1970 'Let it be'

Ever since 1968 with the sharp increase of Anglo-American music exposed to the Brazilian public through air-play by radio-stations in Sao Paulo and Rio there was a new problem:

As Brazilians don't understand English, people would listen to their favourite tunes on the radio but couldn't catch the songs' titles so they couldn't possibly go out and buy the single at a record shop. In Argentina radio DJs usually translate Anglo-American song-titles into Spanish but that practice has never been done in Brazil.

As if knowing how to solve this problem, TV Tupi came up with a solution. As soap-operas aka tele-novelas had become increasingly popular since 1964 when TV Excelsior's 'A moça que veio de longe' (The girl that came from afar') broke all TV rating records, TV Tupi had 2 or 3 dramas going on at different time-slots. As they knew lots of teenagers watched these popular dramas along with their mothers (and sometimes fathers too) they started inserting some of those Anglo-American hits as incidental music to the plots.

'Beto Rockeffer' (shown nightly from December 1968 through to November 1969) was the first novela that borrowed heavily from Top 40 hit parades to while-away their plots - having taken nothing less than 3 songs to the top of the charts: Bee Gees' 'I started a joke', Adamo's 'F... comme femme' and Erasmo Carlos's 'Sentado à beira do caminho'.

Some songs were identified with certain characters in the drama and fans ended up identifying those tunes by the novela character's name. Lou Christie's 'I'm gonna get married', covered by Brazilian band Sunday, was played ad-nauseam every time Titina (a character played by actress Bete Mendes) showed up on 'Super plá' - which ran from 1st December 1969 to 16 May 1970 nightly on TV Tupi. Som/Maior released 'I'm gonna get married' sub-titled 'Titina's Theme'. Now fans knew what song they were looking for... and 'I'm gonna get married' went to #1 straight away and becamed the best-selling extended-play in the country for 1970.

Som/Maior's 'Super Plá vol. 2' featuring 'I'm gonna get married' with Sunday was the best selling extended-play in the Nation in 1970. 

1. Venus - Shocking Blue (Polydor) 

2. Yellow River - Christie (Pye-CBS)
3. Everybody’s talking (from 'Midnight cowboy') - Nilsson (RCA)
4. Marie Jolie - Aphrodite’s Child (Mercury)
5. Raindrops keep falling on my head - B.J.Thomas (Scepter-Top-Tape)

6. Let it be - The Beatles (Apple-Odeon)
7. I'm gonna get married - Sunday (Som/Maior) (TV Tupi's 'Super plá')
8. Airport Love Theme - Vince Bell (MCA-Continental)
9. Reflections of my life - The Marmalade (Odeon)
10. Mi viejo - Piero (CBS)

11. Cherry Red - The Bee Gees (Polydor) 

12. My pledge of love - Joe Jeffrey Group (Wand-Top-Tape)
13. Instant Karma (We all shine on) - John Lennon (Apple-Odeon)
14. I’ll be there - Jackson Five (Tamla-Ebrau)
15. Hold me - The Baskerville Hounds (Avco-Embassy-Continental)

16. Come together - The Beatles (Apple-Odeon)
17. Superstar - Murray Hed & The Singers (MCA-Decca-Chantecler)
18. Ti voglio tanto bene - Rossano (Philips)
19. He ain’t heavy... he’s my brother – The Hollies (Odeon)
20. Daydream - Wallace Collection (Odeon)

21. Domingo en Buenos Aires - Abracadabra (Continental)

22. Cha-la-la (I need you) - The Shuffles (Epic)
23. A song of joy - Miguel de Los Rios (Hispavox)
24. Maria Isabel - Los Payos (HispaVox-Continental)

25. ABC - Jackson Five (Tamla-Ebrau)

26. Who’ll stop the rain - Credence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)

27. Candida - Dawn (Odeon)

28. In the summertime - Mungo Jerry (Pye-Musidisc)
29. American woman - Guess Who (RCA)
30. Noi ci amiamo - Noi, Giovani (RGE)

31. Never marry a railroad man - The Shocking Blue (Polydor)
32. Bridge over troubled water - Simon & Garfunkel (CBS)
33. Rainbow - The Marmalade (Odeon)
34. The end - Earl Grant (Decca-Chantecler)

35. Don’t forget to remember - The Bee Gees (Polydor)

36. The colour of my love - Jefferson (Pye-Musidisc) 

37. When we get married - 1910 Fruitgum Co. (Buddah Records-Philips) (TV Tupi's 'Super plá')

38. Evil ways - Santana (CBS)

39. Take a letter Maria - R. B. Greaves (Atco-Philips) 

40. Pedro Nadie - Piero (CBS)

41. My baby loves loving - The Joe Jeffrey Group (Wand-Top-Tape)
42. Looky looky - Giorgio (Hansa-Fermata)
43. Be my baby - Andy Kim (Dot-Steed-Young)
44. The long and winding road - The Beatles (Apple-Odeon)
45. Neanderthal man - Hotlegs (Philips)

46. El condor pasa - Simon & Garfunkel (CBS)
47. Cecilia - Simon & Garfunkel (CBS)
48. Down on the corner - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)

49. Long as I can see the light - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)
50. Looking out my back door - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)

51. Na na hey hey kiss him goodbye - Steam (Philips)

52. Up around the bend - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)
53. Travelling band - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Liberty-RCA)

54  Where do I go? - Julius la Rosa (RCA)
55. I O I O - The Bee Gees (Polydor)

56. Holly Holy - Neil Diamond (MCA-Chantecler) 

57. The lover - Brian Hyland (Dot-RGE) (TV Tupi's 'A gordinha')
58. Crackling  Rosie - Neil Diamond (MCA-Chantecler)
59. Help yourself - Tom Jones (London)
60. I’ll never fall in love again - Tom Jones (London)

61. Jingle jangle - The Archies (RCA)
62. Every night - Paul McCartney (Odeon)
63. Midnight cowboy - John Barry Orchestra (Copacabana)

64. London, London - Gal Costa (Philips)
65. Cecilia - Sweet Harry (Paramount-Fermata)

66. Come and get it - Badfinger (Apple-Odeon)

67. Spirit in the sky - Norman Greenbaum (Reprise)

68. Ma belle amie - The Tee Set (Polydor)

69. Love grows where my Rosemary goes - Edison Lighthouse (Odeon) 

70. Easy come, easy go - Bobby Sherman (Metromedia Records-Continental)

71. Smile a little smile for me - The Flying Machine (Pye-Musidisc)

72. The wonder of you - Elvis Presley (RCA)

73. Mama told me not to come - Three Dog Nights (Odeon)

74. Don't play that song (You lied) - Aretha Franklin (Philips)

75, Lola - Kinks (Pye-Musidisc)

76. You've lost that lovin' feeling - Dionne Warwick (Scepter-Top-Tape)
77. You know my name - The Beatles (Apple-Odeon)
78. Little green bag - The George Baker Selection (Polydor)
79. Baby, take me in your arms - Jefferson (Pye-Musidisc)
80. The declaration - The 5th Dimension (Odeon)

81. Whispering - The Buttons (RCA)
82. Soolaimon - Neil Diamond (MCA-Continental)
83. Don't shut me out - Bread (Epic) 

'When we get married' was played on TV Tupi's novela 'Super plá' from 1st Dec. 69 to 16 May 1970.

Brian Hyland's 'The lover' played on TV Tupi's novela 'A gordinha' from 18 May to 18 September 1970.

As of mid-1969 Radio Excelsior-Sao Paulo started beaming a programme every Sunday afternoon where they counted down the Cash Box Top 40 list. I made a point of listening to the whole show and take notes of songs positions even though I hardly understood what the DJ spelled out. Here are some of the songs I remember listening on this radio show. 

Pop music had become so important in the 1960s that even Hollywood started paying more close attention to its power. Major films had to have an important song. 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' had 'Raindrops keep fallin' on my head' as its main theme. It won the Academy Award for Best Song of 1969. Dennis Hopper's 'Easy rider' had a whole album of rock tunes as part of its sound-track. 'Midnight cowboy' made 'Everybody's talkin' with Nilsson go to #1 in Brazil. And finally in October Brazilians had the chance to see 'Woodstock' with Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Crosby, Still, Nash & Young, Sly & the Family Stone and all the rock royalty.

Sly & the Family Stone's 'Thank you' (Falettinme be mice elf agin) translated as 'Obrigado' b/w 'Everybody is a star' (Todos são astros) was released by Epic but I don't remember listening to them on the radio. Funk was very difficult for Brazilian ears. Even the more melodic 'Everybody is a star' didn't get much air-play. I guess Sly & the Family Stone was out of reach for Brazilian taste. 

10 January 1970 - 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' made 'Raindrops keep fallin' on my head' sung by B.J.Thomas #1 at the Billboard single charts on 3 January 1970 for 4 weeks. It got Burt Bacharach and Hall David an Academy Award for 1969 best original song.

2 March 1970 - 'Sem destino' (Easy rider) premieres at Cine Rio in Sao Paulo and music columnist Ezequiel Neves writes the review of the sound-track album released by EMI-Odeon:

Se a beat generation da decada de 50 marcou presença como movimento eminentemente literário, a geração hippie deixará para as gerações futuras seu expressivo legado musical. Para a cena de abertura, em que Dennis Hopper e Peter Fonda traficam cocaína, nada melhor que a voz de John Kay, do conjunto Steppenwolf, cantando a espetacular holler-song 'The pusher' (O traficante). Para reforçar a imagem de 2 corpos ensanguentados, à beira de uma estrada, nada poderia ser tão patético quanto a voz de Roger McGuinn, dos Byrds, cantando os versos de Bob Dylan 'It's all right, ma' (I'm only bleeding').

Usando nas outras seqüencias  materiais melódicos de grupos como o Jimi Hendrix Experience (‘If six was nine’), The Byrds (‘Wasn’t born to follow’ e ‘Ballad of Easy Rider’ – esta, a única composição feita especialmente para o filme, The Electric Prunes (Kyrie Eleison), The Holy Modal Rounders (‘If you want to be a bird’), Faternity of Man (‘Don’t Bogart me’) e outros, Hopper acaba oferencendo ao ouvinte um disco que, além de conter a trilha-sonora de ‘Sem destino’, é também uma sensacional coletânea do que de melhor tem sido feito na musica pop. 

25 March 1970 - Radio Panamericana's Top Ten hits; 7 songs were Anglo-American; 2 were Brazilian-made and 1 was a cover: Carmen Silva's 'Adeus solidão' (Picking up pebbles).

by 1970, not only Radio Excelsior and Radio Difusora played the Cash Box and Billboard Top 40 list but Radio Eldorado, Radio Panamericana and others too. For some unknown reason Cash Box magazine was more popular with the radio stations than Billboard.

Language-school União Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos ad asks: Do you understand what they sing?

Soap-operas aka novelas on TV Tupi in 1970

'Super plá' - from 1st December 1969 to 16 May 1970  - TV Tupi (6:30 PM)
'João Juca Jr.' - from 8 December 1969 to 16 May 1970 - TV Tupi (10:00 PM)
'E nós, aonde vamos?' - from 23 February to 5 June 1970 - TV Tupi (10:00 PM)
'As bruxas' - from 18 May to 12 November 1970 - TV Tupi (8:00 PM)
'Simplesmente Maria' - 6 July 1970 - 26 June 1971 - TV Tupi (7:00 PM)
'Toninho on the rocks' -  from 24 September to 31st December 1970 - TV Tupi (8:00)

19 April 1970 - John Schlesinger's 'Midnight cowboy' dubbed here 'Perdidos na noite' (Lost in the night) premieres at Cine Paulistano; Nilsson's eerie 'Everybody's talkin' haunts the movie and shot up to #1 in the charts.

7 June 1970 - Intervalo columnist Tom Carlos tells us all: Odeon had just released The Beatles last album 'Let it be' with Paul McCartney's very first album: McCartney.  

14 June 1970 - Intervalo magazine says Buddah Records had just released Melanie's 'Lay down' (Candles in the wind); it also says CBS had released Chicago's very first album in Brazil.

Intervalo's pop music columnist Tom Carlos writes that he is appalled by what CBS did to its first Chicago Transit Authority album in Brazil. CBS local brass culled 12 tracks from Chicago's two original double-albums and packed them all in a single (double-sided) record. In other words: they made a single disc out of 4 sides.

'Lançado pela CBS o LP do conjunto Chicago. O conjunto é uma das melhores coisas que já apareceram em matéria de bandas, mas as faixas do disco nacional deixam muito a desejar se comparadas com o original, que é um album de 2 discos, uma verdadeira obra-prima'.

'Questions 67 and 68' b/w 'I'm a man' was Chicago's first single released in Brazil in late 1969.

1. 25 or 6 to 4 (II) vocal: Peter Cetera
2. Questions 67 and 68 (I) vocals: Peter Cetera & Rober Lamm
3. Beginnings (I) v.: Robert Lamm
4. Listen (I)  v.: Robert Lamm
5. Colour my world (II)  v.: Terry Kath
6. Does anybody really know what time it is? (I) v.: Robert Lamm

1. Make me smile (II) v.: Terry Kath
2. Poem for the people (II) v.: Robert Lamm & Peter Cetera
3. Wake up sunshine (II) v.: Robert Lamm & Peter Cetera
4. Movin' in (II)  v.: Terry Kath
5. Where do we go from here? (II) v.: Peter Cetera
6. I'm a man (I) v.: Terry Kath, Peter Cetera & Robert Lamm

When I look back at 1970 and see the huge amount of American and British albums released by the multinational labels in Brazil since 1968 it is no wonder that we young Brazilians couldn't keep up with the Joneses... I mean it was too much for a regular fellow with a poor educational background to keep abreast of such an immensity. It was too much information to keep track of.

I did my best to try and understand the whole picture but I must concede defeat. There was no way one could keep his head above water. There were too many things happening at the same time... and we, poor guys couldn't even grasp the meaning of the English language properly. We could not understand song lyrics so we had to rely on journalists like Ezequiel Neves who had a smattering of English themselves to shed some light on the whole picture. Keeping track of Top 40 was hard enough. When it came to the myriads of new albums coming out of England and the USA well I just gave up.

Take this first Chicago album released in Brazil in June 1970. It was a single album containing 12 tracks that had been culled from two double-albums: Chicago Transit Authority released by Columbia Records on 28 April 1969 and Chicago II released on 26 January 1970. Have a look at the tracks on the Brazilian pressing: 7 tracks from Chicago II and 5 tracks from the US Chicago Transit Authority:

No wonder I felt like Alice in the Wonderland when I finally had the chance to go and visit the United States in the fall of 1971. After listening to American Top 40 AM stations and progressive rock FM stations for a while I realized I knew very little about American pop culture in general.

12 July 1970 - Intervalo's Tom Carlos and the best-selling albums in the USA.:

1. Let it be - The Beatles (Apple)
2. McCartney - Paul McCartney (Apple))
3. Deja vù - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Atlantic)
4. Chicago II (Columbia)

5. The Fifth Dimension Greatest Hits (Soul City)
6. Band of gypsys - Jimi Hendrix (Capitol)
7. ABC - Jackson Five (Motown)
8. Bridge over troubled water - Simon & Garfunkel (Columbia)


1. Mama told me not to come - Three Dog Night (Dunhill)
2. Ball of confusion - The Temptations (Motown)
3. Lay down (Candles in the rain) - Melanie (Buddah Records)
4. The love you save - Jackson Five (Motown)
5. Ride Captain ride - Blues Image (Atco)


19 July 1970 - Tom Carlos tells is like it was: Cash Box was the preferred music-business magazine.

23rd July 1970 - The Beatles' farewell concert was somewhat sadly pathetic... it premiered in the USA less than 2 months before: 13 May 1970... that was almost simultaneously. Films usually took between one and two years to reach Brazil then.  12 July 1970 - 'The Airport' finally premieres at Cine Rio Branco and Majestic.

26 July 1970 - Triple-album with the Woodstock sound-track is finally released; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's ground-breaking 'Deja vu' is released by Atlantic-Philips. 

5 October 1970 - The movie 'Woodstock' is released in Brazil after 7 months of its premiere in the USA on 26 March 1970. Brazil actually lived under a heavy military dictatorship while most of the industrialized world exulted in liberating movements like women's lib, gay rights. In the USA there was a growing movement of people against the military bombardment of Vietnam perpetrated by the United States Army.