The unlikely friendship between Milton Nascimento and River Phoenix
This is a story of an almost unlikely, even impossible friendship that feels like a cosmic encounter. Between two opposite universes and different languages, but which met in the portuguese verses of Milton Nascimento.
Milton was born in Rio de Janeiro, son of Maria Nascimento on October 26, 1942. He was later adopted by the couple Josino and Lília when Maria died, as he was still a 1 year old baby, so he moved to Três Pontas, Minas Gerais. He is known as one of the greatest voices in Brazilian music, winner of five Grammy awards.
River was one of the children of Arlyn Phoenix and John Lee Bottom, brother of fellow actor Joaquin Phoenix. Born in Madras, Oregon, in 1970, at a young age he became one of the rising names in Hollywood films, compared to what would become the Leonardo Dicarpio phenomenon at the end of the decade. He starred, among other works, in the film “Stand by me” in 1986 based on a work by Stephen King.
One day, in a New York hotel near Central Park, accompanied by his sister Rain, Phoenix turns on the radio and starts listening to the music programming. It reveals a sweet but powerful voice, and soon the artist’s name is revealed: Milton Nascimento. This would be a name that Phoenix would make a point of keeping in his memory, as he became a fan of the Brazilian singer’s work. “He liked it so much that, as soon as the song was finished, he was already in a record store looking for my stuff”, Milton recounted years later.
Later, back at home, the phone rings and his mother Arlyn answers. Rain is next door, and hears the mother refuse a proposal from someone. After Arlyn hangs up, she comments about the situation with her daughter: a guy named Milton Nascimento is asking permission to release a song entitled “River Phoenix: Letter to a Young Actor”.
-
In 1988, Milton Nascimento was in the same New York hotel, resting after a long tour when he turns on the television and comes across the performance of the young rising actor River Phoenix. The film in question was “The Mosquito Coast”, released two years earlier. But it was after looking up Phoenix’s name in the credits and watching “Stand By Me” that the musician not only dedicates a song to Phoenix but also puts the name in its title. “River Phoenix (Letters to a Young Actor)” is a dedication by Milton, wrapped in enchantment with Phoenix’s simplicity, “a landscape of innocence”, as the lyrics says. In order to get the actor’s authorization to release the theme, Milton called Quincy Jones to get the contact of actor’s home.
The two kept contact with each other and Phoenix’s family was invited by the singer to a trip to Rio de Janeiro, later to Minas Gerais, where Milton grew up. “There, he mingled with everyone, and spent the day surrounded by a lot of people,” Milton said. “Nobody believed when they saw a star like him walking carefree through the streets of a small town in Minas Gerais”.
The friendship lasted until the Hollywood star’s early death in October 1993 from a drug overdose, just days after Milton’s birthday. But the singer prefers to keep positive memories. “River is a person that is sorely missed in this world today. He was a guy who was always there for whatever you needed.”
Here is a possible translation:
River Phoenix (Letters to a young actor)
If one day we meet
and I do confess
That I saw a movie so many times
To unveil your eyes
And if we talk
Tell the things we've lived
What do we expect from tomorrow?
Could it happen?
Because, parallel to the character
I really wanted to know it from you
I wanted you to be happy
A calm water to flood
Your shore of affection
An open chest to whomever comes
Just like your name, different
A landscape leads us
A landscape of innocence
But that is known and that leads
Lead now this moment
My thoughts and eyes
Shining with emotion and grateful
Someone who only met you
In a movie I've seen so many times
This poem happened
