Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niteroi, 11 February 1… Read Full Bio ↴See Sérgio Mendes.
Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niteroi, 11 February 1941) is a Brazilian musician. Born the son of a physician in Niteroi, Brazil, Mendes attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late-1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was taking off. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor), and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.
Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderly and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the Brasil '65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records. When sales were tepid, he replaced his Brazilian born vocalist Wanda Sa with the distinctive voice of Chicago native Lani Hall (who learned Mendes' Portuguese material phonetically) and switched to Herb Alpert's A&M label and released Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. (Hall would later marry Alpert). The album ultimately went platinum based largely upon the success of the single Mas Que Nada and the personal support of Alpert, with whom Mendes toured regularly. Though his early singles with Brasil '66 (most notably Mas Que Nada) met with some success, Mendes really burst into mainstream prominence when he performed the Oscar nominated Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "The Look of Love" on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1968. Brasil '66's version of the song quickly shot into the top 10, eclipsing Dusty Springfield's version from the soundtrack of the movie, and Mendes spent the rest of 1968 enjoying consecutive top 10 and top 20 hits with his follow-up singles, "The Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair." Though he continued to enjoy adult contemporary chart successes with Brasil '66 through 1971, he would not experience the mainstream chart hits he enjoyed in 1968 until his comeback album in 1983 generated the biggest single of his career, "Never Gonna Let You Go." However, from 1968 on, Mendes was arguably the biggest Brazilian star in the world, enjoying immense popularity worldwide and performing in venues as varied as stadium arenas and the White House, where he gave concerts for both President Johnson and President Nixon.
Mendes' career in the U.S. stalled in the mid-70s, but he remained very popular in South America and Japan. (This disparity became a Seinfeld in-joke.) His two albums with Bell Records in 1973 and 1974, followed by several for Elektra from 1975 on, found Mendes continuing to mine the best in American pop music and post-Bossa writers of his native Brazil, while forging new directions in soul with collaborators like Stevie Wonder, who wrote Mendes' R&B-inflected minor hit, "The Real Thing." In 1983, he rejoined Alpert's A&M records and enjoyed huge success with a self-titled album and several follow-up albums, all of which received considerable adult contemporary airplay with charting singles. By the time Mendes released his Grammy-winning Elektra album Brasileiro in 1992, he was the undisputed master of pop-inflected Brazilian jazz. The late-1990s lounge music revival brought retrospection and respect to Mendes' oeuvre, particularly the classic Brasil '66 albums. He has released over thirty-five albums, and still plays his bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. His newest album, Timeless released in 2006, featured Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, Q-Tip, Justin Timberlake, and Pharoahe Monch.
(Text taken in whole from the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Mendes on March 30, 2006)
Cinnamon and Clove
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
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A seabird sails across a cove
The water's crystal in your hand
The air is cinnamon and clove
The tempo's easy as you please
From ev'ry lemon yellow morning
Through velvet ev'ning
The air is cinnamon and clove
The air is cinnamon and clove
Seductive cinnamon and clove
So come to my arms
I long for your kiss
The taste of the sea
Salty sweet upon your lips
There's love to be made
On nights such as this
And time is but sand
Sifting through our fingertips
The moon is like a tangerine
Adrift upon a sea of lights
A world where nothing comes between
These salty days and sultry nights
Where ev'ry slice of life and love
Has just the perfect combination
A cup of sweetness
A pinch of sadness
A touch of cinnamon and clove
The air is cinnamon and clove
Seductive cinnamon and clove
A Touch of cinnamon and clove
In Sergio Mendes's song "Cinnamon and Clove," the lyrics depict a serene and romantic setting by the beach. The moon's warm glow illuminates the silver sand while a seabird glides through the cove. The crystal-clear water is refreshing in the singer's hand, and the air is infused with the alluring scent of cinnamon and clove. The tempo of the song is gentle, creating a relaxing atmosphere both in the morning and in the evening when the breezes carry the fragrance of these warm spices.
As the lyrics continue, it becomes clear that the singer longs for someone's embrace and kiss; they are drawn to the salty sweet taste of the sea on this person's lips. The stars in the sky seem to add to the romantic ambiance of the scene. The singer believes that nights such as these are perfect for making love and cherishing the fleeting moments in life as time, like sand, slips through their fingers.
The lyrics of "Cinnamon and Clove" paint a vivid picture of a romantic encounter on the beach, but they also convey a sense of contentment and appreciation for life's small pleasures. The song's use of spices like cinnamon and clove to describe the atmosphere add depth and sensory richness to the romantic setting.
Line by Line Meaning
The moonlight warms the silver sand
The moonlight's glow provides warmth to the beach's silver-colored sand
A seabird sails across a cove
A bird that lives near the sea is gliding directly above a small bay along the coast
The water's crystal in your hand
If you cup your hand, the ocean's water is so clear that you can see through it like a crystal
The air is cinnamon and clove
The atmosphere consists of the sweet-smelling spices, cinnamon and clove
The tempo's easy as you please
The song's tempo is relaxed and unhurried, entirely at your discretion
From ev'ry lemon yellow morning
Every morning, starting at sunrise, the sky is filled with shades of lemon and yellow
Through velvet ev'ning
When the sunsets, the atmosphere has a velvety softness
With breezes singing
The wind blowing from the ocean has a musical quality to it
The air is cinnamon and clove
The atmosphere consists of the sweet-smelling spices, cinnamon and clove
The air is cinnamon and clove
The atmosphere consists of the sweet-smelling spices, cinnamon and clove
Seductive cinnamon and clove
The sweet fragrances of cinnamon and clove have a tempting quality
So come to my arms
Come and embrace me
I long for your kiss
I yearn to be kissed by you
The taste of the sea
The flavor of the ocean
Salty sweet upon your lips
A flavor that is both salty and sweet covering your mouth
There's love to be made
This is an opportunity to create love
On nights such as this
An excellent time to create love is on a night like this
And time is but sand
Time is fleeting and inconstant, like grains of sand
Sifting through our fingertips
Slipping away without us noticing and evading our grasp
The moon is like a tangerine
The moon bears a resemblance to a tangerine fruit
Adrift upon a sea of lights
The moon seems like it's floating on an ocean of light below it
A world where nothing comes between
An environment where there are no obstacles between anyone or anything is surrounding it
These salty days and sultry nights
Hot and humid nights with a salty sea breeze are occurring right now
Where ev'ry slice of life and love
In this environment, every aspect of existence and affection
Has just the perfect combination
Comprises precisely and accurately everything it should need or entail
A cup of sweetness
A glass of sweet consomme
A pinch of sadness
A tiny amount of melancholy
A touch of cinnamon and clove
A dash of the fragrance of cinnamon and clove
The air is cinnamon and clove
The atmosphere consists of the sweet-smelling spices, cinnamon and clove
Seductive cinnamon and clove
The sweet fragrances of cinnamon and clove have a tempting quality
A Touch of cinnamon and clove
A dash of the fragrance of cinnamon and clove
Contributed by Gabriella V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@magicknight13
Love this song! Magnifique et merveilleuse !
@ambracaddabrasaudioearcand4567
This Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 Music has become "THE" Soundtrack!, to my Modern Day Life in Los Angeles California, since about 2015
@joaoborrero7753
Esta canción es una obra maestra, saludos desde Colombia 🇨🇴
@tinydancer62
Maravihosa!
@pasqualemuzzupappa8596
This is the Best line up of Sergio Mendes:Lani Hall and Janis Jansen as vocalists
@annaclaudiapacheco7886
Excelente nível musical!!!! Bem no ano em que nasci
@wendykirkland
❤
@miracle96dn
これは名曲。名演奏。とても格好良い。
@navigator4709
Fresh sound ... Time to chill
@kenvelickoff4275
Check Sergio Brasil 88 lp Magic Lady