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.
Elegia
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
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Em cima, em baixo, entre
Minha América, minha terra à vista
Reino de paz se um homem só a conquista
Minha mina preciosa, meu império
Feliz de quem penetre o teu mistério
Liberto-me ficando teu escravo
Onde cai minha mão, meu selo gravo
(Como a alma sem corpo) sem vestes
Como encadernação vistosa
Feita para iletrados, a mulher se enfeita
Mas ela é um livro místico e somente
A alguns a que tal graça se consente
É dado lê-la
In the song "Elegia," Caetano Veloso speaks about his love and admiration for his homeland, Brazil. He describes his desire to explore every inch of the land, from top to bottom and everything in between. He sees Brazil as a precious mine, full of mysteries waiting to be discovered, and he wants to be the one to conquer it. He feels a sense of freedom in being enslaved to this land and marks his territory as he wanders through it. The lyrics also touch on the theme of nudity and how it is a source of pleasure for the body, just as the soul exists without a body. Veloso compares women to books, adorned with beautiful covers and designed to attract the uneducated. However, only a select few are granted the privilege of reading and understanding their innermost secrets.
Line by Line Meaning
Deixa que minha mão errante adentre
Allow my wandering hand to explore
Em cima, em baixo, entre
Above, below, in between
Minha América, minha terra à vista
My America, my land in sight
Reino de paz se um homem só a conquista
A kingdom of peace if only one man conquers it
Minha mina preciosa, meu império
My precious mine, my empire
Feliz de quem penetre o teu mistério
Happy is he who penetrates your mystery
Liberto-me ficando teu escravo
I free myself by becoming your slave
Onde cai minha mão, meu selo gravo
Where my hand falls, I leave my mark
Nudez total: todo prazer provém do corpo
Total nudity: all pleasure comes from the body
(Como a alma sem corpo) sem vestes
(Like the soul without a body) without clothes
Como encadernação vistosa
Like a colorful binding
Feita para iletrados, a mulher se enfeita
Made for the illiterate, the woman adorns herself
Mas ela é um livro místico e somente
But she is a mystical book and only
A alguns a que tal graça se consente
To some, such a grace is granted
É dado lê-la
They are given the chance to read it
Contributed by Ella B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.