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)
Rio De Janeiro
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
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Teu perfume, teu tempero
É o azul
Do mar
O teu olhar coral
A água viva de sal
Espraiada no teu corpo de luz
Esse poder que Deus deu
Uma onda arrebenta
Sensual
E traz de lá
Sereia
Liberta da teia
Das redes pra encantar
E vem num cavalo-marinho
Sobre as águas reinar
O brilho da festa
De brisa do altar
E Yorubá de Iemanjá
De Iemanjá
No mar
Rio de Janeiro
O poeta num veleiro
Veio te contar
Que o Carioca vê
A mata Atlântica inteira na palma de um coqueiro solar
Esse é o povo que dança nas ruas
E o turista
Que desce na pista
Do lugar
Quer se tornar
Moreno
E primo de Ogum, afilhado de Orixá
Faz jogo de bicho
Na sombra leve de um flamboyant
Em tardes azuis reza no Maracanã
A oração do futebol
E o gol é só sol
O sol
Moreno
E primo de Ogum, afilhado de Orixá
Faz jogo de bicho
Na sombra leve de um flamboyant
Em tardes azuis reza no Maracanã
A oração do futebol
E o gol é só sol
O sol
Rio de Janeiro
Teu perfume, teu tempero
É o azul
Rio de Janeiro
Teu perfume, teu tempero
É o azul
Rio de Janeiro
Teu perfume, teu tempero
É o azul
The song "Rio de Janeiro" by Sérgio Mendes is an ode to the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of the sights and sounds of the city, from the blue of the sea to the coral-colored gaze of the people. The song speaks to the power and allure of the city and its people, with references to Yorubá de Iemanjá and Orixá, both deities from the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé.
One of the key themes in the song is the intersection of nature and urban life. The lyrics describe how the people of Rio de Janeiro see the entire Atlantic forest in the palm of a solar coconut tree. The song romanticizes the city's relationship with nature and how its people seem to dance in the streets.
The song also references other cultural aspects of Rio de Janeiro, such as the game of bicho, a popular form of illegal gambling, and the Maracanã stadium, where many important soccer matches take place. The stadium is also where the "prayer of football" is recited in "afternoon blue" skies, with the "goal only being the sun".
Overall, "Rio de Janeiro" is a celebration of the rich culture and vibrant energy of the city and its people.
Line by Line Meaning
Rio de Janeiro
The city of Rio de Janeiro
Teu perfume, teu tempero
Your perfume and flavor
É o azul
Is the blue
Do mar
Of the sea
O teu olhar coral
Your coral-colored gaze
A água viva de sal
The salty jellyfish
Espraiada no teu corpo de luz
Spread out on your body of light
Esse poder que Deus deu
This power that God gave
Quando o Rio se lamenta
When Rio laments
Uma onda arrebenta
A wave breaks
Sensual
Sensual
E traz de lá
And brings from there
Sereia
Mermaid
Liberta da teia
Liberated from the web
Das redes pra encantar
To enchant from the nets
E vem num cavalo-marinho
And comes on a seahorse
Sobre as águas reinar
To reign over the waters
O brilho da festa
The brightness of the party
De brisa do altar
From the altar breeze
E Yorubá de Iemanjá
And Yoruba of Yemanjá
De Iemanjá
Of Yemanjá
No mar
In the sea
O poeta num veleiro
The poet on a sailboat
Veio te contar
Came to tell you
Que o Carioca vê
That the Carioca sees
A mata Atlântica inteira na palma de um coqueiro solar
The entire Atlantic forest in the palm of a solar coconut tree
Esse é o povo que dança nas ruas
This is the people that dance in the streets
E o turista
And the tourist
Que desce na pista
That goes down to the track
Do lugar
Of the place
Quer se tornar
Wants to become
Moreno
Tanned
E primo de Ogum, afilhado de Orixá
And a cousin of Ogum, godchild of Orixá
Faz jogo de bicho
Plays the animal game
Na sombra leve de um flamboyant
In the light shade of a flamboyant tree
Em tardes azuis reza no Maracanã
In blue afternoons, prays at Maracanã stadium
A oração do futebol
The prayer of soccer
E o gol é só sol
And the goal is just sun
Moreno
Tanned
E primo de Ogum, afilhado de Orixá
And a cousin of Ogum, godchild of Orixá
Faz jogo de bicho
Plays the animal game
Na sombra leve de um flamboyant
In the light shade of a flamboyant tree
Em tardes azuis reza no Maracanã
In blue afternoons, prays at Maracanã stadium
A oração do futebol
The prayer of soccer
E o gol é só sol
And the goal is just sun
Rio de Janeiro
The city of Rio de Janeiro
Teu perfume, teu tempero
Your perfume and flavor
É o azul
Is the blue
Contributed by Bentley D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Invincible Recording
Wonderful