Ney de Souza Pereira (born August 1, 1941, in Bela Vista, Mato Grosso do Su… Read Full Bio ↴Ney de Souza Pereira (born August 1, 1941, in Bela Vista, Mato Grosso do Sul), widely known as Ney Matogrosso, is a Brazilian singer.

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.

Tango Para Tereza
Ney Matogrosso Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hoje algu??m pos a rodar
Um disco de Gardel no partamento junto ao meu
Que tristeza me deu
Era todo um passado lindo
A mocidade vindo na parede me dizer para eu sofrer
Trago a vida agora calma
Um tango dentro d'alma
A velha hist??ria de um amor que no tempo ficou . . .

Gar??on ponha a cerveja sobre a mesa
Bandoneon toque de novo que Tereza
Esta noite vai ser minha e vai dan??ar
Para eu sonhar . . . .
A luz do cabar?? j?? se apagou, em mim
O tango na vitrola, tamb??m chegou ao fim
Parece me dizer
Que a noite envelheceu

Que ?? hora de lembrar
E de chorar

Overall Meaning

The opening lines of the song introduce the element of music, as the singer speaks about a neighbor playing a record by Gardel, a legendary Argentine tango singer. The melancholic mood is set instantly, as the singer feels a wave of sadness wash over him from the music. He starts to contemplate the passage of time and how it beautifully interwines with our deepest emotions. He reflects on his days of youth and how they seem to be distant memories now, yet still manage to be felt intensely. The singer carries a tango in his soul which evokes the memory of his lost love Tereza.

As the song progresses, the singer requests the bandoneon player, a primary instrument in tango music, to play again so that he can remember Tereza and dance with her. The phrase "A velha história de um amor que no tempo ficou", which means "the old story of a love that remained in time", refers to a love that could have been, or maybe it was once realized but could not be sustained for reasons unknown. The nostalgia and pain the singer feels is palpable, as he reminisces about the past and wishes to revisit it, even if just in his dreams. Ultimately, the song captures the bittersweet nature of life, where the memories we have of the past keep us company, but also make us ache for the bygone days that we can never relive.

Line by Line Meaning

Hoje algu??m pos a rodar
Today someone put on a record

Um disco de Gardel no partamento junto ao meu
A Gardel record in the apartment next to mine

Que tristeza me deu
It made me so sad

Era todo um passado lindo
It was a beautiful past

A mocidade vindo na parede me dizer para eu sofrer
My youth reminding me to suffer

Trago a vida agora calma
I bring calmness to my life now

Um tango dentro d'alma
A tango inside my soul

A velha hist??ria de um amor que no tempo ficou . . .
The old story of a love forgotten over time...

Gar??on ponha a cerveja sobre a mesa
Waiter, bring me a beer to the table

Bandoneon toque de novo que Tereza
Play the bandoneon again for Tereza

Esta noite vai ser minha e vai dan??ar
Tonight she'll be mine and dance with me