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.
Quem Me Dera
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Eu não vou mais voltar
Se Deus quiser
Vou mandar te buscar
De madrugada, quando o sol cair dend'água
Vou mandar te buscar
Ai, quem me dera
Meu Deus, não tenho alegria
Bahia no coração
Ai, quem me dera
Voltar, quem me dera o dia
De ter de novo a Bahia
Todinha no coração
Ai, água clara que não tem fim
Não há outra canção em mim
Que saudade!
Ai, quem me dera
Mas quem me dera a alegria
De ter de novo a Bahia
E nela o amor que eu quis
Ai, quem me dera
Meu bem, quem me dera o dia
De ter você na Bahia
O mar e o amor feliz
Adeus, meu bem
Eu não vou mais voltar
Se Deus quiser
Vou mandar te buscar
Na lua cheia
Quando é tão branca a areia
Vou mandar te buscar
The lyrics to Caetano Veloso's song Quem Me Dera tell the story of a person saying goodbye to their loved one but hoping to return to Bahia to be with them again. The first stanza tells the loved one goodbye, but the singer hopes to return and fetch their lover when the sun falls on the water in the early morning. The second and third stanzas express the singer's longing and desire to return to Bahia, the place where they have joy and love in their heart. There is a deep sense of nostalgia for Bahia that is so strong in the singer's heart that they cannot sing any other song except for one that expresses their longing for the place. The fourth and fifth stanzas express a deep desire for the love they once had in Bahia and the person they have left behind. The song ends with the same sentiment as the beginning, hoping to return to the loved one on a full moon night when the sand is white.
Line by Line Meaning
Adeus, meu bem
Farewell, my love
Eu não vou mais voltar
I will not come back
Se Deus quiser
If God wills
Vou mandar te buscar
I will send for you
De madrugada, quando o sol cair dend'água
In the early morning, when the sun falls into the water
Ai, quem me dera
Oh, if only I could
Voltar, quem me dera um dia
To return, if only one day
Meu Deus, não tenho alegria
My God, I have no joy
Bahia no coração
Bahia in my heart
De ter de novo a Bahia
To have Bahia again
Todinha no coração
Entirely in my heart
Ai, água clara que não tem fim
Oh, clear water with no end
Não há outra canção em mim
There is no other song inside me
Que saudade!
But longing!
Mas quem me dera a alegria
But if only I had the joy
E nela o amor que eu quis
And in it, the love I desired
Meu bem, quem me dera o dia
My love, if only the day
De ter você na Bahia
To have you in Bahia
O mar e o amor feliz
The sea and happy love
Na lua cheia
In the full moon
Quando é tão branca a areia
When the sand is so white
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CAETANO EMMANUEL VIANA TELES VELOSO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind