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Originally Posted by evollove

The only one I'm familiar with is their eponymous debut.

"Panis et Circenses" is one of my favorite songs by anyone. The song breaks down so they can enjoy a cup of tea. What's not to like?

I don't understand a single lyric, but the album makes me smile.

funny story, that’s not their song, they just played it in the tropicália album. caetano veloso and gilberto gil wrote it.

but of course the way they play it is fucking mental. very beatlesque for sure, and by that i mean, full of baroque harmonies and trumpets, lol.

the lyrics are a sort of surrealist thing about how this person wants these fantastics thing but the people in the dining room are just worried with being born and dying. which was a dig at the brazilian bourgeoisie of their time, living under a military dictatorship.

by hilarious i didn’t mean just the lyrics though, but there are plenty of musical jokes. i mean you can hear it as “avant garde serious business” or you can hear it as a bunch of kids on lsd having a good time. i mean from the ridiculous opening march tune in panis et circenses it’s like the monty python credits.

their musical juxtapositions aren’t just good-sounding, they’re also mocking all manner of musical fundamentalists and intolerant ideologists of their time. for maximum lols i like “el justiciero”. ha ha ha ha. which is a parody of leftist interpretations of popular suffering, cast in a musical mish-mash. kinda like “el zorro”. but yeah, the lyrics are important in that one.

but from their first album, not to be a contrarian (eh, who am i kidding, im a fucking contrarian), i enjoy bat-macumba the most— that’s also a gilberto gil song and the lyrics are a joke/pun with african religions and severian’s favorite superhero batman. not the modern serious heavy as fuck batman but the colorful campy one from the 60s which was probably seen in black and white in the souths.

 

but yeah. it’s all in joyous good fun. plus that scratchy guitar like some sort of electic boogaloo (the 60s music not the 80s movie). check out the 2 songwriters i mentioned if you’re curious. veloso & gil.

the genius of os mutantes i guess was to play other people’s songs while under the influence and tear them to ribbons while keeping the melodic core intact. which is great. (see also: “baby” in that record)