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.

Jorge de Capadócia
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Jorge sentou praça na cavalaria
E eu estou feliz porque eu também sou da sua companhia
Eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de Jorge
Para que meus inimigos tenham pés, não me alcancem
Para que meus inimigos tenham mãos, não me peguem, não me toquem
Para que meus inimigos tenham olhos e não me vejam
E nem mesmo um pensamento eles possam ter para me fazerem mal

Armas de fogo, meu corpo não alcançará
Facas, lanças se quebrem, sem o meu corpo tocar
Cordas, correntes se arrebentem, sem o meu corpo amarrar

Pois eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de Jorge
Jorge é de Capadócia

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Caetano Veloso's "Jorge de Capadócia" tell the story of the singer's allegiance to Jorge, a legendary figure from Capadócia (now part of modern-day Turkey) who became a symbol of resistance against oppression and slavery in Brazil. The singer proclaims his pride in being part of Jorge's company, and dresses himself in Jorge's clothes and weapons in order to protect himself from his enemies. He invokes a kind of magical protection, saying that his enemies will be unable to reach him or harm him, because he is clothed in Jorge's power.

The song is a powerful statement of Afro-Brazilian identity and pride, as Jorge is often seen as a symbol of resistance against the enslavement and mistreatment of Africans in Brazil. The imagery of clothing oneself in Jorge's regalia suggests a kind of spiritual protection and strength, as well as an assertion of African identity and power. The song is also notable for its use of drums and other traditional Brazilian instruments, which give it a distinctive rhythm and energy.

Line by Line Meaning

Jorge sentou praça na cavalaria
Jorge enlisted in the cavalry

E eu estou feliz porque eu também sou da sua companhia
And I am happy because I am also a part of his company

Eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de Jorge
I am dressed in Jorge's clothing and weapons

Para que meus inimigos tenham pés, não me alcancem
So that my enemies may not catch me by foot

Para que meus inimigos tenham mãos, não me peguem, não me toquem
So that my enemies may not touch or catch me by hand

Para que meus inimigos tenham olhos e não me vejam
So that my enemies may not see me

E nem mesmo um pensamento eles possam ter para me fazerem mal
And not even a thought to harm me

Armas de fogo, meu corpo não alcançará
Firearms will not reach my body

Facas, lanças se quebrem, sem o meu corpo tocar
Knives and spears shall break without touching my body

Cordas, correntes se arrebentem, sem o meu corpo amarrar
Ropes and chains shall break without tying my body

Pois eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de Jorge
For I am dressed in Jorge's clothing and weapons

Jorge é de Capadócia
Jorge is from Capadocia

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Jorge de Capadócia
Caetano Veloso

Jorge sentou praça
Na cavalaria
Eu estou feliz porque eu também
Sou da sua companhia

Jorge sentou praça
Na cavalaria
Eu estou feliz porque eu também
Sou da sua companhia

Eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de jorge
Para que meus inimigos tenham mãos
E não me toquem
Para que meus inimigos tenham pés
E não me alcancem
Para que meus inimigos tenham olhos
E não me vejam
E nem mesmo pensamento eles possam ter
Para me fazerem mal

Armas de fogo
O meu corpo não alcançarão
Facas e espadas se quebrem
Sem o meu corpo tocar
Cordas e correntes se arrebentem
Sem o meu corpo amarrar
Pois eu estou vestido com as roupas e as armas de jorge
Jorge é de Capadócia