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.

Milagres do povo
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Todo dia o sol levanta
E a gente canta
Ao sol de todo dia

Fim da tarde a terra cora
E a gente chora
Porque finda a tarde

Quando a noite a lua mansa
E a gente dança
Venerando a noite

Um tom pra falar um tom pra cantar
Um tom para dizer
Um tom para a cor um tom para o som
Um tom para o ser

Ah, como é bom dormir
Ah, como é bom despertar
O céu é mais aqui
Um tom é um bom lugar

Tanta coisa que cabe
Tanta pode caber
Canta e pode fazer cantar
Nova felicidade novo tudo de bom
Deixa-se cantar um tom

Um tom pra falar um tom pra calar
Um tom pra dizer
Um tom para a voz um tom para mim um tom pra você
Um tom para todos nós

Um tom para todos nós
Um tom para todos nós
Um tom para todos nós
Um tom para todos nós
Um tom para todos nós

Um tom para todos nós
Um tom

Overall Meaning

Milagres do povo, a song by Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso, is a celebration of life and its ups and downs. The opening lines, "Todo dia o sol levanta/E a gente canta/Ao sol de todo dia" translate to "Every day the sun rises/And we sing/To the sun of every day." The lyrics reflect the idea that even in the mundane routines of everyday life, there is beauty and something to celebrate.

As the song progresses, the mood shifts to a more introspective tone. "Fim da tarde a terra cora/E a gente chora/Porque finda a tarde" translates to "At the end of the afternoon the earth blushes/And we cry/Because the evening is ending." This verse acknowledges the fleeting nature of time and the bittersweetness of watching one day come to a close.

The song then shifts again, with the lyrics describing the magic of nightfall. "Quando a noite a lua mansa/E a gente dança/Venerando a noite" translates to "When the night is peaceful and the moon is out/And we dance/Worshipping the night." The final verses focus on the power of music to connect us all, with "Um tom pra falar um tom pra cantar/Um tom para dizer/Um tom para a cor um tom para o som/Um tom para o ser" translating to "One tone to speak, one tone to sing/One tone to say/One tone for color, one tone for sound/One tone for being."

Overall, the song Milagres do povo is an ode to the simple joys of life and the power of music to connect us all.

Line by Line Meaning

Todo dia o sol levanta
Every day the sun rises

E a gente canta
And we sing

Ao sol de todo dia
To the sun of every day

Fim da tarde a terra cora
At the end of the afternoon, the earth blushes

E a gente chora
And we cry

Porque finda a tarde
Because the afternoon ends

Quando a noite a lua mansa
When night comes and the moon is gentle

E a gente dança
And we dance

Venerando a noite
Revering the night

Um tom pra falar um tom pra cantar
One tone to speak, one tone to sing