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.
Tempo Nublado
Rita Lee Lyrics
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Vestidas de chuva
Sem falar
Nessas vidas mudas
Houve sonhos, choros
Que minha vidraça vai embaçar
Casas desbotadas, como manchas tristes
Daquele roupa que não se usa mais
Como aquele jeito de cantar
Onde estará você, meu amor?
Onde estará você? Oh!
O lugar de sempre
A velha poesia
Em setenta e oito rotações
O tempo nublado
A minha voz chamando
Pelo seu sorriso
Que foi com o sol
Onde estará você, meu amor?
Onde estará você?
Meu amor, onde estará você?
Rita Lee's song "Tempo Nublado" captures the melancholic atmosphere of a grey day, where people pass by dressed in raincoats without speaking in their silent lives. The lyrics express the sadness and longing of the singer, who reflects on the dreams and tears that fog up her window, the faded houses that resemble the melancholic stains on forgotten clothes. Everything seems aged on this day, even the way of singing, which touches on the transience of human existence.
The chorus "Onde estará você, meu amor?" ("Where are you, my love?") amplifies the poet's loneliness and enhances the feeling of an emptiness that only love could fill. She misses her love and hopes to find him through the place where they used to meet, the old poetry they both loved, or the worn-out vinyl record that reminds her of him. The song speaks of the yearning for love to bring a little sunshine on this cloudy day, to warm her cold heart and brighten her outlook on life.
Overall, "Tempo Nublado" is a lyrical representation of how grief and longing can cloud one's world, making it difficult to see beyond the grey. It encapsulates the human yearning for connection and how love, in all its forms, can provide a beacon of hope in the midst of life's darkest moments.
Line by Line Meaning
Nesse dia cinza em que as pessoas passam
On this gray day where people walk by,
Vestidas de chuva
Dressed in rain gear,
Sem falar
Without talking,
Nessas vidas mudas
In these silent lives,
Houve sonhos, choros
There were dreams, tears,
Que minha vidraça vai embaçar
That will fog up my window,
Casas desbotadas, como manchas tristes
Faded houses, like sad stains,
Daquele roupa que não se usa mais
From those clothes that are no longer worn,
Tudo neste dia está envelhecido
Everything on this day is aged,
Como aquele jeito de cantar
Like that way of singing,
Onde estará você, meu amor?
Where are you, my love?
Onde estará você? Oh!
Where are you? Oh!
O lugar de sempre
The usual place,
A velha poesia
The old poetry,
Em setenta e oito rotações
At seventy-eight rotations per minute,
O tempo nublado
The cloudy weather,
A minha voz chamando
My voice calling,
Pelo seu sorriso
For your smile,
Que foi com o sol
That went away with the sun
Meu amor, onde estará você?
My love, where are you?
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Elcio Decario, Rita Lee Jones De Carvalho
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind