Não Identificado

"Unidentified"
by Caetano Veloso
on Gal Costa (1969)
Listen Here

This song always puts me in a good mood. I mean, is there anything sweeter than Gal's voice on this track? And I love the way Caetano is able to mix a lounge-ish sound - using the electric organ (or whatever that instrument is), strings and flute - with weird and jarring "space sounds." To me they seem to feed off of each other rather than clash against each other. I also love the image of people in a town in the middle of nowhere looking up in the sky at night and seeing something brightly burning, and it being a love song launched into space.

A few of notes about this song's lyrics in Portuguese:

1. I've translated "um iê-iê-iê romântico" as a "sweet rock n' roll tune." I knew that "iê-iê-iê" was a style of early Brazilian rock, but when I did some good old Googling, I found out that the name is actually a transliteration of the phrase "yeah, yeah, yeah", taken from the Beatles song "She Loves You." So, if someone can suggest a more specific adjective for that style than "rock n' roll," please let me know.

2. I hate to use the word "record" twice in the phrase "record it on a flying record." It reminds me of that line in Austin Powers: "Allow myself to introduce...myself." In Portuguese the two words are different, but I couldn't think of any other verb to say "record," and I didn't want to use the word "disc" because I feel like that implies a CD and not a record, although in Portuguese you can use the word "disc" for both, as evidenced here.

3. The phrase "country town" doesn't quite give the full meaning of "uma cidade do interior" in Portuguese. As you can probably guess from the Portuguese word "interior," the lyrics are referring to a town in the "interior" of Brazil. And this touches on one of the fundamental differences in the historical development of the US and Brazil. Brazil's interior is and always has been greatly underdeveloped in comparison to its coast. So, I would say that "uma cidade do interior" is somewhere a little more remote and a little more rustic than an American might normally associate with the term "country town."

Lyrics

I'm gonna write a song for her
A simple, Brazilian song
And launch it after Carnaval

Eu vou fazer uma canção pra ela
Uma canção singela, brasileira
Para lançar depois do Carnaval

I'm gonna write her a sweet rock n' roll tune
A love sick anticomputer

Eu vou fazer um iê-iê-iê romântico
Um anticomputador sentimental

I'm gonna write her a love song
And record it on a flying record (x2)

Eu vou fazer uma canção de amor
Para gravar num disco voador

A song telling her everything
That I'm still alone, and in love
And launch it into outer space

Uma canção dizendo tudo a ela
Que ainda estou sozinho, apaixonado
Para lançar no espaço sideral

My love will shine in the night
Up in the sky over some country town

Minha paixão ha de brilhar na noite
No céu de uma cidade do interior

Like an unidentified flying object (x3)

Como um objeto não identificado

That I'm still alone and in love
Like an unidentified flying object
To record on a flying record

Que ainda estou sozinho apaixonado
Como um objeto não identificado
Para gravar num disco voador

I'm gonna write her a love song
Like an unidentified flying object

Eu vou fazer uma canção de amor
Como um objeto não identificado

END

Luzia Luluza

by Gilberto Gil
Album: Gilberto Gil (1968)
Listen to the song here.

I often say this album reminds me of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but that might also be because the cover has Gil dressed up in a couple old-style military outfits (randomly paired with a 60s soul-style picture of him holding a steering wheel). You can check out the cover and album write-up here.

Still, it does have a circus/carnival sound in many places that I associate with Sgt. Pepper's. I also think the albums share a similar theme of daily realities mixed with flights of fancy. But whatever the musical similarities, both were extremely experimental for their time and place, Gil following the Beatles by a year.

Forgetting about the Beatles, there are a few things in particular that I really love about this song:

1. The ambient noises of the rain at the beginning, and then the voice over the radio in the middle, where he's in the phone booth talking.

2. The way he uses the James Bond movie to transition into a last-gasp, romantic fantasy that's super stereotypical for Brazil.

3. The way the first few phrases build up to the "E Luzia, e Luzia, e Luzia," and then it softly transitions to "Estou tão cansado mas disse que ia..." Gilberto Gil is so good at phrasing.

Here are the lyrics:

I spent all afternoon rehearsing, rehearsing
Passei toda a tarde ensaiando, ensaiando

This dream of being an actor ends up killing me
Essa vontade de ser ator acaba me matando

It's almost eight
São quase oito horas da noite

And I'm here in this taxi
E eu nesse táxi

What awful traffic, Jesus
Que trânsito horrível, meu Deus

And Luzia, and Luzia, and Luzia
E Luzia, e Luzia, e Luzia

I'm so tired, but I said I'd go
Estou tão cansado, mas disse que

Luzia Luluza is there waiting for me
Luzia Luluza está lá me esperando

Two tickets please, one full, one half
Mais duas entradas, uma inteira, uma meia

It's almost eight, the theater is full
São quase oito horas, a sala está cheia

This eight o'clock show is going to be packed
Essa sessão das oito vai ficar lotada

It's only the third week James Bond is out
Terçeira semana em cartaz James Bond

Better for Luzia, she won't just stand around
Melhor pra Luzia, não fica parada

When people don't show up, she gets distraught
Quando não vem gente, ela fica abondanada

In that phone booth at Avenue Cinema
Naquela cabine do Cine Avenida

Magazines, embroidery, a battery-powered radio
Revistas, bordados, um rádio de pilha

In the death cell of Avenue Cinema, she'll be waiting for me
Na cela da morte do Cine Avenida, a me esperar

Next year, we'll get married
No próximo ano nós vamos casar

Next movie, we'll get married
No próximo filme nós vamos casar

Luzia Luluza, I'll be famous
Luzia, Luluza, eu vou ficar famoso

I'll star in my own movie
Vou fazer um filme de ator principal

In the movie, you and I get married, Luluza
No filme eu me caso com você, Luluza

During Carnaval
No carnaval

I'll get out of the taxi looking happy, wearing a mask
Eu desço do táxi feliz, mascarado

You're waiting for me by the ticket booth
Você me esperando na bilheteria

Wearing a crepe paper dress
Sua fantasia é de papel crepom

Like a flash of light, I take you by the hands
Eu pego você pelas mãos como um raio,

And we leave down the avenue
E saio com você descendo a avenida

The avenue is long, is long, is long...
A avenida é comprida, é comprida, é comprida...

And it ends in the sand
E termina na areia

At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar

And we get married
E a gente se casa

In the sand, Luluza
Na areia, Luluza

At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar

At the edge of the sea
Na beira do mar

END