Menino e menina

If you want to play Menino e menina and understand why it sounds different from everything else in O Passo do Lui, pay attention to that bassline that winds around the first measure. It’s not just any riff: it’s a line that seems to float above the rhythm, as if the bass and drums were playing a game of chasing and overtaking each other at the same time. This gives the song a playful yet weighty feel, something Os Paralamas do Sucesso had been experimenting with since their previous album, but here they take it to another level. Herbert Vianna’s voice enters softly, almost like a whisper, and in the chorus it bursts into phrasing that blends melancholy with that ska touch that always defined them.

It’s not just a song: it’s a balance between what they already were and what they were about to discover. This track was born at just the right moment. O Passo do Lui, released in 1984, came as a response to what hadn’t worked in their debut, Cinema Mudo, which hadn’t connected as expected. The Paralamas wanted something more powerful, with instruments more present and songs that wouldn’t go unnoticed. Menino e menina was one of the singles that pushed the album forward, alongside Óculos, which was already getting heavy rotation on the radio even before Rock in Rio in 1985. At that festival, the band played twice and earned recognition as one of the most vibrant acts, something that helped solidify the sound they had been building.

The song, at 3:55, isn’t the longest on the album, but in those minutes lies all the desire to reinvent themselves that they brought from Rio de Janeiro.