Tag: Brasil '66

That Revolving Door, A Return to the ‘60s and ‘Fool On The Hill’

WIAA: Alyson, oh Alyson…?

ALYSON: Yes, I am here WIAA, it’s just that I don’t even know how to start with this one. As I treat you as my web-diary as well as a place to share some of my favourite songs, I feel duty bound to pass comment on some of the political upheaval we’ve been faced with as a country over the last few weeks, but I’m sure everyone’s sick and tired of it by now.

WIAA: I have no idea what you’re talking about Alyson.

ALYSON: Ah, that would be because you’re a page on a blogging platform and as long as I can afford to keep paying your subscription fees, you needn’t worry your pretty little head over political infighting, leadership contests and the ‘crashing’ of the economy.


WIAA: It all sounds a bit worrying Alyson.

ALYSON: It’s more than that WIAA, it proves that the ‘systems’ we have in place are no longer fit for purpose and the new Prime Minister who will be in post by this time next week is quite possibly not going to make any better a fist of it than the previous four, yes four, we’ve had over the last six years. It’s all going horribly wrong WIAA, all over the world, and there are some REALLY big issues that need dealt with, but that involves REALLY big change which seems to be impossible to bring about.

WIAA: What about sharing a calming song, Alyson?

ALYSON: Good idea WIAA. Back when I was researching Sérgio Mendes for a previous post, I stumbled upon this cover from 1968. If you’re feeling a bit stressed and anxious by what’s going on in the world just listen to this, Fool on the Hill by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66. I think I need to add it to my sidebar category ‘Balm For The Soul’, as it certainly acts as a balm for me. I just love the girls in this clip, their dresses, their hair, the way they carry themselves and that soft, understated style of delivery they have. Reminds me of the soundtracks to many a late ’60s film, such as The Graduate or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Fool On The Hill by Sérgio Mendes & Brasil ’66:


But of course, we all know that Fool on the Hill is a Lennon & MacCartney composition and just to be clear I didn’t choose the song because I was alluding to any particular ‘fool’ of today. I’m not that clever. It was a Paul song, and it probably related to a character such as the Beatles’ meditation teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – a solitary figure who was not understood by others but was actually quite wise, apparently. Let’s compare and contrast.

Fool on the Hill by the Beatles:

I seem to have shared more Beatles’ songs this year than in any other year since starting this blog. The Get Back documentary series that aired earlier this year made me fall in love with them all over again, after a good few years of deciding their music had become a bit over-familiar to my ears.

As for Sérgio’s sound, there is nothing like listening to Mas Que Nada on a cold and dreich Scottish Saturday (like today) to raise the mood. His version of Fool on the Hill is not so much a mood-raiser but a mood-calmer. Either way I have become a bit of a fan of the Brazilian maestro who is apparently still with us, so good for him. He is a contemporary of the Beatles but had a very different start in music, first training as a classical pianist at his local ‘conservatoire’. The Cavern Club and its ilk were not for him, but by 1968 here he was covering songs written by these Liverpool lads.

For any of my followers from outside the UK, no need to worry about what’s going on in our country. It’s all good, we know what we’re doing, and a new PM will be in place by this time next weekend sorting everything out. Britain is open for business and it’s all going to be grand. Yes… (big gulp), it’s all going to be grand.

Until next time…

The Fool On The Hill Lyrics
(Song by John Lennon/Paul McCartney)

Day after day, 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

But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning ’round

Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound 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

He never listens to them
He knows that they’re the fools
They don’t like him

The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning ’round

Sérgio Mendes, ‘Mas Que Nada’ and Being Chivvied Up By WIAA

WIAA: Alyson…? Oh Alyson…? Where are you?

ALYSON: Sorry WIAA, I am still around, just not had much time for blogging of late.

WIAA: What’s been happening with you?

ALYSON: Well, last week marked the end of the semester for my college course and we had to get our assignments in. Turns out none of the 373 posts I’ve written here provided much in the way of inspiration, which was disappointing, but fair. It even sparked a discussion with our class tutor, about how using lines from song lyrics in our writing, or the name of a musician for a character, is a big no-no. Copyright issues, obviously.

WIAA: Thank goodness for the niche world of music blogging then, where anything goes. ‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave’. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

ALYSON: Just realised Rol will think I’m stealing his Conversations With Ben feature. But no, you’ve popped up around here before to drag me out of a blogging fug and of course you’re not real, like Ben, you’re just a blank page on my blogging platform.

WIAA: Blank page…, on a blogging platform. Not showing much loyalty there, Alyson, after all we’ve been through.

ALYSON: Sorry, WIAA, you’re right. We’ve been through a lot these last five and half years and if I can get my ass in gear there will be more stories to tell, and more songs to write about. As well as submitting my assignments last week, I also had to get the holiday house ready for my first set of guests. They had a lovely time and I got a glowing review, but with no tourists from abroad yet, and the idea of ‘staycations’ (hate that word) in towns and cities not quite taking off yet, it could be another quiet season. There’s also the issue of the snow.

WIAA: The snow?

ALYSON: Yep, this is what we woke up to this morning. Only a month and a half until the Summer Solstice, so we live in hope Spring might briefly put in an appearance before then.

WIAA: Gosh, I wouldn’t have known, me just being a ‘blank page on a blogging platform’. If I’d been real, like Ben, you could have compared notes about the weather in his neck of the woods. Excuse me for not being a bit more corporeal.

ALYSON: You know I love you, WIAA. It’s just that I’m finding the idea of getting back to some semblance of normality tough after a year of being holed up at home. I’d love to meet up with friends and do fun things, but after not seeing them for so long, it’s tough reconnecting. A touch of social anxiety I think. Also, the things I love most, like cinema, theatre, cosy country pubs, are still kind of out of bounds for the older, not-yet-fully-vaccinated individual. Doesn’t leave much to write about.

WIAA: I’m sure you’ll do it, Alyson. In the meantime, have you thought of a song to share, as if I’m not mistaken this is supposed to be a music blog?

ALYSON: You are right of course, Mr (now not so) Blank Page. And can I just say thank you for drawing me back in today, as I couldn’t seem to unblock the blockage around here. I have my new Tribute Series to add to, and another few ideas in the pipeline, so good to be back. Here’s something to cheer us both up though – No, not the full six and half minutes of the song you alluded to above, but something quite different. I don’t know if it was the sight of the snow this morning, but when the other half fired up his computer at 9am, he went straight to YouTube for a fix of something from warmer climes. I give you Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66 (sounds like a football tournament, but no, we’ll never be allowed to forget who won that one), with his signature song Mas Que Nada, the first time a song in Portuguese became a hit all over the world.

Mas Que Nada by Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66:

WIAA: Brilliant stuff, Alyson, and right up your alley as your visitors often say. They do look a bit hot and sweaty in that clip, not something that’ll be troubling you today by the sounds of it, what with all the snow. Not sure how the group of singers coped in that rainforest though, dressed as they were.

ALYSON: Ah, I did love a cute little crocheted dress with some matching clacker earrings. I’ve been loving my cottagecore crafting of late, but I think my days of wearing a crocheted dress are now definitely over, so I won’t be fashioning one for myself. I googled Sergio straight after watching the clip this morning and was pleased to see he is still with us, and still making new music. He apparently specialises in ‘bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk’, and it seems he is still married to Gracinha Leporace, who has performed with him since the early 1970s. Good for Sergio.

Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66

WIAA: Are you going to include the lyrics on this one? Not sure if we’ll know ‘what it’s all about’ otherwise.

ALYSON: Good point. I’ll see if I can find a translation. It’s bound to be something really deep and meaningful. A torrid love story laced with danger. Or…, maybe not as it turns out, maybe more suited to a disinterested teenager. I give you the translated lyrics to Mas Que Nada, or rather, Whatever.

Until next time…

Whatever (Mas Que Nada) Lyrics
(Song by Jorge Ben)

Oari rai
Oba oba boa
Whatever
Get out of my way
I wanna pass
Because samba is really exciting
And I wanna dance [samba]

This samba
That is mixed with maracatu
Old black samba
Black samba you
Whatever
A samba like this is so nice
You don’t want to it to end

Postscript:

We do like a compare and contrast around here so it would be remiss of me not to also include the version of Mas Que Nada that Sergio recorded with The Black Eyed Peas back in 2006. How things change in 40 years.