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)
The fool on the hill
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Alone on a hill
The man with the foolish grin
Is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round
Well on his way
His head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices
Talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sounds he appears to make
And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round
And nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round
The Fool on the Hill is a song performed by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66 in 1968. The song is a ballad and the lyrics revolve around the character of the "fool" who is ignored and even ridiculed by people around him. This man is portrayed as one who is constantly on a hill, keeping still, looking with a foolish grin on his face, talking loudly in different voices, and yet he does not receive any attention or recognition. The lyrics describe him as a lonely figure, somewhat misunderstood by society. Although he remains undeterred, he sees the world spinning around him, recognizing the beauty in it.
The song touches on various themes related to society's perception of an individual who does not conform to the norms of the dominant group. The fool on the hill is portrayed as someone who has a unique perspective on the world, and yet he is seen as foolish and unpredictable by others. The lyrics seem to suggest that there is a beauty in seeing the world in a different way and that it may be beneficial to approach life from a different perspective.
Line by Line Meaning
Day after day
Every day without fail
Alone on a hill
By himself on a terrain above the ground
The man with the foolish grin
The person with the silly smile on his face
Is keeping perfectly still
Is remaining completely motionless
But nobody wants to know him
But no one desires to be known by him
They can see that he's just a fool
They can tell that he's only a simple-minded person
And he never gives an answer
And he never offers a response
But the fool on the hill
But the simple-minded person on the raised area
Sees the sun going down
Observes the sun setting
And the eyes in his head
And the organs for sight in his skull
See the world spinning 'round
Perceive the world rotating
Well on his way
Far along his journey
His head in a cloud
His mind lost in thought
The man of a thousand voices
The person with a vast range of vocal expression
Talking perfectly loud
Speaking in a very clear and audible manner
But nobody ever hears him
But no one ever listens to him
Or the sounds he appears to make
Or the noises he seems to produce
And he never seems to notice
And he never appears to realize
And nobody seems to like him
And no one appears to enjoy his company
They can tell what he wants to do
They can discern his agenda
And he never shows his feelings
And he never displays his emotions
But the fool on the hill
But the simple-minded person on the raised area
Sees the sun going down
Observes the sun setting
And the eyes in his head
And the organs for sight in his skull
See the world spinning 'round
Perceive the world rotating
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: John Lennon, Paul McCartney
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@phila2361
I think it's extremely rare that a "cover" equals (let alone surpasses) the original. But in my humble opinion, this is definitely up there.
@WriterandPhotographer
Agreed.......just posted this video to Facebook and said the same thing
@valerieteti1755
You’re right!
@crumpingtons
love the beatles, however this verrsion is the best.
@raypeal1876
Earth Wind and Fire's cover of Got to Get You Into My Life is another.
@thelibran11
It is by far the best version...by far!
@angelicapleger6793
Sérgio Mendes is a musical treasure...
@i_am_chaplin
I didn't realize how cool my dad was when I was a little girl. He was a pianist who had all of Sergio Mendes records. I would listen along with him. I still to this day, love Lani Hall and Karen's amazing vocals. This cover of Fool On The Hill is magical.
@zdogg8
The studio versions were all Lani with her doubling or tripling her voice, IOW, no Karen. There have been many great singers in Brazil 66,77,88,99 etc but nobody had the impact and sound signature as did Lani, perhaps not a stupendous singer overall, i.e.: as per operatic standard or distinctive song stylist, but the EXACT right sound for Brazil 66. Warmth, color, flexibility, precision and just the right amount of inflection and her non native Portuguese was excellent.
@i_am_chaplin
@@zdogg8 Yes, Lani is the only vocalist singing Fool On The Hill. There are so many different levels to her vocals. Again, just pure magic.