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.
Over the rainbow
Rita Lee Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There´s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Someday I´ll wish upon a star
And make up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Away above the chimney tops
That´s where you´ll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh,
Why cant´t I
In Rita Lee's song "Over the Rainbow," the lyrics describe a utopian place that exists in the singer's imagination, beyond the dreary reality of their everyday life. The opening lines, "Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high / There's a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby," set the scene for this imagined paradise as something that has existed in the singer's mind since they were very young. The next couple of lines, "Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue / And the dreams that you dare to dream / Really do come true," reinforce the idea that this place is a magical land where dreams come true and everything is perfect.
As the song continues, the singer expresses a desire to go to this place and escape the negative aspects of their current reality. They sing, "Someday I'll wish upon a star / And make up where the clouds are far / Behind me," indicating that their desire to reach this place is powerful enough to even reach the stars. Furthermore, the lines, "Where troubles melt like lemon drops / Away above the chimney tops / That's where you'll find me," suggest that the singer sees this other world as a kind of escape from the difficulties and struggles of everyday life. They feel that this alternate reality is a place where they will be free from the worries that consume them in the present.
In the final lines of the song, the singer's frustration is evident as they wonder why they can't reach this paradise. They sing, "Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly / Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh, / Why can't I?" This line sets up a contrast between the singer's limitations and the freedom enjoyed by the birds that can fly to this utopia. It also indicates the singer's sense of powerlessness in the face of their situation, as they wish they could go to this other world but feel unable to do so.
Line by Line Meaning
Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high
Looking towards a place far above the sky, which may be just an imaginative concept
There´s a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby
There exists a place that might be only fictional but once dreamt of while lulled to sleep
Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue
Thinking of a place which is serene, calm and above all, peaceful
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Believing in those seemingly impossible hopes, eventually coming into realization
Someday I´ll wish upon a star
And make up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Planning to gaze at the night sky and wish upon a star, while leaving all the negative thoughts and emotions behind
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That´s where you´ll find me
A place or state of being, where the problems seem to disappear and only happiness is left behind
Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh,
Why cant´t I
Envy towards the freedom of the birds, who are able to fly towards that peaceful place, whereas humans are bound to their earthly limits
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HAROLD ARLEN, E HARBURG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Juliana Noé
Esta é a melhor versão de Somewhere Over The Rainbow que eu já ouvi. Sempre choro ouvindo ela na voz da Rita.
Lana Novaes
🎷🎷👏👏🌕🌙🎵👒