Saturday, April 30, 2011

Garota Vulgar; Neuzinha Brizola

Two days ago I posted about Gerard Smith's death. One friend of mine read it and intimated me to post one song with whistling about another person who had died this week. Her name is Neuzinha Brizola, she is a Brazilian singer and had only released one album, eponymous, from 1983. My friend realized that I wasn't write about her so early, so he offered himself to do it. He wrote about everything, except about the song with whistling, so I ain't translating the article. If you liked Brizola's whistled song, go to Google Translate and do the dirty job... LOL

With you, Thiago Cezário:

No post de hoje vamos falar de Neuzinha Brizola. Que no último dia 27/04 morreu aos 56 anos por complicações pulmonares decorrentes de uma hepatite. Mas quem foi Neuzinha Brizola? Mas que diabos de música essa mulher fazia? Pois então, Neuzinha era filha do ex-governador do Rio de Janeiro, Leonel Brizola. Brizola governou o Rio de Janeiro entre 1983 e 1987.

Neuzinha era problema. Ela literalmente gostava de causar. No início dos anos 80 Neuzinha inventou uma festa de casamento no alto do Terminal Rodoviário Menezes Cortes. A festa foi celebrada pelo então produtor do seu primeiro disco, Paulo Coelho. Vestida toda de preto, Neuzinha fez exigências para a festa que eram no mínimo estranhas. Tinha convidadas chicoteadoras, garçons vestidos de Klu Klux Klan, mulheres engolidoras de fogo entre outras esquisitices. Se meteu em várias confusões, escândalos, baixarias, brigas, foi acusada de tráfico de drogas, cheirava cocaína, enfim... aprontava todas. Neuzinha era tão porra-louca que chegou a posar pra Playboy! Claro que ela não foi capa da publicação, mas ela mostrava seus seios em algumas páginas. A publicação foi suspensa pelo seu pai, então, governador do Rio, por achar que isso não pegaria bem pro seu governo. Neuzinha tinha visual rock, e era de fato uma “riot girrrl” para sua família.

Em 1983 se juntou a Joe Euthanasia e gravaram um disco. O grande e único hit do disco foi “Mintchura”. Uma espécie de rock-piada que narra a história de uma garota desenganada por um suposto playboy que convidara pra uma festa em uma cobertura e chegando lá, não passava de um modesto quitenete. “Mintchura” foi um grande sucesso nas rádios e Neuzinha chegou a participar de vários programas de televisão, dentre eles Chacrinha e Globo de Ouro. O disco era recheado de músicas simples, bem estilo new wave. Quem diria que Neuzinha faria uma versão de “Back In The U.S.S.R.”? Acreditem! Neuzinha transformou esse clássico em “Voltando a Nova Iguaçu.” A música que abre o disco é a urgente “107 Interurbano a Cobrar”. Aqui, Neuzinha está presa em uma cabine telefônica e não tem mais fichas pra pedir ajuda. Entre gritos de horror e pedidos de socorro, o refrão diz: “Help, venha me salvar depressa, não posso passar pela fresta, estou sentindo sufocar. Help, uma mensagem telepática, essa situação hepática, um interurbano a cobrar.” Apesar do disco ser divertido e bem sacado, foi um fracasso de venda e Neuzinha sai de cena.


Então, no final do anos 80 ela se mudou pra Amsterdã onde morou por cinco anos. Lá ela continuou aprontando e se divertindo à sua maneira. Jogava cartas com as prostitutas durante a tarde e estava sempre em contato com drogas liberadas. Viciada e obesa, Neuzinha retorna ao Brasil pra se tratar e refazer sua vida. Se lança como produtora teatral, cria uma produtora com sua filha e começa a trabalhar na possibilidade de trazer bandas de heavy metal pro Brasil.

Em 2004, por iniciativa de Johann Heyss resolve lançar o “The Neusinha Brizola Experience”. Um disco-tributo à Neuzinha. Com participações variadas eles regravaram todas as músicas do disco de 1983.

Em 2008, duas garotas resolvem homenagear Neuzinha. Luciana Lima e Bianquinha formam o duo “Elastano” e fazem uma versão de um dos seus maiores hits do passado, a música “Zumbi”. Bianquinha (seu nome verdadeiro é Bianca Jahara) foi participante da oitava edição do reality show Big Brother Brasil realizado pela emissora TV Globo.

Fiquem aí com a música “Garota Vulgar”. Música que tem assobio, o que justifica a presença de Neuzinha nesse espaço.

--

The wolf whistle is in 1:25". ^^

Quando ela anda pela rua
olhando a vitrine sem ter nada a fazer
gastando a mesada do papai, ai ai.
É uma mina que não tem nada a ver
frequenta a praia lá no Beverly Hills
adora ser calunia social
e saí por aí todo o dia a desfilar
e a noite sempre está no Chico's Bar.

Garota vulgar, modelito caviar
madame seu futuro é devagar
Quando ela anda seminua
no country, na praia ela quer faturar
gastando a mesada do papai, ai ai
é uma mina que não tem nada a ver
frequenta o ico e o castel também, viu?
adora ser calunia social
e saí por aí todo o dia a desfilar
e a noite sempre está no chico's bar.

Garota vulgar, modelito caviar
madame teu futuro é devagar

Garota vulgar, modelito caviar
madame teu futuro é devagar


Friday, April 29, 2011

If You Could Speak; God Help the Girl

Today is so Belle and Sebastian! It’s winter, it’s cold, I’m drinking hot chocolate... Only one thing is missing to complete this scenario: to be in love! Well, while my heart doesn’t fall in love with a gorgeous crop girl, the way is content myself with the beautiful voice and melodies of these charming nine girls invited to sing with Stuart Murdoch in his musical project called “God Help the Girl.”

In the band’s website we can read that God Help the Girl arose from Murdoch’s wishes of having female vocals sing some songs he wrote: “I was out for a run and I got this tune in my head and it occurred to me that it wasn’t a Belle and Sebastian song. I could hear female voices and strings, I could hear the whole thing, but I just couldn’t envisage myself singing it with the group.

The website still says: “a total of nine different singers (including Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy and Asya from American teen trio, Smoosh) joining the members of Belle and Sebastian over the course of a few months. (…) The result is a breathtaking record from one of pop’s most singular voices, combining the strengths and feel of the early Belle and Sebastian records in a broader musical palette, which draws equally on musicals, sixties’ girl groups, eighties’ indie and, most of all, classic pop records.

I got out of bed
And came here for adventure
I stepped on a stone on the way
I took off my shoe
And a dog came towards me
Wagging his tail happily

Dog, if you could speak
You'd know what to do
Simply turn around and run
Dog, if you could speak
You'd bury your bone
And you'd show me the way back home

Got out of bed
And I put on my sunsuit
Blue checky short and a dress
Nothing was left for a girl in pajamas
No breakfast, no kindness, no game

Girl, if you could speak
You'd know what to do
Ages left a gift with you,
Rent the cheap second-hand crystal ball
I will trust my future to you

I got out of bed when the springs wouldn't have me
If I held me up like a guy
Fed into my soup
And I walked out to breakfast
Green leafs and blue sky and sun

Boy, if you could speak
You'd know what to do
You'd say "Don't let the wall core out"
Remember all you saw and tell it back
In the stories when the day is done
Remember all you saw and tell it back
In the stories when the day is done


Thursday, April 28, 2011

Forgotten; TV On the Radio

Last week a musician died. He was suffering from terminal lung cancer and could not resist. However, he managed to resist until the latest album from his band come to light. His name was Gerard Smith. He left us and his band TV On the Radio at 36 years. This post is a tribute from this blog to him.¹

In the band's website they say: “this TV On The Radio album, NineTypes of Light (Interscope), isa lush and beautiful album that stands apart from the group's previous work. If their other albums had shades of dystopia and distress, this album, sung by Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, is filled with songs about longing and love. 'I like love songs. There's nothing particularly interesting going on with me in my life to bear this work. I like the forms of love songs, the poetry.' Kyp adds that though there might be more 'positivity' on this album, it wasn't an overall conceit they set out to do. 'We've attempted to work on themes before but they fall apart very quickly. More organic versions arise because we're sharing time or space or communication.'

Gerard Smith gave his opinion: “It was such an intense experience – not bad or goodnecessarily, just intense. I spent a lot of time after that writing and drawingpictures. It allows us to do the other things wewant to do, or to just decompress, and then come back to the band with somefocus. We don't ever want to feel like we have to do this, that it's a job,necessarily.


Beverly Hills, burning of plastic
Scraped it away, I do, I may
For the summer
For the summer

Here goes your man, dances the hourly
Cape land to colors rolling through the valley
For the summer
For the summer

Hold tight, horizon minds
It’s writing its name in the sky
It’s paradise
We fade away into the night

Beverly Hills, nuclear winter
What should we wear and who’s for dinner?
In the summer
For the summer

Hold tight, our love will fade out
It’s writing its name in the sky
And I’ll stop and stare
We’ll fade away into the night

It’s paradise
For now we go under the knife
For one time, oh, some doctors
Divided by night time

Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise
Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise
Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise
Let’s do it for the summer, send for the sunrise






“We are very sad to announce the death of our beloved friend and bandmate, Gerard Smith, following a courageous fight against lung cancer. Gerard passed away the morning of April 20th, 2011. We will miss him terribly.”

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Good Life; OneRepublic

Seeing the statitics of Google's research that lead to my blog, I found that the majority of people who come here is looking for "songs with whistling from 2011". So I am seeking for these brand new songs. That was how I discovered the whistling song of today!

But it's not from 2011. Actually, my sources don't come to an agreement... Vevo's channel on YouTube states that the "Good Life" music video is from this year; Wikipedia's says that it was released in 2010; and on Amazon we can see the album was released in 2009. Well, let's stay with the last one.

AllMusic Guides explains the band's rising: "[Ryan] Tedder and Zach Filkins formed the band in 2002 and relocated to Los Angeles shortly thereafter, adding keyboardist Drew Brown, bassist/cellist Brent Kutzle, and drummer Eddie Fisher to the lineup in the process. OneRepublic then signed with Sony BMG's Columbia label in 2003". Also says "Later that year, OneRepublic stepped out on their own with Dreaming Out Loud, a debut album filled with piano-fueled songwriting and pop/rock melodies. The album quickly went gold, and 'Apologize' continued to top the singles charts in multiple countries. Another Tedder-penned track, Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love,' experienced similar success at the same time, thus making Tedder one of the year's most celebrated songwriters. OneRepublic began writing songs for a second album in 2008, and the group later decamped to Colorado Springs to avoid outside distractions. Although initially planned for a summer release, Waking Up wasn't completed until September 2009. 'All the Right Moves,' the album's lead single, was released to radio that same month, while the entire album followed in November."

About the song, we can find on SongFacts.com that "OneRepublic frontman and principal songwriter Ryan Tedder has penned a number of smash hits both for his band ('Apologize') and for other artists 'Bleeding Love'). In an interview with NPR about the art of songwriting, he discussed writing hooks and explained it didn't necessarily have to be the chorus like in the case of this song. Said Tedder: 'The hook can be the track itself. Like in Coldplay, 'Clocks' the hook was [hums the opening piano riff] — that was the hook. In [Black Eyed Peas'] 'Boom Boom Pow,' there is no hook. It is just one section after another of really catchy, infectious club music without any one section overriding the next.

"In the upcoming single, 'Good Life,' the real hook is the post hook — it's what comes after it. We have this REALLY super simple whistle. I hadn't heard a whistle in a song in forever and that's all I kept hearing on the song so I just whistled this melody into the mic and it really is the hook — it's the catchiest part of the song."


Woke up in London yesterday
Found myself in the city near Piccadilly
Don't really know how I got here
I got some pictures on my phone

New names and numbers that I don't know
Address to places like Abbey Road
Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want
We're young enough to say

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life

To my friends in New York, I say hello
My friends in L.A. they don't know
Where I've been for the past few years or so
Paris to China to Col-or-ado

Sometimes there's airplanes I can' t jump out
Sometimes there's bullshit that don't work now
We are god of stories but please tell me-e-e-e
What there is to complain about

When you're happy like a fool
Let it take you over
When everything is out
You gotta take it in

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life

Hopelessly
I feel like there might be something that I'll miss
Hopelessly
I feel like the window closes oh so quick
Hopelessly
I'm taking a mental picture of you now
'Cos hopelessly
The hope is we have so much to feel good about.

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life




Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Working On a Dream; Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen said, "Towards the end of recording 'Magic,' excited by the return to pop production sounds, I continued writing. When my friend producer Brendan O'Brien heard the new songs, he said, 'Let's keep going.' Over the course of the next year, that's just what we did, recording with the E Street Band during the breaks on last year's tour. I hope Working on a Dream has caught the energy of the band fresh off the road from some of the most exciting shows we've ever done. All the songs were written quickly, we usually used one of our first few takes, and we all had a blast making this one from beginning to end."


According to SongFacts.com, "Springsteen initially debuted this song in acoustic form, while he was on the road supporting Barack Obama during the presidential elections. The studio version was premiered during halftime on the NBC broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys/Washington Redskins football game."

The song's Wikipedia article also states that "the song's sunny lyric develops what Rolling Stone called "a rare and timely moment of unabashed optimism" for Springsteen, possibly connected to the impending arrival of the Barack Obama administration."

The whistling is done by Bruce himself. As he says in the video below (on which he dedicated the song to then senator Barack Obama), that's "professional whistling"! LOL. He appears singing with his wife, Patti Scialfa.



Out here the nights are long, the days are lonely
I think of you and i'm working on a dream
I'm working on a dream

Now the cards i've drawn's a rough hand, darling
I straighten the back and i'm working on a dream
I'm working on a dream

Come on!

I'm working on a dream
Though sometimes it feels so far away
I'm working on a dream
And i know it will be mine someday

Rain pourin' down, i swing my hammer
My hands are rough from working on a dream
I'm working on a dream

Let's go!

I'm working on a dream
Though trouble can feel like it's here to stay
I'm working on a dream
Well our love will chase trouble away

Alright!

That's professional whistling right there!

I'm working on a dream
Though it can feel so far away
I'm working on a dream
Our love will make it real someday

The sun rise up, i climb the ladder
The new day breaks and i'm working on a dream
I'm working on a dream
I'm working on a dream
I'm working on a dream

Hey!

I'm working on a dream
Though it can feel so far away
I'm working on a dream
Our love will make it real someday
I'm working on a dream
Though it can feel so far away
I'm working on a dream
And our love will make it real someday