The band is considered one of the main groups in Brazilian rock. Like most groups from the 1960s, Os Mutantes were heavily influenced by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Sly & the Family Stone. However, Brazilian musicians were also immersed in their local culture, exercising their own creativity in the use of feedback, distortion and studio tricks of all kinds, just as was done by the Liverpool quartet and the group The Beach Boys. In this sense, Mutantes were pioneers in mixing rock and roll with Brazilian musical and thematic elements. Another characteristic of the group was irreverence. Like Os Mutantes, there began to be a kind of mixture of foreign and Brazilian music and the addition of new ideas, with doses of experimentalism, thus opening the way for musical hybridism.
Os Mutantes began their activities in 1966, as a trio, when they performed on the program O Pequeno Mundo de Ronnie Von on TV Record. On the eve of the program's premiere, the trio had the name "Os Bruxos", but neither Rita Lee nor the Dias Baptista brothers (Arnaldo and Sérgio) were satisfied with that name and wanted to change it. According to Carlos Calado,[2] the idea for the name "Os Mutantes" came from an ironic joke between Alberto Helena Júnior, the program's producer, and Ronnie Von, who, at the time, was reading O Império dos Mutantes, by Stefan Wul, and did not talk about any other subject. "Are you guys still looking for a name for the boys ensemble? Why not The Mutants?" Ronnie Von liked Alberto Helena's idea and took it to the group, who approved it immediately.
The group soon became one of the main exponents of the new MPB, influenced by Tropicália, until it dissolved in 1978. Over these twelve years, nine albums were recorded, two of which - O A e o Z and Tecnicolor - were only released on 1990s, when the group began to be recognized, on the national and international rock scene, as one of the most creative, dynamic, radical and talented of the psychedelic era and the history of world rock. In 2006, the band reunited, without Rita Lee or Liminha, but with the presence of Arnaldo Baptista and Zélia Duncan on vocals. The following year, Arnaldo and Zélia left the band, which was recomposed with other musicians and continues to perform under the leadership of Sérgio Dias, the only remaining member of the original lineup.
Panis et circenses
Os Mutantes Lyrics
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Soltei os panos sobre os mastros no ar
Soltei os tigres e os leões nos quintais
Mas as pessoas na sala de jantar
São ocupadas em nascer e morrer
Mandei fazer de puro aço luminoso um punhal
Para matar o meu amor e matei
Às cinco horas na avenida central
Mas as pessoas da sala de jantar
São ocupadas em nascer e morrer
Mandei plantar folhas de sonhos no jardim do solar
As folhas sabem procurar pelo sol
E as raízes procurar, procurar
Mas as pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
São as pessoas da sala de jantar
Mas as pessoas da sala de jantar
São ocupadas em nascer e morrer
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Essas pessoas da sala
Me passa a salada por favor
O pão por favor, só mais um pedacinho
The lyrics of Os Mutantes's song "Panis et circenses" offer a biting critique of both the futility of individual rebellion and the passivity of society at large. The first verse finds the singer attempting to unleash their artistic vision on an unsuspecting world, using vibrant imagery of tigers and flags to symbolize the passion they seek to awaken. However, they are met with a wall of indifference as the "people in the dining room" remain content with the cyclical realities of life and death. This theme of creative frustration continues in the second verse, where the singer makes a drastic gesture of passion by murdering their lover, only to find that the "people in the dining room" remain unphased. Finally, the singer turns to a metaphor of planting "dream leaves" in a garden to represent the pursuit of personal growth and inspiration, only to see that the "people in the dining room" remain fixated on their mundane concerns.
Overall, the song embodies a sense of trapped futility and frustration, highlighting the ways in which societal expectations can stifle individualism and creativity. The phrase "panis et circenses" itself is a Latin phrase meaning "bread and circuses," which was used to describe the way people would be pacified by material goods and entertainment rather than engaging in meaningful social or political activism.
Line by Line Meaning
Eu quis cantar minha canção iluminada de sol
I wanted to sing my illuminated sun song
Soltei os panos sobre os mastros no ar
I released the fabric onto the flying masts
Soltei os tigres e os leões nos quintais
I set free the tigers and lions in the yards
Mas as pessoas na sala de jantar
But the people in the dining room
São ocupadas em nascer e morrer
Are occupied with being born and dying
Mandei fazer de puro aço luminoso um punhal
I had a pure, luminous steel dagger made
Para matar o meu amor e matei
To kill my love and I did
Às cinco horas na avenida central
At five o'clock on the central avenue
Mandei plantar folhas de sonhos no jardim do solar
I had dream leaves planted in the solar garden
As folhas sabem procurar pelo sol
The leaves know how to search for the sun
E as raízes procurar, procurar
And the roots search, search
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
São as pessoas da sala de jantar
Are the people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
São ocupadas em nascer e morrer
Are occupied with being born and dying
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Essas pessoas da sala de jantar
Those people in the dining room
Me passa a salada por favor
Pass me the salad please
O pão por favor, só mais um pedacinho
Bread please, just one more piece
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira, Caetano Emmanuel Viana Telles Veloso
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind