LS Jack are a Brazilian pop/rock band who rose to prominence in 2001 when Carla, the first single from their third album V.I.B.E, went to number one on the Brazilian charts. It still sounds good today. The prominent words you will hear in the chorus – Eu te amei – mean I loved you. Yes, past tense – he loved her but he didn’t make his move on time. Timidity has its price, he who hesitates is lost.
Carla is probably the band’s most loved song in Brazil. The lyrics and a translation are available here.
The follow-up single, Uma Carta, also went to number one, and two years later they were back on top again with the singles Sem Radar and Amanhã Não Se Sabe from their fourth album, Tudo Outra Vez. They had another top 10 hit with this track, Meu Sossego (My Calm) from that album. Sossego means peace, calmness, tranquility etc.
My favourite LS Jack song
On the strength of their previous success, and without thinking about it too much, when I was in Brazil in 2005 I bought their fifth album, Jardim de Cores (Garden of Colours), primarily, I suppose, because I really liked the title. I figured the music on it would be to my liking. I’m really glad I ventured into their garden of colours, for the album contains my favourite LS Jack song, Phoenix.
It’s a song about regret, about letting the great love of your life slip out of your hands. Note the pronunciation at the end of the words in the line Me deixou, me faltou, me escapou, escapou … it is an “o‘ sound (as in so, no, go, flow) and not an “ooh” sound (as in shoe). Don’t let the u at the end fool you, it’s silent.
Medical disaster
After this LS Jack ran into awful problems. The lead singer, Marcus Menna, suffered a bad allergic reaction to a drug while recuperating from liposuction, and had a cardiac arrest. He was in a coma for two months, and the recovery was a long, slow process. He needed many treatments, physiotherapy, as well as speech therapy and singing lessons. The liposuction, he says, was a mistake, undertaken purely out of vanity. Whether he will fully recover his vocal prowess remains to be seen
LS Jack with Marcus on vocals never released another album after Jardim de Cores, apart from a couple of greatest hits compilations. The band has re-emerged recently with a new lead singer Vinny (Vinícius Bonotto Conradoy) and go by the name LS Jack & Vinny.
The lyrics to Phoenix
Quanto mais eu briguei
Mais enganos no caminho eu deixei
Tão cego na minha ambição
O que eu tinha de melhor escapou das minhas mãos
Me deixou, me faltou, me escapou, escapou
Tanto faz se eu ganhei
Na batalha a minha paz se desfez
A dor só me faz enxergar
Nada pode ser maior
Doque eu tenho pra te dar
Meu amor, seu amor, nosso amor, o amor
Me deixou, me faltou, me escapou
Por mil anos esperando
A minha alma te encontrar
Na certeza que um dia
Tudo volta pro lugar
Cada estória uma sentença
E eu que faço a minha lei
Quero toda a sua essência
E isso é tudo que eu sei
Look out for LS Jack & Vinny‘s new recordings on the My Five Romances Facebook page in the near future. M5R
