Caetano Emanoel Viana Teles Veloso (born August 7, 1942 in Santo Amaro, Bah… Read Full Bio ↴Caetano Emanoel Viana Teles Veloso (born August 7, 1942 in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil), professionally known as Caetano Veloso, is a singer, composer, musician, producer, arranger, writer and political activist, being one of the most popular and influential Brazilian MPB artists of all time. With a career that exceeds five decades, Caetano has built a musical work marked by renewal and widely considered to possess great intellectual and poetic value.

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.

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Caetano Veloso Lyrics

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Vejo que areia linda
Brilhando cada grão
Graças do sol ainda
Vibram pelo chão

Vejo que a água deixa
As cores de outra cor
Volta pra si sem queixa

Tudo é tanto amor

Esteja cá já
Pedra, vida, flor
Seja cá já

Esteja cá já
Tempo, bicho, dor
Seja cá já

Doce jaca já
Jandaia aqui agora

Ouço que tempo imenso
Dentro de cada som
Música que não penso
Pássaro tão bom

Ouço que vento, vento
Ondas, asas, capim
Momento, movimento
Sempre agora em mim

Esteja cá já
Pedra, vida, flor
Seja cá já

Esteja cá já
Tempo, bicho, dor
Seja cá já

Doce jaca já
Jandaia aqui agora

Vejo que areia linda
Brilhando cada grão
Graças do sol ainda
Vibram pelo chão

Vejo que a água deixa
As cores de outra cor
Volta pra si sem queixa
Tudo é tanto amor

Esteja cá já
Pedra, vida, flor
Seja cá já

Esteja cá já
Tempo, bicho, dor
Seja cá já

Doce jaca já
Jandaia aqui agora

Ouço que tempo imenso
Dentro de cada som
Música que não penso
Pássaro tão bom

Ouço que vento, vento
Ondas, asas, capim
Momento, movimento
Sempre agora em mim

Esteja cá já
Pedra, vida, flor
Seja cá já

Esteja cá já
Tempo, bicho, dor
Seja cá já

Doce jaca já
Jandaia aqui agora

Esteja cá já
Pedra, vida, flor
Seja cá já

Esteja cá já
Tempo, bicho, dor
Seja cá já

Doce jaca já
Jandaia aqui agora

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Caetano Veloso's song "Ca Já" express a deep appreciation for the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world. The opening lines describe the shimmering sand and the vibrant warmth it still holds from the sun's rays. It acknowledges the gratitude and energy that emanate from the ground.

The next stanza alludes to the transformative power of water, as it brings forth the colors of a different hue. It returns to itself without complaint, symbolizing the unconditional love present in everything. The chorus urges the listener to be present in this moment, embracing the essence of life, beauty, and nature. It invites the presence of time, creatures, and pain, acknowledging that they are all part of the human experience.

The third stanza highlights the immensity of time, within every sound and the music that transcends rational thought. It describes the bird's song as pure and delightful. The repetition of the word "vento" (wind) and the imagery of waves, wings, and grass convey a sense of movement and constant change. The lyrics suggest that the present moment, with all its beauty and motion, is always within us.

Line by Line Meaning

Vejo que areia linda
I perceive the beauty of the sand

Brilhando cada grão
Each grain shining

Graças do sol ainda
Still illuminated by the sun

Vibram pelo chão
Vibrating through the ground

Vejo que a água deixa
I see how the water leaves

As cores de outra cor
The colors taking on a different hue

Volta pra si sem queixa
Returning to itself without complaint

Tudo é tanto amor
Everything is pure love

Esteja cá já
Be present here now

Pedra, vida, flor
Stone, life, flower

Seja cá já
Exist here already