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.

Domingo no parque
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

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O rei da brincadeira (ê, José)
O rei da confusão (ê, João)
Um trabalhava na feira (ê, José)
Outro na construção (ê, João)

A semana passada, no fim da semana
João resolveu não brigar
No domingo de tarde saiu apressado

E não foi pra Ribeira jogar capoeira
Não foi pra lá, pra Ribeira, foi namorar
O José como sempre no fim da semana
Guardou a barraca e sumiu
Foi fazer no domingo um passeio no parque
Lá perto da Boca do Rio
Foi no parque que ele avistou Juliana
Foi que ele viu
Foi que ele viu Juliana na roda com João
Uma rosa e um sorvete na mão
Juliana seu sonho, uma ilusão
Juliana e o amigo João
O espinho da rosa feriu Zé
E o sorvete gelou seu coração

O sorvete e a rosa (ô, José)
A rosa e o sorvete (ô, José)
Foi dançando no peito (ô, José)
Do José brincalhão (ô, José)

O sorvete e a rosa (ô, José)
A rosa e o sorvete (ô, José)
Oi, girando na mente (ô, José)
Do José brincalhão (ô, José)

Juliana girando (oi, girando)
Oi, na roda gigante (oi, girando)
Oi, na roda gigante (oi, girando)
O amigo João (João)
O sorvete é morango (é vermelho)
Oi girando e a rosa (é vermelha)
Oi, girando, girando (é vermelha)
Oi, girando, girando
Olha a faca! (olha a faca!)

Olha o sangue na mão (ê, José)
Juliana no chão (ê, José)
Outro corpo caído (ê, José)
Seu amigo João (ê, José)
Amanhã não tem feira (ê, José)
Não tem mais construção (ê, João)

Não tem mais brincadeira (ê, José)
Não tem mais confusão (ê, João)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Caetano Veloso's Domingo no parque tell the story of two friends, José and João, and the events that unfolded one Sunday afternoon. The song begins by introducing the two characters as the king of play and the king of confusion. José works at the fair, while João works in construction. On the previous week, João decided not to engage in any fights and left in a rush on Sunday afternoon to meet with someone. José, on the other hand, went to the park on Sunday to take a walk and have some fun.

While at the park, José spots Juliana with his friend João, holding a rose and an ice cream cone. His previous daydreaming of Juliana is shattered as he sees her with João. This sight hurts him deeply, and the thorn of the rose pierces his heart as the ice cream freezes it. The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "the ice cream and the rose" as a way to emphasize the pain that José feels.

The song reaches its climax with the sudden shift in tempo and the arrival of violence. The line "look at the knife!" takes the listeners aback, and the story ends tragically, with Juliana lying on the ground, and João and someone else bleeding. The final lines emphasize that there will be no more play, confusion, or work for José and João.

Overall, Domingo no parque tells the story of love, jealousy, and violence. It offers a glimpse into the complexities of human relationships, the power of emotions, and the unpredictability of life.

Domingo no parqueCaetano Veloso Lyrics

Domingo no parque
Caetano Veloso Lyrics