Football legend Pele releases song about a football curse

Brazilian soccer legend Pele smiles during a news conference in Hong Kong in this March 7, 2011 (CHINA - Tags: SPORT SOCCER HEADSHOT)

The greatest footballer of all time (GOAT) just dropped a hot collab with Grammy winners Rodrigo y Gabriela.

“I’ve written many books, I’ve scored many goals, I’ve fathered children, I’ve planted many trees. The only thing that’s lacking is a musical memento of my life,” says the Brazilian legend, who turns 80 on October 23.

Pele actually wrote Acredita No Veio (Listen To The Old Man), in 2005, together with Brazilian jazz musician and arranger Ruria Duprat.

“I wrote this one 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 (magic) had helped,” said Pele. “The song is joking about that - of course, macumba doesn’t win games at all.”

Basically, the song seems to be about using magic to damn the opposition.

“Cast a spell on the goalie of the opposing team, the goalie will be off his game, he’ll have a howler!” goes one of the verses.

Former Brazilian soccer star Pele attends a news conference in Havana in Havana June 1, 2015. [REUTERS/Enrique de la Osa]

There’s also some surprising archive footage of Pele missing a few sitters.

Plus, there’s some stuff about the economics of goats and African chickens.

“Hey, see that goat? It costs R$7000, just give me the money and I’ll make a deal. See that African chicken? It costs R$4000, so just chill out, ‘cos this spell never fails.”

Anyway, the bigger question is really this: how come we never knew until now that the great man had such a musical leaning?

‘I didn’t want the public to make the comparison between Pele the composer and Pele the footballer,” he said, adding, “That would have been a huge injustice - in football my talent was a gift from God, music was just for fun.”

Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. They’re both chuffed.“We are both big soccer fans. Growing up in Mexico City, we heard many stories about Pele,” Gabriela said. [BBC]