"Eduardo e Mônica" (Eduardo and Monica) is a song from
Brazilian rock
Brazilian rock refers to rock music produced in Brazil and usually sung in Portuguese. In the 1960s it was known as , from the Portuguese transcription of the line "Yeah, yeah, yeah" from the Beatles song "She Loves You".
Overview
Rock entered t ...
band
Legião Urbana
Legião Urbana (Portuguese for Urban Legion) was a Brazilian rock band formed in 1982 in Brasília, Distrito Federal. The band primarily consisted of Renato Russo (vocals, bass and keyboards), Dado Villa-Lobos (guitar) and Marcelo Bonfá (d ...
's 1986 album ''
Dois'', released as promo single. It tells a romantic story centered on a couple formed by the 16-year-old Eduardo and the older college student Mônica, who are very different from each other.
Writing and theme
The song had already been recorded in 1982, when Russo performed alone with his acoustic guitar under the moniker "O Trovador Solitário" (The Solitary Troubadour), on a cassette tape that would be later recovered and released along with other songs on his posthumous solo album ''
O Trovador Solitário''.
This version has a different ending than the one from the album. In the latter, it is stated that in a certain vacation period, the family could not travel because the son was retaking a class in school.
In the original version, the couple's son is still yet to be born and that they didn't get married in a church, but at Eduardo's ranch. Some verses were already scratched by then: "With an Indian flutist who marked the time signature/ All all friends..." They built a house somewhere close to the sea and went to
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...
,
Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto (, ''Black Gold''), formerly Vila Rica (, ''Rich Village''), is a city in and former capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, a former colonial mining town located in the Serra do Espinhaço mountains and designated a World Herita ...
and
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
. Eduardo got a job at
Banco Central
Banco Central Hispano was a Spanish bank. In 1999 it was merged with Banco Santander
Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santande ...
and Mônica is a professor.
A 2016 article by science magazine ''
Superinteressante
''Superinteressante'' (Portuguese for "super interesting"), or ''Super'', is a Brazilian science and culture magazine. ''Super'' employs simple language to explain complex topics to the general public. It is published monthly since September 1987 b ...
'' suggested that the couple was unlikely to have a long-lasting relationship, based on what the verses say about them and analyzing such info against diverse scientific researches on reasons why couples break up.
In other media
The song inspired a play by Adolar Gangorra in which he depicts Eduardo as a victim of "a newspapers' culture pages pop culture, which Monica makes him follow".
A film based on the song was announced in 2019 with
Gabriel Leone
Gabriel Leone Coutinho Miranda Frota (born 21 July 1993) is a Brazilian actor and musician. Leone became nationally known for his role in the telenovela '' Hidden Truths'' and gained international recognition as the lead role in ''Dom'', the firs ...
and
Alice Braga
Alice Braga Moraes (; born 15 April 1983) is a Brazilian actress and producer. She has appeared in several Brazilian films, starring as Angélica in the acclaimed '' City of God'' (2002), Karinna in ''Lower City'' (2005), and Dolores in ''Only ...
on the
titular role
The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
s. It will be directed by
René Sampaio, who also directed ''
Brazilian Western
''Brazilian Western'' ( pt, Faroeste Caboclo) is a 2013 Brazilian crime drama film directed and produced by René Sampaio, starring Fabrício Boliveira, Isis Valverde and César Troncoso. It is based on the song of same name released by Brazilian ...
'', another film based on a Legião Urbana song. The film was due on 11 June 2020 and it was screened at the 2020 edition of
Miami International Film Festival
The Miami Film Festival (formerly Miami International Film Festival) is an annual film festival in Miami, Florida, that showcases independent American and international films with a special focus on Ibero-American films. The competitive film fest ...
,
before it was cancelled following the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
By June, its premiere date was still uncertain due to the pandemic.
Ads
In 2001, fragments of the song were used in an ad by telecommunications company
ATL (currently
Claro).
Later, on 7 June 2011, the song's 25th anniversary, a short clip was developed by another telecommunications company,
Vivo.
The clip, released on YouTube a few days before Valentine's Day in Brazil, is a tribute to the date and has the song as its soundtrack.
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eduardo e Monica
Legião Urbana songs
1986 songs
1986 singles
Songs written by Renato Russo
Songs written by Dado Villa-Lobos
Songs written by Marcelo Bonfá
Brasília