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.
Morre-se Assim
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
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Morre-se assim
Como se faz um atchim
E de supetão
Lá vem o rabecão
Morre-se assim
E de supetão
Lá vem o rabecão
Não não não não não não não não
Não não não não
Sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim
Mas porém contudo todavia
No entanto outrossim
Uma bala perdida desferida na rua dos paqueradores de travesti voou e foi alojar-se no crânio de uma velha senhora que lia com fervor a sua bíblia lá no morumbi.
No cemitério, pra se viver é preciso primeiro falecer. Os vivos são governados pelos mortos. Que nada, os vivos são governados pelos mais vivos ainda. E no cemitério, devota alice, nós os ossos esperamos pelos vossos.
The lyrics of Caetano Veloso's "Morre-se Assim" describe the melancholic scene of the singer kneeling and shedding hot tears of longing next to his beloved's tomb, surrounded by sad cypress trees and shrouded in fog. The song's title translates to "One Dies Like This", and this is reflected in the repetition of the phrase "Morre-se assim" throughout the song, which could be interpreted as a commentary on the sudden, unpredictable nature of death. The listener is warned that death can strike unexpectedly, like a sneeze ("como se faz um atchim"), and a sudden sound of a hearse ("rabecão") signals the arrival of the deceased.
As the song progresses, the singer brings attention to a stray bullet that hit an innocent old lady reading her bible in Morumbi, thereby highlighting the unpredictability of death and the potential for terrible things to happen without warning. The final lines of the song suggest that the living are governed by the dead, or perhaps by those who are especially alive, and that we all must ultimately face our own mortality. The haunting melody and poetic lyrics of "Morre-se Assim" make it a beautiful yet thought-provoking commentary on the fragility of human life.
Line by Line Meaning
Morre-se assim
Dying is just like sneezing
Como se faz um atchim
It happens suddenly and unexpectedly
E de supetão
Without any prior warning
Lá vem o rabecão
The funeral car arrives to take the body away
Não não não não não não não não
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
Não não não não
No, no, no, no
Sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim sim
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes
Mas porém contudo todavia
However, yet, still
No entanto outrossim
Nevertheless, also
Uma bala perdida desferida na rua dos paqueradores de travesti voou e foi alojar-se no crânio de uma velha senhora que lia com fervor a sua bíblia lá no morumbi.
A stray bullet aimed at transgender lovers flew and lodged itself in the skull of an old lady who was fervently reading her bible in Morumbi.
No cemitério, pra se viver é preciso primeiro falecer.
At the cemetery, one must first die in order to live.
Os vivos são governados pelos mortos.
The living are governed by the dead.
Que nada, os vivos são governados pelos mais vivos ainda.
No way, the living are governed even more by the living.
E no cemitério, devota alice, nós os ossos esperamos pelos vossos.
And in the cemetery, devout Alice, we the bones wait for yours.
Contributed by Miles Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.