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And Finally Artist News Releases
Pelé records song with Rodrigo y Gabriela to mark his 80th birthday
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 21 October 2020
Rodrigo y Gabriela have teamed up with legendary footballer Pelé to record a song marking his 80th birthday, titled ‘Acredita No Véio’, which translates as ‘Listen To The Old Man’.
Not simply a footballer warbling over a half-arsed track, it turns out that Pelé is actually a keen songwriter. He just never really thought to mention it. “I didn’t want the public to make the comparison between Pelé the composer and Pelé the footballer”, he says. “That would have been a huge injustice – in football, my talent was a gift from God. Music was just for fun”.
“I wrote [‘Acredita No Véio’] because when I used to play with Santos, the coach used to say that when we lost, it was the players’ fault, but when we won, it was the macumba – black magic – that had helped”, he goes on. “The song is joking about that – of course, macumba doesn’t win games at all”.
Speaking about their collaboration, Rodrigo y Gabriela add: “We are both big soccer fans. Growing up in Mexico City, we heard many stories about Pelé and the legendary Brazilian team that triumphed at the 1970 World Cup in our homeland. Imagine our surprise and delight to find out that not only is Pelé the greatest footballer of all-time, but is also a very talented singer and songwriter. It is a huge honour for us to collaborate with Pelé on the occasion of his 80th birthday”.
Pelé’s birthday isn’t actually until Friday, but you can listen to the song now anyway:
