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)
País Tropical
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza
Em fevereiro
Tem carnaval
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza
Moro num país tropical
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza mas que beleza
Em fevereiro (em fevereiro)
Tem carnaval (tem carnaval)
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza
Sambaby sambaby posso não ser
Um band leader, pois é
Mas lá em casa todos os meus amigos
Me respeitam, pois é
E essa é a razão da simpática
Do poder do algo mais e da alegria
Moro num país tropical
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza
Em fevereiro (em fevereiro)
Tem carnaval (tem carnaval)
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (moro)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (moro)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (num país tropical)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (moro)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (num país tropical)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (moro)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (num país tropical)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (num país tropical)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (num país tropical)
Eu sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza (num país tropical)
The lyrics of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's song Pais Tropical celebrate the beauty and joy of living in Brazil. The first line "Moro num país tropical" means "I live in a tropical country" and the following lines describe how blessed the country is with natural beauty and the celebration of Carnival in February. The singer also shares personal details such as owning a car (Fusca, which is a Volkswagen Beetle) and a guitar, being a fan of the football team Flamengo, and having a woman named Tereza in his life.
The chorus repeats the singer's love and pride for living in Brazil and the final lines repeat his ownership of a guitar and his relationship with Tereza. The lyrics express a sense of happiness and pride in Brazilian culture and way of life.
Line by Line Meaning
Moro num país tropical
I live in a tropical country
Abençoado por Deus
Blessed by God
E bonito por natureza mas que beleza
And naturally beautiful, what beauty
Em fevereiro
In February
Tem carnaval
There's Carnaval
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
I have a Beetle and a guitar
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma Nega chamada Tereza
I'm a Flamengo fan and I have a girl named Tereza
Sambaby sambaby posso não ser
Sambaby sambaby I may not be
Um band leader, pois é
A bandleader, that's right
Mas lá em casa todos os meus amigos
But at home all my friends
Me respeitam, pois é
Respect me, that's right
E essa é a razão da simpática
And that's the reason for the sympathy
Do poder do algo mais e da alegria
Of the power of something more and joy
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Jorge Menezes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@sophianowak3805
Moro num país tropical
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza.
Em fevereiro tem carnaval,
Eu tenho um fusca e violão,
Sou framengo e tenho uma nega chamada Tereza.
Sambaby, sambaby,
Posso não ser um band leader,
Pois é.
Mais là em casa todos essos tipos me respeitam.
Pois é.
E essa é a razão da simpatia,
Do poder e da alegria.
@kathleenross587
Moro num país tropical
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza mas que beleza
Em fevereiro, em fevereiro
Tem carnaval, tem carnaval,
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza
Moro num país tropical
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza mas que beleza
Em fevereiro, em fevereiro
Tem carnaval, tem carnaval,
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
Sou Flamengo e tenho uma
Nega chamada Tereza
Sambaby sambaby sou um menino
De mentalidade mediana
Mas assim mesmo feliz da vida
Pois eu não devo nada a ninguém
Pois sou feliz, muito feliz, comigo mesmo
Moro num país tropical
Abençoado por Deus
E bonito por natureza mas que beleza
Em fevereiro, em fevereiro
Tem carnaval, tem carnaval,
Eu tenho um fusca e um violão
Sou Flamengo…
@rosadandrea6531
Soy de un país tropical(Venezuela) me siento feliz, de haber nacido en la zona tropical,porque somos muy alegres! Nos gusta bailar,cantar, reír y disfrutar nuestro sol, nuestra música: samba, salsa, merengue,joropo, cumbia etc etc. Que viva el tropico o área tropical, que viva mi Venezuela! Te amo Venezuela!
@luisfelipeorozco7534
Gracias por todo lo que has dado al mundo, Sergio. grande entre los grandes.
@daniareyes9841
República Dominicana, pais tropical. Brasil, hermoso pais. Que talentoso es Sergio Mendes
@Carlos-ki8lv
Dioss que música más bella. Solo transmite alegría y bella vibra.. amo Brasil 🇧🇷
@Butlinsgvn6
This is one of the greatest songs ever written! Can someone recommend me more Brazilian songs with this spirit?
@douglascoelho9033
Tristeza (Goodbye Sadness), Magalenha and Mas que Nada
@Eturnes
Taj Mahal and Filho Maravilha by Jorge Ben Jor
@emiliagarcia3039
Bellisima cancion❤
@toni4729
Fabulous music. The sort of stuff that will never die.
@josecarlosdasilvaolevarioz2761
Parabéns grandes músicos (as)