My favorite of all his hits, smitten the first time I ever heard it. I learned the lyrics in Portuguese so I could sing it for a band, long ago.


RIP, Sergio, you brought me an education in South American modern music.

... of course most or all of those variety shows did lip-synchs.

The first was a full live performance which is exemplified by The Lawrence Welk Show. There was an orchestra and live singers performing music in it's completeness. There were other examples such as the NBC Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini from the early days of radio and others. This tended to get expensive for TV producers and they searched for other techniques.

The second idea probably happened in this video which was lip-syncing as another poster pointed out. This was very common in the '60s and '70s into the early '80s. It's usually easy to spot because the singers won't have microphones (although sometimes there can be boom mics that are out of the camera's angle) or the electric instruments aren't plugged in, particularly synthesizers and sometimes guitars. Episodes of TV shows like The Partridge Family and Getting Together used lip-syncing mostly of other artists' voices!

The third trick is called a TV track where the vocal track of the master recording is muted (removed) from the recording and the singer actually sings the part to the recorded tracks, kind of like karaoke. It's easy to spot this, too, because you might hear back-up voices or violins when there aren't any singers or strings on stage.

Today, these deceptive practices have mostly fallen away except on truly low-budget efforts. I think MTV's Unplugged series and Saturday Night Live's musical guests helped kill these old-fashioned techniques.

One important caveat: The Beatles performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show.

ETA: Of course, many late night shows have always had live music. The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and others never cut corners to showcase music.

The singing and the playing are exceptional.And the song is great!

What impresses me is the instrumental arrangement. Considering that the group is a trio of piano, bass and drums with singers, this song sounds like so much more. Mendes' piano part is masterful and (for it's time) groovy. The drummer is remarkable in that he finds many different colors in his cymbals and the kit playing is tight and solid. The bass player has a terrific part, too. It always knocks me out when the finger snaps come in! It's a great percussion sound, adds to the rhythm section and identifies that part of the song clearly.

My folks had Brazil '66's first album and I became a life-long fan. Today, I have most of Mendes' recordings.

Interesting facts: Herb Alpert signed Brazil '66 to his label when he was just building his empire. Mendes hired an American singer named Lani Hall to "Americanize" his band and she learned the Portuguese lyrics by rote. She would later marry Herb Alpert and they have been together ever since. Ms. Hall has also recorded several solo albums and I recommend her release, "Sundown Lady." She's also featured in the title song sequence of the James Bond movie, "Never Say Never Again." (In my opinion, it's not a very good song and Ms. Hall's talents aren't highlighted very well.)

Here's one of my favorites from that first album. It's a song by the great composer, Henry Mancini called "Slow Hot Wind."

Botany, loved this song!!!!

These songs take me back to my childhood.

I have a couple albums.

He and his group were the perfect "modern" follow-on to the Gilbertos Bossa Nova (Joao, wife, although their daughter released her own music), giving it a more upbeat tempo.

This is classic with Eartha Kitt's intro to a fave from Brasil '66 -

Pass peacefully with bossa nova forever playing.

Rest in peace.

We were just old enough to appreciate instrumentals on the rock and roll stations.

Never tire of it. I loved the song in 1966 and still do.

his music, RIP Sergio, your music will live on.

Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, grew up listening to them.

Your music will live forever.

Last edited Sun Sep 8, 2024, 01:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Thanks for,the memories