Sebastião Rodrigues Maia (September 28, 1942 – March 15, 1998) was a Brazil… Read Full Bio ↴Sebastião Rodrigues Maia (September 28, 1942 – March 15, 1998) was a Brazilian musician known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and polemical (but always humorous) musical style. He was also known for his habit of lightheartedly missing appointments and even important gigs.

Maia performed in a variety of musical genres, ranging from happy and energetic dance music to sentimental songs such as his hit "Me Dê Motivo". He performed soul music, funk, bossa nova (in the 1990s), romantic songs, American pop, samba, baião, and Música Popular Brasileira.

He started to write his earliest songs at eight and at 14, as a drummer, he formed the group Os Tijucanos do Ritmo, which lasted one year. He then took guitar classes and was soon teaching children in the neighborhood of Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro, including the Matoso gang (Maia, Jorge Ben, Erasmo Esteves, later Erasmo Carlos, and several others), named after the street where they used to hang out.

In that period, Maia was the guitar teacher of Esteves and when Roberto Carlos joined the gang in 1958, he also took classes with him. Maia, Carlos, and Esteves (together with Edson Trindade, Arlênio Lívio, and José Roberto "China") formed the group The Snakes (later The Sputniks), playing balls and performing on television (including on Carlos Imperial's Clube do Rock on TV Continental, where Carlos was already a regular). The group was soon dissolved due to incompatibility between Carlos and Maia.

After his father's demise in 1959, Maia won a scholarship to study communications in the United States, where he lived for four years. There he started as a vocalist, having joined the Ideals, but in 1963, he was arrested for possession of Weed.

Jailed for six months and then deported to Brazil, he did not find any warmth on the part of his old comrades Esteves and Carlos, who were beginning to enjoy the massive success of Jovem Guarda, which would get a grip on the entire country in a few years. Moving to São Paulo, he had some support from Os Mutantes instead. Having recorded in 1968 his first single with his compositions "Meu País" and "Sentimento," he became more visible after 1969 when he launched his "These Are the Songs," which was re-recorded by Elis Regina in the next year, in duo with him and included on Regina's Em Pleno Verão.

In the 1970s, Maia started to record albums and perform shows promoting his synthesis of American soul and Brazilian music with elements of samba and baião. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.

In 1970 Maia recorded his first full-length LP, Tim Maia, which included the classics "Azul da Cor do Mar", "Coroné Antônio Bento", and "Primavera", and topped the charts for 24 weeks in Rio de Janeiro. His first four albums were all self-titled. Next year's Tim Maia had other hits including "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" and "Preciso Aprender a Ser Só". His fourth album, released in 1973, included "Réu Confesso" and "Gostava Tanto de Você".

Maia founded two record labels: Vitória Régia Discos and Seroma. Through the latter he released the albums Tim Maia Racional, Vols. 1 & 2, both with songs about the knowledge contained in the Rational Culture, in the book Universo em Desencanto (Universe in Disenchantment). Although these albums were not well-received at their time of release, they are now regarded as classics and saw re-release in 2005. In 1978 Maia had one of his biggest hits, "Sossego," and another success with "Acenda o Farol," both launched on Tim Maia Disco Club.

In 1983 he had hits with "O Descobridor dos Sete Mares" and "Me Dê Motivo", included on O Descobridor dos Sete Mares (Polygram). Another milestone of his career in the 1980s was Tim Maia (1986), which had the hit "Do Leme ao Pontal (Tomo Guaraná, Suco de Caju, Goiabada Para Sobremesa)".

In 1990 he interpreted bossa nova classics on an album released through his label Vitória Régia that wasn't noticed, the LP Tim Maia Interpreta Clássicos da Bossa Nova. After a period of poor presence in the media, he was again on top after being mentioned by Jorge Ben Jor's "W/Brasil" in 1993. In the same period, Maia had another hit with his re-recording of "Como uma Onda" (Lulu Santos/Nelson Motta) for a television advertisement.

At the same time, he withdrew from majors, recording his next albums through Vitória Régia, including What a Wonderful World (1997), where he recorded American pop/soul classics, and Amigos do Rei/Tim Maia e Os Cariocas, with the famous vocal group. Obese and in bad health, in March 1998 he was performing at the Municipal Theater of Niterói when he became ill. Hospitalized, he died few days later. Tim had suffered from many health problems which includes Diabetes, Acute Hypertension, Obesity and Pulmonary Embolisim. In 1999 he was paid tribute in a show by several Música Popular Brasileira artists. The show was launched on CD and DVD. In 2000 he had another tribute, also released in CD.

Oceano
Tim Maia Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Assim
Que o dia amanheceu
Lá no mar alto da paixão
Dava pra ver o tempo ruir
Cadê você? Que solidão!
Esquecera de mim

Enfim

De tudo que há na terra
Não há nada em lugar nenhum
Que vá crescer sem voce chegar
Longe de ti tudo parou
Ninguém sabe o que eu sofri

Amar é um deserto
E seus temores
Vida que vai na sela
Dessas dores
Não sabe voltar
Me dá teu calor

Vem me fazer feliz
Porque eu te amo
Você deságua em mim
E eu oceano
Esqueço que amar
É quase uma dor
Só sei
Viver

Se for
Por você

Overall Meaning

The opening lyrics of Tim Maia's song "Oceano" describe a feeling of loneliness, as the singer begins the day alone and observes the passing of time at sea without the person he loves. He expresses the idea that nothing can grow or develop in his life without the presence of this person, and highlights the pain and suffering he has experienced without them. The chorus of the song then shifts towards a description of the power of love, as the singer compares himself to the vast ocean that is filled and invigorated by his lover's presence. He acknowledges that love is not free of pain, but it is something he needs in order to truly live and be happy.

Overall, "Oceano" can be interpreted as a celebration of love and the way it can transform a person's life. The lyrics suggest that even when love is difficult and painful, it is worth it for the joy and fulfillment it brings. The imagery of the ocean, which is both a symbol of vastness and depth, emphasizes the intensity of the singer's emotions and the way that love can feel all-consuming.

Line by Line Meaning

Assim Que o dia amanheceu Lá no mar alto da paixão Dava pra ver o tempo ruir Cadê você? Que solidão! Esquecera de mim
As the day dawned, high up in the passion of the sea, it was possible to see time crumbling. Where are you? What loneliness! Have you forgotten me?

Enfim De tudo que há na terra Não há nada em lugar nenhum Que vá crescer sem voce chegar Longe de ti tudo parou Ninguém sabe o que eu sofri
In the end, of everything on earth, there is nothing anywhere that will grow without you arriving. Everything stopped when you left. No one knows the pain I have suffered.

Amar é um deserto E seus temores Vida que vai na sela Dessas dores Não sabe voltar Me dá teu calor
Love is a desert and its fears, a life that goes on despite the pain. It can't turn back. Give me your warmth.

Vem me fazer feliz Porque eu te amo Você deságua em mim E eu oceano Esqueço que amar É quase uma dor Só sei Viver Se for Por você
Come make me happy because I love you. You flow into me and I am the ocean. I forget that loving is almost a pain. I only know how to live if it's for you.

Writer(s): Adelmo Fornaciari, Djavan, Djavan Caetano Viana, Alberto Salerno Copyright: Luanda Ed. Musicais Ltda

Contributed by Charlie M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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