Mais Uma Vez


"Mais Uma Vez" is a song composed by Brazilian musicians Renato Russo and Flávio Venturini in 1986 and released as the first single of Sete, by Venturini's band 14 Bis in 1987. It features Russo himself as co-lead singer.

Background and writing

The song was composed in 1986. Flávio Venturini recalls getting to know Renato Russo at EMI-Odeon studios in Rio de Janeiro in 1986, when 14 Bis and Legião Urbana were in rooms close to each other recording their next albums. Venturini, who had arrived earlier than his bandmates, was practicing a new song for the album when Russo entered the room and asked to write the song's lyrics. Russo proposed lyrics about a father telling his son that the Sun would shine back again after a storm. Venturini liked the idea and sent him a tape with the song's base, under Russo's promise of sending him the lyrics. Due to Russo's commitment with Dois, he wouldn't send the lyrics until three months after their meeting. Russo did some slight melody modifications following some improvisations.
About the recording of it, Venturini said he invited Russo to join the song recording with 14 Bis, which resulted in Sete's final version of it. He sang everything first, then Russo sang the whole song, they picked their favorite parts and producer Mayrton Bahia edited a final version. Russo, on the other hand, said he couldn't explain the melody to the group, so he sang it and recorded guide vocals, but the band decided it could be used in the final version.

Lyrics and structure

The lyrics feature several motivational sentences like "Espera que o sol já vem", "Nunca deixe que lhe digam que não vale a pena acreditar no sonho que se tem" or "Se você quiser alguém em quem confiar, confie em si mesmo". Russo said he does believe in what he wrote and that he says the same things on Legião Urbana's lyrics, but in a different way.
The song was composed in B-flat major tonality and it possesses an andante tempo. In the 14 Bis version, Venturini sings falsettos and the chorus, while Russo sings the remaining verses with a natural voice; on the clip version, however, Venturini sings the entire song alone. On Russo's solo version, he sings alone.

14 Bis personnel

Between 2001 and 2002, researcher Marcelo Fróes undertook a search in Russo's archives for music recordings possessing enough quality for releasing. When he and Nilo Romero were ready to simply remix 14 Bis's version with Russo for inclusion on the album Presente, they found a tape containing a vocal track with Russo singing alone. Thus, Romero decided to produce a new recording over the vocal track, updating the song. The tape had been stored on EMI's archives for over 15 years. Both the new and the original versions were included on the album.
The track was featured on the soundtrack of telenovela Mulheres Apaixonadas, by Rede Globo. It received a video with child drawings and Russo's archived footage.

Renato Russo personnel

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