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.

Você Não Entende Nada
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

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Quando eu chego em casa nada me consola
Você está sempre aflita
Lágrimas nos olhos, de cortar cebola
Você é tão bonita

Você traz a Coca-Cola eu tomo
Você bota a mesa, eu como, eu como
Eu como, eu como, eu como

Você

Não 'tá entendendo
Quase nada do que eu digo
Eu quero ir-me embora
Eu quero é dar o fora
E quero que você venha comigo
E quero que você venha comigo
E quero que você venha comigo, todo dia
Quero que você

Bebo, sento, eu fumo, eu como, eu não aguento
Você está tão curtida
Eu quero tocar fogo neste apartamento
Você não acredita

Traz meu café com suíta, eu tomo
Bota a sobremesa eu como, eu como
Eu como, eu como, eu como
Você

Tem que saber que eu quero correr o mundo
Correr perigo
Eu quero é ir-me embora
Eu quero é dar o fora
E quero que você venha comigo
E quero que você venha comigo
E quero que você venha comigo, todo dia
E quero que você venha comigo

Iê, traz a Coca-Cola, que eu tomo, eu tomo
Bota a sobremesa, eu como, como
Traz a Coca-Cola, que eu tomo, eu tomo
Bota a sobremesa, que eu como, como
Que eu tomo, que eu como
Que eu tomo
Traz a Coca-Cola, que eu tomo
Que eu tomo, que eu como
Que eu como
Não entendeu nada, iê

Não entende nada, não, nada
Eu como

Overall Meaning

In Caetano Veloso's song "Você Não Entende Nada", the lyrics describe a man who comes home feeling inconsolable and frustrated with his current situation. He has a beautiful partner who is always anxious and crying, and while he appreciates her efforts to bring him comfort - like bringing him Coca-Cola and preparing meals - he is feeling restless and stuck. The singer wants to leave and go on a world adventure, but he wants his partner to come with him.

The song seems to be a commentary on the restlessness and dissatisfaction that can come with living a routine life. Despite having a loving partner and material comforts, the singer yearns for something more exciting and adventurous. The phrase "Você não está entendendo quase nada do que eu digo" (translated to "You're not understanding almost anything I say") suggests a communication breakdown between the two characters, as the singer begins to express his desires for escape and his partner may not fully understand the gravity of his feelings.

Overall, the lyrics of "Você Não Entende Nada" paint a complex picture of a man who is struggling with feelings of restlessness and dissatisfaction, while grappling with the love and loyalty he feels towards his partner.

Line by Line Meaning

Quando eu chego em casa nada me consola
When I come home nothing consoles me.

Você está sempre aflita
You are always anxious.

Lágrimas nos olhos, de cortar cebola
Tears in your eyes, as if you had been chopping onions.

Você é tão bonita
You are so beautiful.

Você traz a coca-cola eu tomo
You bring Coca-Cola, I drink it.

Você bota a mesa, eu como, eu como
You set the table, I eat, I eat.

Eu como, eu como, eu como
I eat, I eat, I eat.

Você não está entendendo
You're not understanding.

Quase nada do que eu digo
Almost nothing of what I say.

Eu quero ir-me embora
I want to leave.

Eu quero é dar o fora
What I really want is to get out of here.