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.

José
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Estou no fundo do poço
Meu grito
Lixa o céu seco
O tempo espicha mas ouço
O eco
Qual será o Egito que responde
E se esconde no futuro?
O poço é escuro

Mas o Egito resplandece
No meu umbigo
E o sinal que vejo é esse
De um fado certo
Enquanto espero

Só comigo e mal comigo
No umbigo do deserto

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Caetano Veloso's song "José" are a meditation on despair and hope, set against the backdrop of ancient Egypt. The singer finds himself at the bottom of a well, or "fundo do poço," crying out in desperation. His cries reverberate through the well, accentuated by the dryness of the sky, as if his despair is being amplified by the emptiness around him. The singer wonders what awaits him in the future, and if the answer lies in the ancient civilization of Egypt, which is both hidden and shining in his personal "umbigo," or navel. This allusion to the mysterious and powerful civilization of the Pharaohs is both an acknowledgement of the profound wisdom of the past and a suggestion that there may be hope for a brighter future.

As the singer waits, alone with himself in this barren, desert-like place, he waits for a sign of something certain, however small. This "fado certo" may be a ray of hope that shines even in the midst of darkness. The language of the lyrics is rich and poetic, with phrases like "o tempo espicha," or "the time stretches," and "o sinal que vejo é esse," or "the sign that I see is this," giving the sense of a deep emotional and intellectual journey that is in progress.

Line by Line Meaning

Estou no fundo do poço
I am at the bottom of a pit or a hole, perhaps a metaphorical one, symbolizing a low point in my life

Meu grito
My shout or scream, which represents my pain and frustration

Lixa o céu seco
It sands the dry sky, possibly meaning that it is so intense that it can erode even the elements that seem unchanging or eternal

O tempo espicha mas ouço
Time stretches, but I can still hear my own voice echoing. Time passes by, but my pain persists

O eco
The soundwave that bounces back and resonates with me. It represents the lingering effect of my pain

Qual será o Egito que responde
What will be the Egypt that answers, perhaps questioning what kind of solution or salvation awaits me, and what it will look like

E se esconde no futuro?
And if this Egypt hides in the future, implying that the answer or solution might be something unexpected

O poço é escuro
The pit is dark, representing the hopelessness and despair that surrounds me

Mas o Egito resplandece
But Egypt shines brightly, which can be interpreted as a beacon of hope that is yet to be reached

No meu umbigo
In my navel, which can be interpreted as something deeply personal, like my own destiny or purpose

E o sinal que vejo é esse
And the sign I see is this, which could either refer to a concrete sign or an internal feeling or intuition

De um fado certo
Of a certain fate, perhaps indicating that my destiny is predetermined, and I cannot escape it

Enquanto espero
While I wait, which can either indicate resignation or perseverance

Só comigo e mal comigo
Only with myself and against myself, hinting that sometimes, I am my own worst enemy

No umbigo do deserto
In the navel of the desert, meaning that I feel isolated, deserted and stranded, possibly in my search for salvation

Contributed by Sophia E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS