Francisco Buarque de Hollanda, better know as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian… Read Full Bio ↴Francisco Buarque de Hollanda, better know as Chico Buarque, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, economic and cultural reflections on Brazil.

The firstborn son of Sérgio Buarque de Hollanda, Buarque lived at several locations throughout his childhood, though mostly in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Rome. He wrote and studied literature as a child and found music through the bossa nova compositions of Tom Jobim and João Gilberto. He performed as a singer and guitarist in the 1960s as well as writing a play that was deemed dangerous by the Brazilian military dictatorship of the time. Buarque, along with several Tropicalist and MPB musicians, was threatened by the Brazilian military government and eventually left Brazil for Italy in 1969. However, he came back to Brazil in 1970, and continued to record, perform, and write, though much of his material was suppressed by government censors. He released several more albums in the 1980s and published three novels in the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2019, Buarque was awarded the Camões Prize, the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language.

Juca
Chico Buarque Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Juca foi autuado em flagrante
Como meliante
Pois sambava bem diante
Da janela de Maria
Bem no meio da alegria
A noite virou dia
O seu luar de prata
Virou chuva fria

A sua serenata
Não acordou Maria

Juca ficou desapontado
Declarou ao delegado
Não saber se amor é crime
Ou se samba é pecado
Em legítima defesa
Batucou assim na mesa
O delegado é bamba
Na delegacia
Mas nunca fez samba
Nunca viu Maria

O delegado é bamba
Na delegacia
Mas nunca fez samba
Nunca viu Maria

Juca foi autuado em flagrante
Como meliante
Pois sambava bem diante
Da janela de Maria
Bem no meio da alegria
A noite virou dia
O seu luar de prata
Virou chuva fria
A sua serenata
Não acordou Maria

Juca ficou desapontado
Declarou ao delegado
Não saber se amor é crime
Ou se samba é pecado
Em legítima defesa
Batucou assim na mesa
O delegado é bamba
Na delegacia
Mas nunca fez samba
Nunca viu Maria

O delegado é bamba
Na delegacia
Mas nunca fez samba
Nunca viu Maria

O delegado é bamba
Na delegacia

Mas nunca fez samba
Nunca viu Maria

Overall Meaning

Chico Buarque's song "Juca" is a playful and ironic critique of societal norms and the criminalization of art forms such as samba. The lyrics describe Juca's arrest for "samb[ing] well" in front of Maria's window, and the subsequent confusion over whether love or samba is a crime. Juca asserts his right to express himself through music, even in the face of legal persecution. The repetition of the lines "O delegado é bamba na delegacia, mas nunca fez samba, nunca viu Maria" highlights the divide between those in power and those who use art forms like samba to connect with others and express themselves.

Line by Line Meaning

Juca foi autuado em flagrante
Juca was apprehended in the act

Como meliante
Being treated as a criminal

Pois sambava bem diante
For dancing Samba out front

Da janela de Maria
Of Maria's window

Bem no meio da alegria
Right in the middle of joy

A noite virou dia
The night turned into day

O seu luar de prata
Its silver moonlight

Virou chuva fria
Turned into cold rain

A sua serenata
His serenade

Não acordou Maria
Didn't wake Maria up

Juca ficou desapontado
Juca was disappointed