"Monte Castelo" is a song by Brazilian rock 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 ...

, released on '' As Quatro Estações'' album. Written by vocalist and acoustic guitarist

Renato Russo Renato Russo (born Renato Manfredini, Jr., March 27, 1960 – October 11, 1996) was a Brazilian singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band Legião Urbana. A Brazilian film depicting his life and career was rele ...

, the song brings verses by Portuguese poet Luís de Camões and sections of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Writing

The first versions of the song was based on the acoustic guitar and a keyboard synthesizing an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, over which Russo tried to sing. He struggled to find a melody line and ended up recording many channels with his voice, making the music base and the lyrics so chaotic. The text became so scary that made guitarist

Dado Villa-Lobos Eduardo "Dado" Dutra Villa-Lobos (born 29 June 1965) is a Belgian-born Brazilian musician, best known as the ex-guitarist of post-punk band Legião Urbana. Along with singer Renato Russo and drummer Marcelo Bonfá, he was one of the founding ...

and his wife Fernanda fled from the studio after they read the written words. The mixing was also hard, since Russo would never be satisfied with producer Mayrton Bahia's work. The situation reached a point to Russo turned off the sound and Bahia threatened to finish the album without him. Russo didn't say a word and then he said he liked the final result. Villa-Lobos, on the other turn, cried when he listened to the song's final version.

Noteworthy covers

* 1999 - Singer

Jerry Adriani Jerry Adriani (Jair Alves de Sousa; 29 January 1947 – 23 April 2017) was a Brazilian singer, musician and actor. He began his career in television while working with Rede Tupi in São Paulo. His early work included his time as vocalist with t ...

recorded an Italian version of the song on the album ''Forza Sempre'', featuring only Legião Urbana's songs in Italian. * 2009 - Jay Vaquer took part in the TV special "Som Brasil", a program by

Rede Globo de Televisão TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Grupo Globo. The TV station ...

which paid tribute to Russo and in which he covered "Pais e Filhos", "Monte Castelo" and "Será".''Som Brasil: Programa irá homenagear o cantor Renato Russo em setembro''

Rede Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

. Grupo Globo
date=20091001165130 archived
* 2012 - Priest Reginaldo Manzotti covered the song for his DVD ''Paz e Luz'', which was filmed at Igreja da Candelária in

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 ...

References

* {{authority control Legião Urbana songs 1989 songs Songs written by Renato Russo