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.

Clara
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

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Quando a manhã madrugava
Calma, alta, clara
Clara morria de amor

Faca de ponta, flor e flor
Cambraia branca sob o sol
Cravina branca, amor
Cravina, amor

Cravina e sonha
A moça chamava Clara
Água
Alma
Lava
Alva cambraia no sol

Galo cantando cor e cor
Pássaro preto dor e dor
O marinheiro amor, distante amor
Que a moça sonha só

O marinheiro sob o sol
Onde andará o meu amor
Onde andará o amor
No mar, amor
No mar sonha

Se ainda lembra o meu nome
Longe, longe
Onde
Onde estiver, numa onda, num mar
Numa onda que quer me levar para o mar
De água clara, clara, clara, clara
Ouço meu bem me chamar

Faca de ponta, dor e dor
Cravo vermelho no lençol
Cravo vermelho amor
Vermelho amor
Cravina e galos

E a moça chamada Clara, Clara, Clara, Clara
Alma tranquila de dor

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Caetano Veloso's song Clara paint a serene picture of a calm and clear morning, where the singer Clara is consumed by love, represented by the imagery of a sharp knife and a flower. The song goes on to describe the white cambric and white carnations under the sun, highlighting the purity of the surroundings. The song's protagonist, a girl named Clara, is constantly calling out for water, possibly as a representation of her need for purity and cleansing of her soul from her love for the distant sailor.

As the song progresses, the imagery shifts from the peaceful surroundings of nature to the sailor who is far away from Clara. She wonders where her distant love might be and eventually imagines him lost in the calming waters of the ocean. The song ends with Clara's call for her love to come back to her, and the imagery of the sharp knife, red carnations, and the crowing of a rooster adds a sense of agony to her longing.

The song's lyrics can be interpreted in different ways, but one possible explanation could be that the serene and beautiful surroundings of nature represent the beauty of love, while the sharp knife, red carnations, and rooster call represent the agony and sharp pain that can come with it. Clara's longing and plea for her lover to return might signify the longing and pain caused by a love that has been lost or is unreachable.

Line by Line Meaning

Quando a manhã madrugava
When the morning dawned early

Calma, alta, clara
Calm, high, clear

Clara morria de amor
Clara was dying of love

Faca de ponta
Tip of a knife

Flor e flor
Flower after flower

Cambraia branca sob o sol
White cambric under the sun

Cravina branca, amor
White carnation, love

Cravina, amor
Carnation, love

Cravina e sonha
Carnation and dreams

A moça chamava Clara
The girl was called Clara

Água
Water