How beautiful it is to feel nature

In 1974 Tim Maia — Brazil’s king of soul, famous appetites and all — read a series of books called Universo em Desencanto, swore off drink and drugs, dressed in white, and recorded two entire albums in service of the sect behind them. When he left the faith soon after, he tried to erase the records: no reissues, no re-recordings, materials destroyed where he could reach them. The bootlegs won.

“Imunização Racional (Que Beleza)” opens Racional Vol. 1 (1975), released on his own semi-amateur Seroma label, and it was the only track from the whole project to reach radio and television. Small wonder: the song existed before his conversion and merely had its lyrics nudged toward the doctrine, so the groove is pure pre-awakening Tim — loose, sunlit, unhurried — while he sings “que beleza é sentir a natureza”, how beautiful it is to feel nature, with the unnerving conviction of the newly saved.

Put it on some bright morning and see if the certainty doesn’t rub off a little.