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.
O Cu Do Mundo
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
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O fétido seqüestro
O adjetivo esdrúxulo em U
Onde o cujo faz a curva
(O cu do mundo, esse nosso sítio)
O crime estúpido, o criminoso só
Substantivo, comum
O fruto espúrio reluz
A mais triste nação
Na época mais podre
Compõe-se de possíveis
Grupos de linchadores
The lyrics of "O Cu Do Mundo" by Caetano Veloso are very insightful and deep. The lyrics talk about various crimes and their perpetrators, and how everything is happening under the shadow of the "Cu Do Mundo," meaning the center of the world, or the most important place. The singer talks about crimes like theft, rape and kidnapping, and how they are all part of the same ugly picture. The use of the word "cujo" (whose meaning is a mix of dog and whose) in the lyrics emphasizes the grotesque and twisted nature of these crimes.
The singer also talks about the mindset of the people who commit these crimes. They are described as "possíveis grupos de linchadores," which means they are just possible lynch mobs, capable of committing any heinous act. Veloso's use of music and lyrics helps to bring out the stark reality of the world we live in, where crimes like these are often ignored or overlooked.
Line by Line Meaning
O furto, o estupro, o rapto pútrido
The theft, the rape, the putrid kidnapping
O fétido seqüestro
The foul-smelling kidnapping
O adjetivo esdrúxulo em U
The strange adjective in U
Onde o cujo faz a curva
Where the mongrel makes the turn
(O cu do mundo, esse nosso sítio)
(The asshole of the world, this place of ours)
O crime estúpido, o criminoso só
The stupid crime, the criminal alone
Substantivo, comum
Noun, common
O fruto espúrio reluz
The spurious fruit shines
À subsombra desumana dos linchadores
In the inhuman shadow of the lynchers
A mais triste nação
The saddest nation
Na época mais podre
In the most rotten era
Compõe-se de possíveis
Composed of possible
Grupos de linchadores
Groups of lynchers
Contributed by Elizabeth F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Humberto Candido
Ananlisando as metáforas e alterações é uma perfeita canção!
Roberto Cabral
Chico Buarque disse num show em Paris que se há uma coisa que poderia lhe dar orgulho de ser brasileiro seriam os músicos do Brasil. Ainda temos grandes músicos (mas desconhecidos por grande parte da população), mas de resto aqui é mesmo o cu do mundo.
Emília Garcés
Que atual!!! Caetano é genial!
Nicolas
Nada atual
el danaus celular velho
"O retrato do nosso tempo:
Era ontem o que é hoje."
.
eL Tristão
el danaus celular velho
O que era previsão tornou-se fato.
Junior de Pinho JUNIOR DE PINHO
caetano veloso poeta baiano , grande canto da mpb ,sou fa das suas obras parabens ...obrigado por ser brasileiro meu pais ass; junior de pinho ator locutor humorista abraçossss vellossssssso
Rafaela santos cardoso
artístico, reflexivo, incômodo, profético e tb nostáugico! pq tenho certeza plena q a época mais podre da nação foi durante os longos séculos de escravidão formal africana
Lloyd Christmas
Caetano Veloso é tão intelegente
sidney sidcasemiro
Perfeito 👏👏👏