Os Mutantes is a Brazilian psychedelic rock band formed during the Tropical… Read Full Bio ↴Os Mutantes is a Brazilian psychedelic rock band formed during the Tropicalista Movement in 1966, in São Paulo, by Arnaldo Baptista, Rita Lee and Sérgio Dias.

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.

Tempo No Tempo
Os Mutantes Lyrics

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Aleluia
Eu quero estar com meu Senhor

Há sempre um tempo no tempo em que o corpo do homem apodrece
E sua alma cansada, penada, se afunda no chão
E o bruxo do luxo baixado o capucho chorando num nicho capacho do lixo
Caprichos não mais voltarão
Já houve um tempo em que o tempo parou de passar

E um tal de homo sapiens não soube disso aproveitar
Chorando, sorrindo, falando em calar
Pensando em pensar quando o tempo parar de passar

Há sempre um tempo no tempo em que o corpo do homem apodrece
E sua alma cansada, penada, se afunda no chão
E o bruxo do luxo baixado o capucho chorando num nicho capacho do lixo
Caprichos não mais voltarão

Mas se entre lágrimas você se achar e pensar que está a chorar
Este era o tempo em que o tempo é

Overall Meaning

O song Tempo no Tempo by Os Mutantes explores the passing of time and the transience of life. The lyrics begin with a proclamation of faith, as the singer declares "Aleluia, Eu quero estar com meu Senhor" (Hallelujah, I want to be with my Lord). The song then goes on to describe the inevitable decay of the human body, and the sinking of the weary soul. The imagery of a witch, weeping in a trash heap, underscores the idea of decay and decayed dreams. The lyrics then imagine a time in the past where humanity failed to recognize the importance of time, and squandered opportunities for growth and enlightenment. As the song progresses, the lyrics suggest that there is a moment in time where we may find ourselves weeping, only to realize that it is this very moment that truly matters.

The song's imagery is skillfully woven together to create a complex commentary on the human condition, with a recognition that even in our darkest moments, we are still ultimately part of the larger fabric of life. The song encourages us to embrace our mortality, and to make the most of the time we have.

Line by Line Meaning

Aleluia
Praise be

Eu quero estar com meu Senhor
I want to be with my Lord

Há sempre um tempo no tempo em que o corpo do homem apodrece
There is always a time within time when a man's body decays

E sua alma cansada, penada, se afunda no chão
And his tired, tormented soul sinks into the ground

E o bruxo do luxo baixado o capucho chorando num nicho capacho do lixo
And the wizard of luxury with his hood lowered crying in a lowly garbage niche

Caprichos não mais voltarão
Fancies will no longer return

Já houve um tempo em que o tempo parou de passar
There was a time when time stopped passing

E um tal de homo sapiens não soube disso aproveitar
And this so-called Homo sapiens failed to take advantage of it

Chorando, sorrindo, falando em calar
Crying, laughing, talking without being silent

Pensando em pensar quando o tempo parar de passar
Thinking about thinking when time stops passing

Mas se entre lágrimas você se achar e pensar que está a chorar
But if amongst tears you find yourself and think that you are crying