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.

Deus E O Diabo
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Você tenha ou não tenha medo
Nego, nêga, o carnaval chegou
Mais cedo ou mais tarde acabo
De cabo a rabo
Com essa transação de pavor
O carnaval é invenção do diabo
Que Deus abençoou!

Deus e o diabo no Rio de Janeiro
Cidade de São Salvador
Não se grile
A rua Chile
Sempre chega pra quem quer
Qual é!
Qual é!
Qual é!
Qual é!
Qual é!
Quem pode, pode
Quem não pode vira bode

Foge pra Praça da Sé
Cidades maravilhosas
Cheias de encantos mil

Cidades maravilhosas
Os pulmões do meu Brasil!

Overall Meaning

In Caetano Veloso's song Deus E O Diabo, the lyrics discuss the arrival of carnival and the fear that it brings with it. The singer acknowledges that whether one is afraid or not, carnival has arrived and will consume everything with its terror. However, he also notes that carnival is an invention of the devil that God has blessed. This juxtaposition of fear and blessing hints at the complex relationship between God and the devil, and how they are often intertwined in Brazilian culture.

The second half of the song touches on two iconic Brazilian cities, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. The mention of the notorious street in Salvador, Rua Chile, adds an element of danger and unpredictability to the lyrics. The repeated question "Qual é?" (meaning "what is it?" or "what's the deal?") further emphasizes the mystery and excitement of the cities. The line "Quem pode, pode / Quem não pode vira bode" translates to "Who can, can / Who can't becomes a goat," and alludes to the power dynamic in Brazil where those with money and status hold their positions, while those without are left to suffer.

Overall, Caetano Veloso's Deus E O Diabo is a rich and complex exploration of Brazilian culture, with a focus on the themes of fear, pleasure, and power.

Line by Line Meaning

Você tenha ou não tenha medo
Whether you're afraid or not

Nego, nêga, o carnaval chegou
Hey guys and gals, Carnival is here

Mais cedo ou mais tarde acabo
Sooner or later it will end

De cabo a rabo
From beginning to end

Com essa transação de pavor
With all this fear going around

O carnaval é invenção do diabo
Carnival is the devil's invention

Que Deus abençoou!
That God blessed!

Deus e o diabo no Rio de Janeiro
God and the devil in Rio de Janeiro

Cidade de São Salvador
The city of São Salvador

Não se grile
Don't worry

A rua Chile
Chile Street