Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niterói, … Read Full Bio ↴See Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66.
Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niterói, 11 February 1941) is a Brazilian musician. Born the son of a physician in Niterói, 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 '66 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.
água de beber
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My heart the flower
I need your drink or I will die
My very life is in your power
Will I wither and fade or bloom to the sky
Água de beber (água de beber, água de beber)
Água de beber, camará
Água de beber, camará
Água de beber (água de beber, água de beber)
Água de beber, camará
Água de beber (água de beber, água de beber)
Água de beber, camará
Água de beber (água de beber, água de beber)
Água de beber, camará
Água de beber (água de beber, água de beber)
Água de beber, camará
The lyrics to Sergio Mendes Brasil '66's song "Agua De Beber" are a poetic metaphor for the depth of love and emotional dependence between two individuals. In the song, the singer compares their emotional state to that of a flower that needs rain to survive. They indicate that their love is the rain and their heart is the flower, which requires the water to survive. The person acknowledges that they need the other to quench their thirst, and without this love, their life will wither and fade away.
Overall, the song highlights the essence and necessity of unconditional love, emphasizing the fact that love is essential in our lives, and without it, we cannot thrive. The repetition of "Agua De Beber" throughout the song emphasizes the importance of this message, drawing attention to the fundamental concept of love as water to sustain the soul. The song's lyrics are powerful because it connects the emotions of the listener to the natural world, revealing how our hearts require nourishment to bloom and stay alive.
Line by Line Meaning
Your love is rain
Your love is like rain, bringing life and nourishment to my heart
My heart the flower
My heart is like a flower, needing the water of your love to survive and thrive
I need your drink or I will die
I need your love like a plant needs water, or else I will wither away and die
My very life is in your power
My emotional and spiritual well-being is entirely dependent on your love and affection
Will I wither and fade or bloom to the sky
Whether I flourish and grow, or wilt and weaken, depends entirely on whether you continue to nurture and care for me
Lyrics © VM ENTERPRISES INC, CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius De De Moraes, Norman Gimbel
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind