The Manhattan Transfer
" Brasil "

Purchase the CD here


Tracks:
1. Soul Food To Go (5:08)
2. The Zoo Blues (3:55)
3. So You Say (4:47)
4. Capim (4:58)
5. Metropolis (4:15)
6. Hear The Voices (4:06)
7. Agua (5:08)
8. The Jungle Pioneer (3:30)
9. Notes From The Underground (5:45)

BRASIL was The Manhattan Transfer's approach to Brazilian music. During the sessions, they worked with some of today's most gifted songwriters, including Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, Djavan, and Atlantic Jazz recording artist Gilberto Gil. The songs were re-arranged and then re-fitted with English lyrics. The album won the Grammy for Best Pop Peformance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The song "Soul Food To Go" hit #25 on Billboard's Top Adult Contemporary chart.
L Y R I C S

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SOUL FOOD TO GO (SINA)
Music by Djavan
Lyrics by Doug Figer

My, my
Oh the feelin'
Of the sound
Precious and real and
Ooo that's nice
Whip up some steamin' jazz
The pot is on the stove
It's cookin'

Want some more
We always save some
Art nouveau
For special patrons
You look nice
Do you believe in jazz

Kansas City to Brazil
It even gets you hot in your home
Kansas City to Brazil
I say blow your top
Blow your own

Ooo ooo ah
This be-bop's too much
I know you know
Hip hop
Never stop
I'll pour you tasty funk
We got
Cool and hot
Just for you
The pleasures of the soul
Come on
Come in
And check it out
Ooo c'est si bon
Ooo ooo ah
This be-bop's too much
I know you know
Hip hop
Never stop
I'll pour you tasty funk
We got
Cool and hot
Just for you
The pleasures of the soul
Come on
Come in
And check it out
Soul food to go

Yeah, yeah yeah...

(Repeat all)





THE ZOO BLUES (ASA)
Music by Djavan
Lyrics by Doug Figer

I'll turn you on
I'll turn you on
To turn you on with
To turn you on quick

Tell me, what, what's the trip
To turn you on quick
Tell me, what, what's the trip
To turn you on with
Tell me, what, what's the trip
To turn you on quick

I'm a rational fella
But I think I've gone nuts
Just wanna be, wanna be
Left alone and unwound
Now the video sellers
With their ifs ands or buts
They follow me, how do we
Turn this travesty down?

It's as fast as a rocket ship
Strange as a zoo
See the common man dare
(Dare for the man) If you care to
Come on down to your local store now
Can't you hear the voices
Buy one, buy two
More fun for you
A hundred and one choices

Kooky abstract dada
Like they sell at alpha beta
I wish I had a set of
Orangutan babies
A barkin' the blues
The quack quack wa-wa
Of the latter salad days are
Media, media
There's some that say TV
Invented the blues

Kooky abstract dada
Like they sell at alpha beta
I wish I had a set of
Orangutan babies
A barkin' the blues

It's political power
And the jungle book rules
They wanna be, gotta be
Messin' round with my calm
In the critical hour
It's the junk or the jewels
They're fakin' it, makin' it
Seem so utterly cool

It's as fast as a rocket ship
Strange as a zoo
See the common man dare
If you care to (dare for the man if you care to)
Come on down to your local store now
Can't you hear the voices
Buy one, buy two
More fun for you
A hundred and one choices just for you

Kooky abstract dada
Like they sell at alpha beta
I wish I had a set of
Orangutan babies
A barkin' the blues
The quack quack wa-wa
Of the latter salad days are
Media, media
There's some that say TV
Invented the blues

(Repeat over and over)





SO YOU SAY (ESQUINAS)
Music by Djavan
Lyrics by Amanda McBroom

So you say
It's a feeling I'll get over someday
So you say
So you say
I should try
Just to let the flame inside me die
I should try
So you say
Against the wind
With my face turned to the empty side
Of loneliness
Midnight black and blue

So you say
That the world will keep on turning
So you say
So you say
Tell me why
All the stars have lost their mystery now
Tell me why
Tell me how
Where love has been
The taste of wine
Seems to linger on like distant perfume
And all of the memories
Carelessly left behind
Ghosts and lies
They haunt me wherever I go

So you say
That the pain of love will pass away
So you say
So you say

(Sax solo)

Before goodbye
I look for the fire behind your eyes
But they're cold as ice
I hear in your voice
The echo of love that's gone by
Now I cry
I'll love you for all of my life

So you say
It's a feeling I'll get over someday
So you say
So you say





CAPIM (CAPIM)
Music & Lyrics by Djavan

Capim do vale
Vara de goiabeira
Na beira do rio
Paro para me benzer
Mae d'agua sai um pouquinho
Desse seu leito-ninho
Que eu tenho um carinho
Par lhe fazer
Pinheiros do parana
Que bom te-los
Como areia no mar
Mangas do para
Pitombeiras da borborema
A ema gemeu
No tronco do jurema
Cacique perdeu
Mas lutou que eu vi
Jari nao e deus
Mas acham que sim
Que fim levou o amor
Plantel um pe de fulo
Deu capim

(Repeat)





METROPOLIS (ARLEQUIM DECONHECIDO)
Music by Ivan Lins & Vitor Martins
Lyrics by Brock Walsh

Once there was light
Perfectly white
Far as the eye could wander
Once there was time
Morning and night
Once there was sky -- over yonder

The day begins
Metropolis lies sleeping like a drunken soldier
Behind the wheel you come alive
And down into its heart you motor
Atop the rise - Metropolis
Defender of the high and mighty
At every turn the homeless wait
Reminding you of all that might be

Hurry now, there is somebody there to meet you
Office girls sweet and innocent poised to greet you
Through the glass fifty stories below you
There's a place I've been meaning to show you
Full of sights that are certain to blow you away

Beneath the haze
Metropolis awakens with a hiss and rumble
You'll hear a knock, don't hesitate
They mustn't ever see you stumble
You'll never last down on the street
Where staying on your toes ain't ballet
It's getting by or getting beat
From curtain to the grand finale

In the air there is music and sounds of laughter
For the moment it's happily ever after
Through the glass fifty stories below you
In the shadows where nobody knows you
There's a stranger who's dying to show you the way

Now entering Metropolis
Creation of a world gone crazy
The alleyway - the resting place
Still echo from the souls trapped under
You lock the doors, step on the gas
And push until it goes no faster
You close your eyes and leave behind
Metropolis lord and master





HEAR THE VOICES (BAHIA DE TODAS AS CONTAS)
Music by Gilberto Gil
Lyrics by Tracy Mann

Come join the circle and witness the magic
Hear the voices
Believe and imagine
Hear the voices

Come join the circle and feel the unspoken
Hear the voices
A spirit unbroken
Hear the voices

Just a simple storyteller
Troubadour on call whenever
The gods moved his heart to speech
He was something of a hero
To the conscience of the people
To the children on the beach
Son of Africa and legend
Music made of pain and pleasure
Brought the nation to its feet
Every whisper sounds like thunder
Everybody stares in wonder
When the saints begin to speak
He sings and then they speak

Come join the circle and witness the magic
Hear the voices
Believe and imagine
Hear the voices

Come join the circle and feel the unspoken
Hear the voices
A spirit unbroken
Hear the voices

He was sentenced into exile
Far away from home but meanwhile
Popularity increased
Radio reversed his fortune
He was welcomed with emotion
A voice no one could defeat
Now they crank up the Victrola
In the corner bars and oh, my,
How the ladies start to weep
Every word describes their hunger
Everybody stares in wonder
When the saints begin to speak
He sings and then they speak





AGUA (AGUA)
Music by Djavan
Lyrics by Brock Walsh

Here beneath the moon tonight
So pale and fragile
Is that shining in the distance I see
Real or just imagined?
Imagined mirages of agua

Somewhere in these sands that spread before me
There lies a silent spring for me
Que agua

The earth without the heavens' rain
Becomes powder and gravel
Life without a spirit whole
In time becomes a thread unraveled
Or traveled in the circles of agua

And lately there grows a thirst inside me
With only hunger to guide me
Que agua

Agua ever deep
Agua ever wide
Agua ever still and silent

Flowing into sleep finding what we hide
Dreaming what cannot be sighted

Agua ever warm
Current ever strong
Agua ever, ever lasting

Gathering in storm
Pouring out in song
Washing over understanding

Agua
Agua deep
Agua so wide
Carry me to your shore
Carry me agua

Agua
Agua deep
Agua so wide
Carry me to your shore
Carry me agua

(Repeat)





THE JUNGLE PIONEER (Viola Violar)
Music by Milton Nascimento & Marcio Borges
Lyrics by Brock Walsh

Here where we stand there used to be a forest
A timber rising endlessly before us
We cleared away that God forsaken jungle
And in return the Indians adore us

What was mud now is a highway
Reaching wide into a prairie
Horses run -- cattle are grazing
You would swear it was Oklahoma

Day by day dark is illuminated
God's mistake altered and uncreated
Wrong's made right left to the jungle pioneer

See in the field my little son and daughter
Not long ago that ground was underwater
Now you can see them walking with the cattle
Singing them songs before they go to slaughter

There are those who would appose us
Crying out, "God save the planet"
Bleeding hearts can't turn assunder
This the eighth and final wonder

Day by day this land is liberated
God's mistake altered and uncreated
Wrong's made right left to the jungle pioneer

Saddle up giddy up and ride on out of here
We got a mile of burning to do today
Get along now gonna need you out of here
We got a pile of earning to do today

Down in Brazil there used to be a forest
Now in it's place a crazy wind is whistling
As every tree was falling in the forest
It made a sound but nobody was listening

When the last is buried under
What has been will be no longer
No matter what man may endeavor
Eden's gate closes forever

Day by day life is eliminated
God's own work altered and eliminated
Through it all there stands the jungle pioneer





NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND (ANTES QUE SEJA TARDE)
Music by Ivan Lins & Vitor Martins
Lyrics by Brock Walsh

Beneath the marbled halls of Pretoria
There's the faintest sound rising from the underground
Behind the prison walls poets fantasize
Voices lost are found captive in the underground
The dream is still alive, immune to their commands
Bravery abounds steadfast in the underground
Until the day arrives, children understand
Father's safe and sound living in the underground

Look to the days ahead
Gather your prayers like roses
Think of the life that waits after the battle's over
Look to the land beyond you
Out where the fields are golden
There will be gifts untold, yes after the battle's over
If I should not return, know that you are my pleasure
Shelter yourselves, my treasures, until the battle's over

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands
We are pound for pound stronger in the underground
The longer we survive the less they can withstand
Time will turn around over to the underground

10 miles from Soweto under a thorn tree's branches
Shanty will be no longer after the battle's over
Somewhere a breeze is drifting over a blue-green ocean
There will be time for beauty after the battle's over
Children, I must be going - cherish your mother's memory
Now turn these words to ashes antes que seja tarde

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands
Time will turn around over to the underground
The longer we survive the less they can withstand
Time will turn around over to the underground

Beneath the marbled halls where the power lies
There's the faintest sound rising from the underground
Behind the prison walls poets fantasize
Voices lost are found captive in the underground

The dream is still alive, immune to their commands
Bravery abounds steadfast in the underground
Until the day arrives, children understand
Father's safe and sound living in the underground



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