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)
What The World Needs Now
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
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It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No. not just for some but for everyone
No, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
Oceans and rivers enough to cross
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but just for everyone
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
Lord, we don't need another mountain
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
Oceans and rivers enough to cross
Enough to last, till the end of time
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now
What The World Needs Now . . .
Sérgio Mendes's song "What The World Needs Now" is a prolific plea for love and unity in the world. The lyrics suggest that what the world needs most is not material possessions or power, but rather love. The song iterates that love is scarce and inaccessible to many people in the world, which highlights an urgent need for love to be spread and shared more. Love should not be exclusive and reserved for certain people only. It should be given and received by everyone, regardless of nationality, race, gender or social status.
The song also talks about how the world does not need another mountain, ocean, or river to cross because there are enough of those to go around. This verse emphasizes the fact that we already have enough resources to sustain ourselves, but what we lack is a deep sense of love and unity that can bring us together and help us overcome adversity. It calls for people to focus on what truly matters in life, which is to love and to be loved.
Overall, the lyrics of "What The World Needs Now" are clear and inspiring. They reflect a deep desire for humanity to move beyond its differences and to embrace compassion and kindness as essential values. The song serves as a reminder that we all have the potential to create a better world through simple acts of love and unity.
Line by Line Meaning
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
Love is the most important thing the world needs right now
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
There's not enough love in the world
No. not just for some but for everyone
Love should be given to everyone and not just a select few
No, we don't need another mountain
We don't need any more physical obstacles to overcome because there are already plenty
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are already enough challenges in life
Oceans and rivers enough to cross
There are already enough obstacles in life
Enough to last, till the end of time
There will always be enough obstacles, so we don't need any more
Lord, we don't need another mountain
We really don't need any more physical obstacles
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now
The world needs love
What The World Needs Now . . .
The world needs love, period
Contributed by Eli S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Dwight James
Sergio mendes music is magic ❤
Daniel Homer
Wow Fantastic!...❤️
Ernesto Castro
COTD brought me here
Stu Art
Im sorry , it may have been a great attempt, but it didnt work, - way too noisy and crowded in the mix.
poloshirtsamurai
Aww, just when Sergio is waiting on your approval.