Pretty World

[Aqua do Brasil]

Dear Forum Members,

The song Pretty World from 1969 currently a steady item at Sergio´s concerts was composed by Brazils musician par excellence maestro Antonio Adolfo Sabayo.

See a photograph of Antonio Adolfo Sabayo, his daughter Carolina Sabayo, a great singer in her own right and Guinga on the website of Guinga:

www.guinga.br

Carlos Althier de Souza Lemos Escobar better known as Guinga, a great Brazilian composer and a favourite of Sergio Mendes himself with two outstanding songs, Esconjuros and Chorado on Sergio`s Grammy Award Winning album Brasileiro and Carolina Sabayo who sung background vocals on Lua soberana and Kalimba on the same album together on a picture with Antonio Adolfo the composer of PRETTY WORLD.

I wish to share this information with all of you,
All the best,
Aqua do Brasil

 

[TulitaPepsi]

Thank you for this:

Here's a "Pretty World" question. I've seen the Portugese title "Samarina" listed in parentheses beside the English title in my copy of CRYSTAL ILLUSIONS.

What Portugese versions are there (did Sergio, Lani & Karen record a Portugese version that was never released?) and most importantly, what does the song translate as?

Thanks!

 

[Mr Bill]

And all this time I thought it was written by the Bergmans!

--Mr Bill

 

[JMK]

Well the Bergmans wrote the most excellent "Flower Power" English lyric, one of my favorites in the Sergio canon. There are TONS of recordings in Portuguese, notably by, among many others, the Tamba Trio and Quarteto em Cy.

 

[Brasil_Nut]

Here's a "Pretty World" question...(did Sergio, Lani & Karen record a Portugese version that was never released?)

Always wondered the same thing myself!! I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe they recorded a Portuguese and English version and went with the latter? Hard to say, but it would be interesting to hear it in Portuguese all the same!!

Jon

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I think the Grandes Nomes box set has the title in English follwed by the title in Portuguese in parentheses. So I thought, "hey, it's a Portuguese recording!" But of course was wrong. But I wondered the same thing.

 

[JMK]

Not to state the obvious (well, OK, maybe to state the obvious ), that's because the original Portuguese title was Sa Marina (it's actually two words, and it should have an accent above the "a" in Sa).

 

[TulitaPepsi]

I'd love to know what "Sa Marina" means. For all we know it could be a bouncy Tropicala anthem of how pretty the world would be once the revolution overthrows the dictators and brings about a flowering of racial equality and free love (kind of like "Viola") !

 

[Dave]

I thought Alan & Marilyn Bergman wrote "Pretty World", myself... It still gets radio-play on a certain radio-station I often listen to, and probably off of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66, Greatest Hits, at that...! One of my colleagues at where I used to work at, said that it was her favorite song and that she only owned ...Greatest Hits, so naturally I told her she's missing out on a LOT, as she didn't have any ORIGINAL albums...!

Funny how the rest of Crystal Illusions was a bit of a "Flower Power" album for Mendes, or at least like that cover, there were quite a bit of Psychedelic-trappings, instead of the usual "Tropicalia" offerings they were known for, but at least with that Chart-Climbin' Pop Song... And that Ye-Me-Le was an "easy extension" that this "motif" segued into...


Dave

PARADISE​

Population: 2​

​

 

[Mr Bill]

I finally pulled out my copy and the tune is cedited to "A. Adolfo/A. Bergman/M. Bergman/T. Gaspar." This great tune is definitely in my top 10 of the B66 catalog!

--Mr Bill

 

[Captaindave]

I have always really liked Pretty World. One of my favorites from Brasil 66.

I am sorry to offend anyone here, but I do not care at all for the version that you find on Warm. When I first picked up the Warm album and saw that Pretty World was included, I was really excited to hear what the TJB would do with it.

I was disappointed with what I heard on that album.

 

[JMK]

As stated above, the Bergmans are credited on this version because they wrote the English lyric, exactly as they did for "Like a Lover" (which, interestingly, is about lost love in its original Portuguese version). It's just like Gene Lees and/or Jon Hendricks getting co-writer credit on the Jobim tunes they provided the English lyric for, even though Jobim wrote the "whole" song himself. In licensing terms, they have to get what is called a co-publishing deal that accounts for the original version and the "new" English version.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

so 'T. Gaspar' is most likely the original Brazilian lyricist, Antonio Adolfo the composer, and the Bergmans the writer of the English lyric (which came after the original Portuguese)...

I've heard guitarist Earl Klugh's cover version from a few years back - who else (besides the acts previously mentioned) has covered the tune?

AND while we're on the subject of covers, anyone heard Dinae SSchuur's cover of "Look Around" that just came out? (It doesn't thrill me, to be honest.....)

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

by 'Dinae SSchuur', I meant Diane Schuur.

 

[cz602]

I have always wondered what role Tiberio Gaspar had in the composition of Sa Marina. Aquo do Brasil, do you know? I have always considered "Pretty World" and "Sa Marina" to be different songs that share the same melody, although I like them both. Sa Marina has been recorded by a number of Brazilian artitsts. I have heard two versions: Wilson Simonal's and Ivete Sangalo's. Ivete's version is definitely the more energetic of the two.

 

[TulitaPepsi]

Aha, cz602! Then "Pretty World" and "Sa Marina" do have different lyrics, then?

I would love to know what the direct translation of "Sa Marina" is. Somehow, I don't think it is QUITE the peppy-"Love American Style"- Flower Power anthem of the Bergmans.

 

[Brasil6699]

Here are the lyrics in portuguese:

Descendo a rua da ladeira
Só quem viu que pode contar
Cheirando a flor de laranjeira
Sá Marina vem pra cantar
De saia branca costumeira
Gira o sol que parou pra olhar
Com seu jeitinho tão faceira
Fez o povo inteiro cantar

Roda pela vida afora
E põe pra fora, essa alegria
Dança que amanhece o dia pra se cantar
Dança que essa gente aflita
Se agita e segue, no seu passo
Mostra toda essa poesia no olhar

Descendo a rua da ladeira
Só quem viu que pode contar
Cheirando a flor de laranjeira
Sá Marina vem pra cantar
De saia branca costumeira
Gira o sol que parou pra olhar
Com seu jeitinho tão faceira
Fez o povo inteiro cantar

E fez o povo inteiro cantar
E fez o povo inteiro cantar
E fez o povo inteiro cantar

Roda pela vida afora
E põe pra fora, essa alegria
Dança que amanhece o dia pra se cantar
Dança que essa gente aflita
Se agita e segue, no seu passo
Mostra toda essa poesia no olhar

Deixando os versos na partida
E só cantigas pra se cantar
Naquela tarde de domingo
Fez o povo inteiro cantar

E fez o povo inteiro cantar
E fez o povo inteiro cantar
E fez o povo inteiro cantar

 

[Steve Sidoruk]

According to ASCAP, Joe Cocker and Stevie Wonder also recorded it.

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

According to ASCAP, Joe Cocker and Stevie Wonder also recorded it.

Stevie Wonder????? When and where?

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

Well, Google just answered my own question.

Stevie Wonder Live
Released: 1970
Billboard peak: # 81
Live Tracks: "Pretty World" - "Sunny" - "Love Theme From 'Romeo & Juliet' (A Time For Us)" - "Everybody's Talking" - "My Cherie Amour" - "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" - "I've Gotta Be Me / Once In A Lifetime" - "Place In The Sun" - "Down To Earth" - "Blowin' In The Wind" - "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" - "Ca' Purange" - "Alfie" - "For Once In My Life / Thank You Love

Who knew? But it makes perfect sense - Stevie has always been a huge Sergio fan.

JTCW

 

[TulitaPepsi]

I did a translation in Babelfish and here's what came up/

The basic message is the same!

I descend the street of the slope Alone who saw that it can count Smelling the flower of laranjeira Sá Marina comes pra to sing Of Funny usual white skirt the sun that stopped pra looking at With its jeitinho so faceira Fez the entire people to sing Wheel for the life measures and puts pra is, this joy Dance that amanhece the day pra if to sing Dance that this aflita people If agitate and follow, in its step Sample all this poetry in the look I descend the street of the slope Alone who saw that it can count Smelling the flower of laranjeira Sá Marina comes pra to sing Of Funny usual white skirt the sun that stopped pra looking at With its jeitinho so faceira Fez the entire people to sing E made the entire people to sing and made the entire people to sing and made the entire people to sing Wheel for the life measures and puts pra is, this joy Dance that amanhece the day pra if to sing Dance that this aflita people If agitate and follow, in its step Sample all this poetry in the look Leaving verses in the departure and alone cantigas pra if to sing In that afternoon of sunday Made the entire people to sing E made the entire people to sing and made the entire people to sing and made the entire people to sing

 

[Dave]

...According to ASCAP, Joe Cocker and Stevie Wonder also recorded it...

...Stevie Wonder...?? When and where?...

Well, I'd sure like to know where and when Joe Cocker did it!


Dave

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

And I just discovered that Stevie and Diahann Carroll did it as a duet on "Hollywood Palladium" in late 1969. So there.

 

[Cortnee]

Well, Google just answered my own question.

Who knew? But it makes perfect sense - Stevie has always been a huge Sergio fan.

JTCW

Yes, very true and vice versa......Sergio is a huge Stevie fan as well. Sergio and Stevie have inspired each other on certain songs over the years. I would love to see them collaborate again!

 

[JMK]

Here finally is a decent translation, with a little help from Dani Thompson of Brazzil magazine. There were a couple of words that I didn't know and I didn't want to post before now:


Sá Marina
(Antonio Adolfo/Tibério Gaspar, 1968)


Descending the street of the hill
Only those who have seen [her] can tell
Scented with orange blossoms
Sá Marina goes to sing
In her customary white skirt
She make the sun, which has stopped to look, turn around
With her elegant manner
She makes all the people sing
She goes through life
And spreads this gaiety
She dances, since the day dawns for dancing
She turns, so that afflicted people
Liven up and follow in her steps
She shows all this poetry
Leaving verse as she goes away
And only songs to be sung
That Sunday evening
She made all the people cry.

Sa Marina is a girl's name, in case it's not clear. And the Portuguese lyric actually changes in the last chorus--"cantar" (sing) becomes "chorar" (cry).