainda calado
Almost everything still quiet
Ele olha para o branco do céu
He looks at the white of the sky
Nada escrito nesse papel.
Nothing written on that paper.
Contributed by Abigail Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.