From songs inspired by the Xingu tribe and Chico Mendes, to a grasshopper attack at a concert in Goiânia and the rumor that the Beatles recorded “Asa Branca” in 1968, the passages become iconic
the stories of Paul McCartney with Brazil did not start in the fresh years of 2010, when the beatles (ex-beatles do not exist, as he says: once a beatle, always a beatle) began a series of generous explorations not only towards capitals such as São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte, but also in less traveled regions, such as Cariacica, in Espírito Santo, and Goiânia, Goiás.
If we go back to the 60s, and Paul himself pointed this out in an interview with Period magazinein 2012, the Beatles knew bossa nova and he himself, Paul, was inspired by its lightness and atmosphere, but not exactly by its harmonic structures, to compose The Fool on the Hillreleased in 1967. Listen to the song again thinking about bossa nova, there is at least one attempt there.
Shortly before, in 1966, the Brazilian team was concentrated around London for the World Cup in England when – attention: this is where the memories of a boy who was in the team come from, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, reported in an interview with Stadium – four guys have arrived in disguise to meet him. But an unsuspecting Selection security guard found it all very strange and ordered the furry boys to collect the coconuts.
Two years later, when the Beatles were preparing the sad and dystopian white album, with the band already in the process of disbanding, it was Brazil that reached them through the voice of Luiz Gonzaga. Carlos Imperial, a producer full of gimmicks, said the quartet’s next album would bring a version of White wing call Black bird. Gonzagão believed it and even gave an interview on the matter: “English guys have a lot of feeling and they don’t spoil the music. Their melody is very similar to things from the northeast.”
Until the Stadium he fell for it and Imperial gave another cue that no one took. Just like no bossa nova sounded The Fool on the Hill with a stool and a guitar, no one even thought to join Black bird THE White wing. He listens to both songs and notices the curious similarity of the melodies. The Beatles played the baião and didn’t even know it.
With Paul’s more regular arrivals, of course, the stories have increased. In 2013, during a visit to Goiânia with the tour Out therein which the Stadium was about to cover it, a family of grasshoppers, or hopes, an insect relative, started to dance (alright, fly, to the less poetic hearts) next to the beatle as it played Hi Judas.
Paul called the boldest of them Harold and, chanting the line “the movement you need is on your shoulder,” he ad-libbed and said “now, it sure is,” grinning at Harold. The man who once played in the Colosseum in Romein Moscow’s Red Square, Buckingham Palace, the White House and the California desert he was accompanied only once by locusts, in Goiânia, Brazil.
Upon his return to his homeland he will certainly dedicate himself once again to learning not only the phrases that everyone says, such as “thank you” and “good night”, but the regionalisms that amaze entire stadiums. When he passed by Fortaleza, in 2014, he said: “Let’s put a doll!”, something like making a mess, having a tantrum, and “hey, bad!”, short for something that is already a local slang, hey, macho He also said the band “needed to leak”. In Belo Horizonte that same year, he sent a “uai”, in São Paulo he said one or two “it’s on” and he defined the show itself by saying: “It’s pumping, what a ballad!”
To those who want to try and find Paul around the city, the day before or after his performance, look for him in the parks. In 2010 and 2019 he cycled in Parque do Povo, Itaim Bibi, São Paulo, together with his wife Nancy Shevell. And it did the same in at least one other city, Brasilia.
See other points of connection between the eternal beatle and Brazil:
Inspired by a Brazilian tribe
McCartney’s 1970 album contains the song Kreen Akrore inspired by a documentary called The Tribe That Hides From Man, seen by Paul on TV, in 1969. It was there that the beatle discovered the work of Brazilian Indianists Orlando and Cláudio Villas-Bôas, who chronicled the life of the isolated Kreen-Akrore Indians in the Xingu, between the states of Pará and Mato Grosso. …
Tribute to Chico Mendes
Upon learning of the 1989 murder of rubber collector and environmental activist Chico Mendes, who was violently killed in the interior of Acre, Paul wrote the song How many peoplereleased on disc Flowers in the dirt. She also sang the song in Brazil in the 1990s.
First show in Brazil and record
His first performance in Brazil was at the Maracanã, in 1990, to promote the album Flowers in the dirt. The presentation on April 21, a holiday in Tiradentes, broke the record for the largest audience for a concert by a solo artist: 184,000 people. Revenue: $3.5 million.
Finally, a song for “Brazil”
It’s not one of Paul’s best songs, but at least it’s something. After so many comings, he composed Back to Brazilreleased on the album egypt station, from 2018, which tells the story of a fan who takes place before a concert of the singer in Salvador, Bahia. There is also a clip.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
