Rita helped to incorporate the rock revolution into the creative explosion of tropicalismo, formed the most celebrated Brazilian rock band in the world, Os Mutantes, and created solo songs with enormous popular appeal without losing her freedom and irreverence.
Former member of the group Os Mutantes (1966 — 1972) and leader of the band Tutti Frutti (1973 — 1978), Lee participated in important revolutions in the world of music and society, such as the Tropicália movement during the Brazilian dictatorship, which led her to be the artist with the most censored songs in Brazil during that period. Her songs, usually watered with an acid irony or with a claim for female independence and sexual topics, became ubiquitous in the charts. The album, Fruto Proibido (1975), released together with the band Tutti Frutti, is commonly seen as a fundamental milestone in the history of Brazilian rock, considered by some as her masterpiece.
In 1976, Lee began a romantic relationship with guitarist Roberto de Carvalho and since then he has been the partner on most of her songs and accompanied her in all her live performances. They had three children, including Beto Lee, also a guitarist, who accompanies his parents in concerts. With a career that has reached 50 years, Rita Lee has gone from the musical innovation of the late 1960s and 1970s to the highly successful romantic ballads of the 1980s. In October 2008, Rolling Stone magazine promoted the List of the 100 Greatest Artists in Brazilian Music, where Rita Lee ranks 15th.
In 2001, Rita Lee won the Latin Grammy for Best Portuguese Language Rock Album with "3001". She would receive five more nominations for the award and in 2022, she was awarded the Musical Excellence award for her body of work. In 2012, she announced that she would retire from performing live due to physical frailty. "I retire from shows, but never from music," she wrote on Twitter.
She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and had been undergoing treatment for the disease. She passed away in her hometown of São Paulo at the age of 75 on May 8, 2023.
Normal Em Curitiba
Rita Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Daquela vidinha boa
Entre um milagre e uma guerra
Quando Deus era brasileiro
E ria-se à toa
Lá no sul do Cruzeiro
Destino desejo
Santo pandemônio
Da minha infância querida
Quero o essencial da vida
Quero ser normal em Curitiba
Saudades da terra daquele planeta azulzinho
Entre Vênus e Marte quando arte era puro dinheiro
E o estranho no ninho
Vinha lá do estrangeiro
New York, Paris
É impossível ser feliz
Saudades da Elis
Da minha infância querida
Quero o essencial da vida
Quero ser normal em Curitiba
Renascer de parto natural
Mamar numa doce muxiba
Crescer num país tropical
Supermercado em Carapicuíba
Manter o ciclo menstrual
Noivar, casar com o Giba
Viver de aumento salarial
Campeã de buraco e biriba
Quero o essencial da vida
Quero ser normal em Curitiba
The song Normal Em Curitiba by Rita Lee is a longing for a simpler time and a simpler life. She begins with the phrase "saudades da terra," which means a longing for the land or a deep longing for something that no longer exists. She misses the "vidinha boa," the good life she used to have, when there were miracles and wars, and God was Brazilian and laughed at everything. She remembers her childhood fondly and misses the ozone layer, which has been depleted due to human activity.
She then expresses a desire to live a normal life in Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil. She lists the things that are important to her - being born naturally, breastfeeding, growing up in a tropical country, shopping in a local supermarket, having a regular menstrual cycle, getting engaged and married to someone named Giba, and earning more money. These are all normal, everyday things that she wishes for in her life.
Line by Line Meaning
Saudades da terra
I miss my homeland
Daquela vidinha boa
I miss that good old life
Entre um milagre e uma guerra
Between a miracle and a war
Quando Deus era brasileiro
When God was Brazilian
E ria-se à toa
And laughed carelessly
Lá no sul do Cruzeiro
Down south in the Southern Cross
Destino desejo
Destiny, desire
Santo pandemônio
Holy chaos
Saudades do Ozônio
I miss the ozone
Da minha infância querida
My beloved childhood
Quero o essencial da vida
I want the essentials of life
Quero ser normal em Curitiba
I want to be normal in Curitiba
Saudades da terra daquele planeta azulzinho
I miss that little blue planet
Entre Vênus e Marte quando arte era puro dinheiro
Between Venus and Mars, when art was pure money
E o estranho no ninho
And the outsider in the nest
Vinha lá do estrangeiro
Came from abroad
New York, Paris
New York, Paris
É impossível ser feliz
It is impossible to be happy
Saudades da Elis
I miss Elis
Renascer de parto natural
Reborn through natural birth
Mamar numa doce muxiba
To breastfeed on sweet mush
Crescer num país tropical
To grow up in a tropical country
Supermercado em Carapicuíba
Supermarket in Carapicuíba
Manter o ciclo menstrual
To maintain the menstrual cycle
Noivar, casar com o Giba
To get engaged and marry Giba
Viver de aumento salarial
To live on salary increases
Campeã de buraco e biriba
Champion of hole and biriba games
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RITA CARVALHO, RITA LEE JONES CARVALHO, RITA LEE JONES DE CARVALHO, ROBERTO ZENOBIO AFFONSO DE CARVALHO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Marcos Morgenstern
Essa música da minha filha! Quero ser normal em Curitiba! Estamos há cinco anos em Brasília - DF
AlCunha
Vinnie colaiuta, como sempre arrebentando na bateria!
Neonn !!!!!!!!!!!
Muito obrigado Rainha por essa homenagem
Big Munoz
I love this and want to go to Curitiba.
Caravan
did you ever go there?
Marcia Menezes
Beijo 💋 no coração cantora Márcia Menezes clique YouTube obrigada 🙏
Joaquim Delatore
Meus mais sinceros sorrisos estão na cidade sorriso. Te amo Curitiba.
Jorge Luiz Ribas Santos
Pena que não foi lançado em VINIL. A "Bolachão" deveria acertar com a Rita e produzirem este álbum em vinil colorido, quem sabe em "azul e rosa" para ser normal!
Someone
sentimentos eu sei, lembro raízes
Marcia Menezes
😃