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.
Peter Gast
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Qualquer um
Enganando entre a dor e o prazer
Hei de viver e morrer
Como um homem comum
Mas o meu coração de poeta
Projeta-me em tal solidão
Que às vezes assisto
Sei voar e tenho as fibras tensas
E sou um
Ninguém é comum
E eu sou ninguém
No meio de tanta gente
De repente vem
Mesmo eu no meu automóvel
No trânsito vem
O profundo silêncio
Da música límpida de Peter Gast
Escuto a música silenciosa de Peter Gast
Peter Gast
O hóspede do profeta sem morada
O menino bonito Peter Gast
Rosa do crepúsculo de Veneza
Mesmo aqui no samba-canção
Do meu rock'n'roll
Escuto a música silenciosa de Peter Gast
Sou um homem comum
In Caetano Veloso's song "Peter Gast", the lyrics describe the singer's commonness and his struggle to balance between pain and pleasure. He accepts his mortality but also acknowledges his poetic heart that transports him into solitude, making him feel like he is both a part of and removed from the world around him. The singer goes on to declare that despite his commonness, he feels like no one else, and yet he is nobody amongst the crowd. He even experiences the deep silence of Peter Gast's music while driving on the highway, feeling like a part of him is somewhere else.
The lyrics of the song seem to reflect Caetano Veloso's own life, as he was a rebel against the establishment in 1960s Brazil. The song could be seen as a reflection of the challenges he faced as an artist fighting against conventional norms, as well as his personal struggles to find his place in the world.
Overall, the lyrics of "Peter Gast" are both introspective and existential, where the singer's search for meaning and belonging juxtaposes his feelings of isolation and estrangement from the world around him.
Line by Line Meaning
Sou um homem comum
I am an ordinary man.
Qualquer um
Like anyone else.
Enganando entre a dor e o prazer
Juggling between pain and pleasure.
Hei de viver e morrer
I will live and die.
Como um homem comum
As an ordinary man.
Mas o meu coração de poeta
But my poet's heart.
Projeta-me em tal solidão
Projects me into such loneliness.
Que às vezes assisto
That sometimes I witness.
A guerras e festas imensas
To immense wars and parties.
Sei voar e tenho as fibras tensas
I know how to fly and have tense nerves.
E sou um
And I am one.
Ninguém é comum
No one is ordinary.
E eu sou ninguém
And I am no one.
No meio de tanta gente
In the midst of so many people.
De repente vem
Suddenly comes.
Mesmo eu no meu automóvel
Even in my car.
No trânsito vem
In the traffic comes.
O profundo silêncio
The deep silence.
Da música límpida de Peter Gast
Of Peter Gast's clear music.
Escuto a música silenciosa de Peter Gast
I hear Peter Gast's silent music.
Peter Gast
Peter Gast.
O hóspede do profeta sem morada
The guest of the homeless prophet.
O menino bonito Peter Gast
The beautiful boy Peter Gast.
Rosa do crepúsculo de Veneza
Rose of the Venice twilight.
Mesmo aqui no samba-canção
Even here in the samba-canção.
Do meu rock'n'roll
Of my rock'n'roll.
Escuto a música silenciosa de Peter Gast
I hear Peter Gast's silent music.
Sou um homem comum
I am an ordinary man.
Contributed by Savannah Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.