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.
Manjar De Reis
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dos mais finos canapés
Mas agora é minha vez
De te fazer mil cafunés
Tu és manjar de reis
Dos mais finos canapés
Mas agora é minha vez
De te fazer mil cafunés
Da cabeça aos pés
Quero que sem timidez
Tu chupes picolés
Quero que tu me dês
Tudo que tu és
Quero que tu me dês
Tudo que tu és
The song "Manjar De Reis" by Caetano Veloso is a sensuous love song about a man's desire for his lover. The lyrics describe the woman as a "manjar de reis," or a delicacy fit for royalty, represented by the "finest canapés." But despite her status, the man asserts his own power in the relationship, declaring that it's now his turn to "te fazer mil cafunés," to give her a thousand tender caresses.
The second half of the song becomes increasingly erotic, with the singer expressing his desire for his lover's complete nudity, from "cabeça aos pés." The use of the word "timidez," or shyness, suggests that perhaps the woman may hesitate at first, but the singer desires her to shed her inhibitions and be bold enough to "chupes picolés," to suck on popsicles, and to give him everything she is.
Line by Line Meaning
Tu és manjar de reis
You are food fit for kings; a delicacy that is highly prized
Dos mais finos canapés
Among the finest hors d'oeuvres; considered to be of exceptional quality
Mas agora é minha vez
But now, it's my turn
De te fazer mil cafunés
To give you a thousand affectionate caresses
Quero a tua nudez
I want your nakedness
Da cabeça aos pés
From head to toe
Quero que sem timidez
I want you to unabashedly
Tu chupes picolés
Suck popsicles
Quero que tu me dês
I want you to give me
Tudo que tu és
Everything that you are
Quero que tu me dês
I want you to give me
Tudo que tu és
Everything that you are
Contributed by Mila E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Ou você ama o mundo ou você segue a Deus.
Não tem como negar: esses dois são gênios quase que indissociáveis!
Como a MPB perde quando deixa a mídia ignorar uma dupla desse calibre!
Ouvir esses dois é mesmo um Manjar de Reis!
Jorge Mautner é genialíssimo e merece uma revisita urgente na audição de suas canções, que são todas estrambóticas, mas de um lirismo e de uma beleza inquestionáveis!
Puxa vida! Quando penso no que está sendo subtraído das gerações mais jovens...
Borboleteando
Uma marchinha bem humorada e meio nonsense que poderia ser gravada por todos os mestres: Mário Reis, Carmen Miranda, Lamartine Babo ...
mujersemilla
Gracias por disponibilizar esse manjar!rs...
Geraldo Freire - MusiKaos
De nada. Tb adoro essa música.
lucas vaz guedes
essa música me faz lembrar da tijuca n sei pq hahahahahahaha ...