Veloso is the fifth of the seven children born to José Telles Veloso ("Seu Zezinho") and Claudionor Vianna Telles Veloso ("Dona Canô"). His younger sister Maria Bethânia, another popular and renowned artist in Brazil, preceded him to fame as a singer in the mid-1960s. He began his career around 1965 singing bossa nova and he has cited his greatest musical influences from his early period as João Gilberto and Dorival Caymmi. (João Gilberto would say later about Caetano's contribution that it added an intellectual dimension to brazilian popular music.) But with such musical collaborators Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Chico Buarque, and Os Mutantes, and greatly influenced by the later work of The Beatles, developed tropicalismo, which fused Brazilian pop with rock and roll and avant garde art music resulting in a more international, psychedelic, and socially aware sound. Veloso's politically active stance, unapologetically leftist, earned him the enmity of Brazil's military dictatorship which ruled until 1985; his songs were frequently censored, and some were banned. Veloso was also alienated from the socialist left in Brazil becasue of his acceptance and integration of non-nationalist influences (like rock and roll) in his music. Veloso and Gilberto Gil spent several months in jail for "anti-government activity" in 1968 and eventually exiled themselves to London. Caetano Veloso's work upon his return in 1972 was often characterized by frequent appropriations not only of international styles, but of half-forgotten Brazilian folkloric styles and rhythms as well. In particular, his celebration of the Afro-Brazilian culture of Bahia can be seen as the precursor of such Afro-centric groups as Timbalada.
In the 1980s, Veloso's popularity outside Brazil grew, especially in Israel, Portugal, France and Africa. By 2004, he was one of the most respected and prolific international pop stars, with more than fifty recordings available, including songs in soundtracks of movies such as Pedro Almodovar's Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), and Frida. In 2002 Veloso published an account of his early years and the Tropicalia movement, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil.
His first all-English CD was A Foreign Sound (2004), which covers Nirvana's "Come as You Are" and compositions from the Great American Songbook. Five of the six songs on his third eponymous album, released in 1971, were also in English.
A Novidade
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah!
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah!
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah! Heiê! Heiê!
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
A novidade veio dar à praia
Na qualidade rara de sereia
Metade o busto
D'uma deusa Maia
Metade um grande
Rabo de baleia...
A novidade era o máximo
Do paradoxo
Estendido na areia
Alguns a desejar
Seus beijos de deusa
s a desejar
Seu rabo prá ceia.
Oh! Mundo tão desigual
Tudo é tão desigual
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Oh! De um lado esse carnaval
De outro a fome total
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!...
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah!
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah!
E a novidade que seria um sonho
O milagre risonho da sereia
Virava um pesadelo tão medonho
Ali naquela praia
Ali na areia...
A novidade era a guerra
Entre o feliz poeta
E o esfomeado
Estraçalhando
Uma sereia bonita
Despedaçando o sonho
Prá cada lado...
Oh! Mundo tão desigual
Tudo é tão desigual
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Oh! De um lado esse carnaval
De outro a fome total
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!...
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah!
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Ah! Aaaah! Ah! Aaaah!
Ah! Aaaah! Ah! Aaaah!
Ah! Aaaah! Ah! Aaaah!
Composição: Bi Ribeiro / Gilberto Gil / Herbert Vianna / Joao Barone
The song "A Novidade" by Caetano Veloso is a commentary on the inequality and paradoxes of Brazilian society. The lyrics describe a "novidade" or novelty that appears on the beach in the form of a half-Mayan goddess, half-whale creature with a paradoxical and alluring beauty. This novelty quickly becomes a source of conflict as some desire her as a goddess while others see her as a potential meal. The lyrics suggest that this conflict mirrors larger societal problems of inequality and hunger, where on one hand there is a carnival-like celebration, and on the other hand, there is extreme poverty and hunger.
The lyrics of "A Novidade" can also be interpreted as a critique of the Brazilian military dictatorship that oppressed citizens during Veloso's early career. The half-whale creature can represent the dictatorship's control over the people, while the conflict between the poet and the hungry masses can represent the struggle for freedom from dictatorship. The song is a powerful statement on the contradictions that exist in Brazilian society, where the beauty and novelty of life exist alongside the harsh reality of hunger and oppression.
Line by Line Meaning
Uh! Heiê! Oh!
Expressing excitement and energy.
Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô Ô!
Untranslatable expression of emotion.
Ah! Aaaah!
Expressing surprise and awe.
A novidade veio dar à praia
Something new has come to the beach.
Na qualidade rara de sereia
This new thing has the unusual quality of a mermaid.
Metade o busto
Half of it is a Mayan goddess bust.
D'uma deusa Maia
From the Mayan goddess tradition.
Metade um grande
The other half is a large
Rabo de baleia...
...whale tail.
A novidade era o máximo
The new thing was the maximum
Do paradoxo
A paradox.
Estendido na areia
Laid out on the sand.
Alguns a desejar
Some desire it
Seus beijos de deusa
Her goddess-like kisses.
S a desejar
Wanting her tail for a feast.
Oh! Mundo tão desigual
Oh! Such an unequal world.
Tudo é tão desigual
Everything is so unequal.
Oh! De um lado esse carnaval
Oh! On one side there is this carnival
De outro a fome total
On the other, total hunger.
E a novidade que seria um sonho
And the new thing that should have been a dream
O milagre risonho da sereia
The merry miracle of the mermaid
Virava um pesadelo tão medonho
Is becoming a terrifying nightmare.
Ali naquela praia
There on that beach,
Ali na areia...
...there on the sand.
A novidade era a guerra
The new thing has become a war
Entre o feliz poeta
Between the happy poet
E o esfomeado
And the hungry
Estraçalhando
Tearing apart
Uma sereia bonita
A beautiful mermaid
Despedaçando o sonho
Shattering the dream
Prá cada lado...
To each side.
Ah! Aaaah!
Expressing surprise and awe.
Ah! Aaaah! Ah! Aaaah!
Repeating the same expression of surprise.
Contributed by Anna F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.