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.
Night and Day
Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 Lyrics
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You are the one
Only you beneath the moon
And under the sun
Whether near to me or far
It's no matter, darling,
Where you are
I think of you
Day and night
Why is it so
That this longing for you
Follows wherever I go
In the roarin' traffic's boom
In the silence of my lonely room
I think of you
Day and night
[Chorus]
Night and day
Under the hide of me
There's an oh such a hungry
Yearnin' burnin' inside of me
And its torment won't be through
'Til you let me spend my life
Making love to you
Day and night
Night and day
Night and day
You are one
Only you beneath the moon or under the sun
Whether near to me or far
It's no matter, baby, where you are
I think of you
Day and night
Night and day
Why is it so
That this longing for you
Follows wherever I go
In the roarin' traffic's boom
In the silence of my lonely room
I think of you
Day and night
[Chorus]
The lyrics of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66's song Night and Day expresses the depth and intensity of the singer's love for someone. The lyrics describe how the singer thinks about their loved one constantly throughout the day and night, whether they are near or far. The chorus repeats the phrase "night and day" to emphasize the singer's infatuation and how it consumes every aspect of their being. The lyrics capture the feeling of longing and desire, with lines such as "Underneath the hide of me, there's an oh such a hungry yearning burning inside of me" and "its torment won't be through till you let me spend my life making love to you."
The song expresses a sense of duality, as the singer repeats the phrase "night and day" and "day and night" throughout the song, representing the timeless and continuous nature of the love they feel. The verses also contrast the external world of "roarin' traffic's boom" with the internal world of the "silence of my lonely room," highlighting the power that love has to transcend the noise and chaos of the outside world.
Overall, the lyrics of Night and Day capture the all-consuming nature of passionate love, a longing that cannot be quenched until the two people come together in a union of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Night and day
The passing of time carries on, without any pause or break
You are the one
You are the only person that matters
Only you beneath the moon And under the sun
No one else in the world matters to me, only you
Whether near to me or far, It's no matter, darling, Where you are
I don't care how close or far away you are, your presence is constantly missed
I think of you
You're constantly on my mind
Day and night
Every second of every day, without ceasing
Why is it so That this longing for you Follows wherever I go
I can't seem to shake this strong desire for you, no matter where I am or what I'm doing
In the roarin' traffic's boom, In the silence of my lonely room
Whether surrounded by commotion, or alone in quiet space, thoughts of you persist
Under the hide of me, There's an oh such a hungry Yearnin' burnin' inside of me
My deepest and most intense desires are centered around you
And its torment won't be through, 'Til you let me spend my life Making love to you
This yearning will never cease, until I can fulfill my burning desire to be intimately connected with you
Night and day
Constantly, without end
Day and night
Without interruption, always on my mind
Lyrics © Roba Music Verlag GMBH, Red Brick Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@dinaircamara5466
Night and day
You are the one
Only you beneath the moon
And under the sun
Whether near to me or far
It's no matter, darling,
Where you are
I think of you
Night and day
Day and night
Why is it so
That this longing for you
Follows wherever I go
In the roarin' traffic's boom
In the silence of my lonely room
I think of you
Day and night
@danshorb7719
I love this song. It’s one the best of all time. And I’ve never found a better rendition than this one.
@billymoore8854
My fave American pop song ever
@ittehgapsytterb
You are 100% correct!!!
@tonygumbrell22
While Sinatra's is my favorite, I really like this.
@francescaa8331
Lani's voice is just amazing. Goes from intense to that cool samba vibe.
@ime916
Delicious music and voice❤
@LaBarge
I like to think even Cole Porter would be impressed by their interpretation. Loved it in my college years and still love it now.
@MD-ev9hs
Ms. LANI HALL is sort of "Eternal" to me. I started listening to her singing in a recording (LP., Vinyl) "Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66" This was back in 1975, and I was 12 years old. Can y'all believe I am STILL listening to Ms. LANI HALL? She was THE voice of SERGIO MENDES' band. I heard that she and her husband (the great HERB ALPERT!) donated a lot of money in order to create a Music School for disadvantaged kids in New York City. BRAVO to Ms. LANI HALL Mr. HERB ALPERT! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
@TheVinylRestorationProject
Great! Love her and Alpert together too. Here is his Mendes & Brasil '66 - esque jazzed up version of "Summertime" that we translated a few years ago: https://youtu.be/UiXUrPDfvaM.
Thanks for listening and so glad you enjoyed. I hope you keep coming back. Take care for now.
@scottlewis417
Fantastic! What a performance. Incomparable.