Stimulated by the talent and the interest in the rising phenomenon of the Brazilian Rock, soon they had recorded their first LP “Cinema Mudo” (1983) and had become a success with songs such as “Vital e sua Moto” and “Patrulha Noturna”.
The second LP “O Passo do Lui” (1984), consolidated the initial pull with the hits “Óculos”, “Ska” and “Meu Erro”, but it was in the presentation during the Rock in Rio Festival in January 1985, that they were definitely consecrated after their two concerts only for the power of their music, not for any scenic artifice.
After having toured throughout Brazil (more than 150 shows), Paralamas made a stop and released the revolutionary “Selvagem” (1986), that gave new routes to the Brazilian Rock 80’s generation. They abandoned the first influences and started to mold a personal sonority recognized and approved by the youth that bought more than 750 thousand copies of the album. In “Selvagem”, social (“Alagados”) and politics criticism (“Selvagem”) coexisted with good mood (“Melô do Marinheiro”), a tribute to Tim Maia (“Você”) and a partnership with Gilbert Gil (“A Novidade”).
At this time they made the first incursions in Latin America, initiating a work that would lead them to be the most recognized act of the Brazilian music in the decade of 90 in countries as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela. The “Selvagem” success also gave them the right to be the first group of their generation to participate of the Montreux Jazz Festival, in 1987, when they took advantage to also perform at the Olympia in Paris.
The concert in Montreux was recorded and became the LP and video “D” (1987), with the participation in the keyboards of João Fera and George Israel (sax), as special invited.
In the following year a new successful LP “Bora Bora”. The hits “O Beco”, “Uns Dias” and “Quase um Segundo” extended the series of influences and added brass instruments to the sound of Paralamas.
The following LP “Big Bang” (1989) would consolidate the new sonorous format in exciting songs as “Perplexo” and lyric ones as “Lanterna dos Afogados”, as well as a bossa-nova “Nebulosa do Amor”.
To turn the decade, the trio released the compilation “Arquivo” with their hits of the 80’s, the rerecording of their first hit “Vital e sua Moto” and also the new song “Caleidoscópio”.
The first half of the 90’s would be dedicated to the experiment and the conquest of the Latin American market. The album “Os Grãos” (1991, with songs of minor popular appeal, was not a sales success, but it did not affect the band itself. Herbert, Bi and Barone spent three months in London with the producer Phil Manzanera recording “Severino” (1994), considered by many revewers the “Sgt. Pepper's of 80’s generation” of the Brazilian Rock. In despite of that, the radios did not play the album and the exit for Paralamas was the airport.
In 1992, they released in the Latin American countries the compilation “Paralamas”, with versions in Spanish of their hits, what opened for them the markets that they had been visiting repeatedly since 1986. They started being each time more requested for shows, due to the great success of the Spanish version of “Severino” baptized “Dos Margaritas”.
But the excellent tour of “Severino” throughout Brazil confirmed that Paralamas does not need to have a song on the hit parades to attract the audience, so they decided to release “Vamo Batê Lata” – Paralamas Ao Vivo” (1995). Attached there was a four track bonus CD. The explosion of one of tracks “Uma Brasileira”, a Herbert and Carlinhos Brown partnership, with the special participation of Djavan, led the trio back to the mega success. A second song “Luiz Inácio (300 picaretas)” would lead the band to the politician news after being forbidden to play it in a show in Brasilia, under allegation that the song wounded the honor of the noble members of the Chamber House. The song referred to a declaration of the current Brazilian president, at the time a Federal Deputy, that in the National Congress there were some honored men and 300 tramps. Herbert detonated the political class at that time.
In 1995, Paralamas initiated a pull in the MTV Video Music Brazil that would take them to gather up 11 prizes up to 1999. In that year, the video “Uma Brasileira” got the awards for the best pop video and the video of the audience.
From there on Paralamas sailed in the rhythm of success with two more studio albums: “Nove Luas” (1996) – with the tracks “Lourinha Bombril” (awarded with the best video of the year, best edition and direction in the MTV Video Music Brazil (VMB) and “Busca Vida” (best video of the year in the VMB) – and “Hey Na Na” (1998) – with the tracks “Ela Disse Adeus” (five awards in the VMB: best video of the year, best pop video, best direction, photograph and direction of art) and “O Amor não Sabe Esperar” with the participation of Marisa Monte. The video “Depois da Queda o Coice” gained the VMB for the best edition.
In 1999, it was the time for a project that they have dreamt of during the entire decade, the album “MTV Unplugged”. Instead of making a revision of their career through the successes, they opted by a repertoire dominated by significant songs that had not received the due attention (“Bora Bora”, “Vai Valer” and “Trem da Juventude”) with homage to Chico Science and the group Legião Urbana, the new song “Sincero Breu” and “Um Amor Um Lugar”, recorded before by Fernanda Abreu. The CD sold more than 500 thousand copies and gained the Latin Grammy for the best Brazilian rock album.
The victorious “Unplugged” tour was extended until the end of 2000, when the trio released the compilation “Arquivo 2”, that brought the unpublished “Aonde quer que eu vá”, a Herbert Vianna and Pablo Sergio Valle partnership, one of the great composers of the Brazilian Popular Music (MPB).
At that time, Paralamas announced a six month stop for vacations and a reformulation in the sound of the group, after almost two decades of career. The plans pointed to a new rock album and, primordially, in trio.
This CD was recorded and is titled “Longo Caminho”, but the tragic accident that Herbert suffered on February 4th 2001, left the Brazilian music in mourning. The fall of the small plane in the Angra dos Reis Bay, Rio de Janeiro, when he was on the way to Dado Villa Lobos home, killed his wife, Lucy Needham Vianna and it left him between life and death. The entire country followed Herbert’s fight for survival in the hospital Copa D’Or, in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro.
It has been a difficult journey since then due to the sequels of the accident: Herbert is in a wheel chair and has not recovered the cerebral functions fully yet, but all that has not incapacitated him for music and in October 2002, he started the rehearsals with the complete band in his home studio. The result was so good that it led gradually to the new CD, with the repertoire composed before the accident.
The Band:
Herbert Vianna:vocals and guitar
Bi Ribeiro:bass
João Barone:Drums
Gafas
Os Paralamas Do Sucesso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yo uso gafas
Y cada tanto entró con mi coche en la contramar
Estoy sin gafas
Si estoy alegre con mis gafas yo lo veo todo bien
Quito las gafas y estoy triste, a nadie quiero ver
Por qué no me miras a mi
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Detrás de las gafas hay un tipo legal
Te quiero confesar que nunca fui genial
Era un juego conquistar con postura intelectual
Oye lo que digo, cree un poco en mi
Yo no nací con gafas, yo no era así
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Por qué tu dices siempre que no
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Tras de los lentes también late un corazón.
In the song “Gafas” by Os Paralamas Do Sucesso, the singer talks about the significance and impact that his glasses have on his life. The lyrics convey two different experiences - one where the singer wears glasses and feels confident and happy, and another where he doesn't wear glasses and feels sad and uninterested in the world around him. He admits that without his glasses, he doesn't want to see anyone or anything.
The chorus of the song is a plea to a person he's likely romantically interested in. He wonders why this person doesn't look at him anymore and questions if he's done something wrong. He wants to be seen beyond his glasses and believes that he's a good and kind person under the lenses.
He then goes on to confess that he's never been cool and that he used to compensate for that by acting like someone he wasn't - pretending to be more intellectual than he actually was. He then asks the person to believe in him, to see beyond his glasses, and to realize that even behind the lenses, his heart beats.
Overall, “Gafas” is a song that highlights the importance of acceptance and self-confidence. The glasses the singer wears are a metaphor for a part of himself that he judges himself unworthy without. However, lyrics reveal his vulnerability and his desire to be seen and loved.
Line by Line Meaning
Las chicas de Leblón no se fijan más en mi
The girls in Leblón don't pay attention to me anymore
Yo uso gafas
I wear glasses
Y cada tanto entró con mi coche en la contramar
And occasionally I drive into the opposite lane
Estoy sin gafas
I'm without glasses
Si estoy alegre con mis gafas yo lo veo todo bien
If I'm happy with my glasses, I see everything clearly
Quito las gafas y estoy triste, a nadie quiero ver
I take off my glasses and I'm sad, I don't want to see anyone
Por qué no me miras a mi
Why don't you look at me?
Dime si he hecho algo mal
Tell me if I've done something wrong
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Why don't you look at me anymore?
Detrás de las gafas hay un tipo legal
Behind the glasses is a decent guy
Te quiero confesar que nunca fui genial
I want to confess that I was never great
Era un juego conquistar con postura intelectual
It was a game to win over with an intellectual posture
Oye lo que digo, cree un poco en mi
Listen to what I say, believe in me a little
Yo no nací con gafas, yo no era así
I wasn't born with glasses, I wasn't always like this
Por qué tu dices siempre que no
Why do you always say no?
Tras de los lentes también late un corazón.
Behind the lenses, there's also a heart beating.
Contributed by Muhammad Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Bruna Pinheiro
Las chicas de Leblón no se fijan más en mi
Yo uso gafas
Y cada tanto entró con mi coche en la contramar
Estoy sin gafas
Si estoy alegre con mis gafas yo lo veo todo bien
quito las gafas y estoy triste, a nadie quiero ver
Por qué no me miras a mi
Dime si he hecho algo mal
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Detrás de las gafas hay un tipo legal
Te quiero confesar que nunca fui genial
Era un juego conquistar con postura intelectual
Oye lo que digo, cree un poco en mi
Yo no nací con gafas, yo no era así
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Por qué tu dices siempre que no
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Tras de los lentes también late un corazón.
Ayelen Rigotti
Las chicas de Leblón no se fijan más en mi
Yo uso gafas
Y cada tanto entró con mi coche en la contramar
Estoy sin gafas
Si estoy alegre con mis gafas yo lo veo todo bien
quito las gafas y estoy triste, a nadie quiero ver
Por qué no me miras a mi
Dime si he hecho algo mal
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Detrás de las gafas hay un tipo legal
Te quiero confesar que nunca fui genial
Era un juego conquistar con postura intelectual
Oye lo que digo, cree un poco en mi
Yo no nací con gafas, yo no era así
Julio Sotelo
Escucho esta cancion y mi mente vuela tiempo atrás cuando era adolescente y hiba a bailar los domingos juveniles en SMOC el boliche de San Miguel, lindos recuerdos
Ana laura Marcet
@Julio Sotelo pero yo la escuchaba en fm hit en el 92 o mas tarde se hizo fqmosa tambien
Julio Sotelo
@Ana laura Marcet año 1986/87
Ana laura Marcet
Que año la pasaban?
Julio Sotelo
@MINARAE weeeenaaa profe
MINARAE
*e iba
natalia marcia sosa
Me hicieron volver a mi niñez a las buenas costumbres que grande paralamas
Bruna Pinheiro
Las chicas de Leblón no se fijan más en mi
Yo uso gafas
Y cada tanto entró con mi coche en la contramar
Estoy sin gafas
Si estoy alegre con mis gafas yo lo veo todo bien
quito las gafas y estoy triste, a nadie quiero ver
Por qué no me miras a mi
Dime si he hecho algo mal
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Detrás de las gafas hay un tipo legal
Te quiero confesar que nunca fui genial
Era un juego conquistar con postura intelectual
Oye lo que digo, cree un poco en mi
Yo no nací con gafas, yo no era así
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Por qué tu dices siempre que no
Por qué ya no me miras a mi
Tras de los lentes también late un corazón.
Javier Albanesi
El tema original es de Sutien y se llama Anteojos.
Alejandro Lucero
Muchos Argentos estuvimos con chicas en Leblon , zona hermosa de Río 😁