Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (Exu, Pernambuco, December 13, 1912 — Recife, Pe… Read Full Bio ↴Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento (Exu, Pernambuco, December 13, 1912 — Recife, Pernambuco, August 2, 1989) was a prominent Brazilian folk singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Born in the countryside of Pernambuco, he is considered to be responsible for the promotion of Northeastern ("nordeste") music throughout the rest of the country. He is also known as the "king of baiao" and "Gonzagão".

The son of a peasant and accordion player, he was attracted to the 8-bass accordion at an early age, although he started out by accompanying his father by playing the zabumba (a type of bass drum) and singing at parties and religious celebrations. He left home in 1930 to join the army, and toured Brazil with an army band until 1939. Gonzaga decided to remain in Rio de Janeiro with a recently purchased accordion. He performed in the streets and in bars, playing boleros, waltzes and tangos.

After noticing that the Northeastern immigrants missed the music from their hometowns, he started to give listeners the sort of music they craved to hear: xaxados, baiões, chamegos and cocos. At Ary Barroso’s talent show, Luiz Gonzaga played his chamego "Vira e Mexe" and was acclaimed by the audience and by the dreaded host, who gave him the highest score.

In 1943, he dressed up in typical Northeastern costumes for the first time to perform live, and got hyped. Later on, as well as playing popular tunes on the accordion, he began to sing his own material, and his skills as a songwriter were revealed.

Gonzaga's son, Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento Júnior, known as Gonzaguinha, born 1945, was also a noted Brazilian singer and composer.

His greatest hit ever, "Asa Branca" (written with Humberto Teixeira), was recorded in 1947 and was covered countless times by many different artists. He worked on the radio until 1954, enjoying huge popularity. He is widely recognized for singlehandedly taking the baião style and the accordion to a wide audience. For a time RCA (now BMG), his recording label, was almost exclusively dedicated to printing his singles and albums. During the 60's, as the public taste shifted to bossa nova and iê-iê-iê, he found himself increasingly stranded from big city stages, so he toured the countryside, where his popularity never abated.

In the 70s and 80s, he slowly re-emerged, partly due to covers of his songs by famous artists like Geraldo Vandré, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, his son Gonzaguinha and Milton Nascimento. Some of his greatest hits are "Vozes da Seca" ("Voices From Drought"), "Algodão" ("Cotton"), "A Dança da Moda" ("The Dance In Fashion"), "ABC do Sertão" ("The ABC of Sertão"), "Derramaro o Gai" ("They Spilt the Gas"), "A Letra I" ("The 'i' letter"), "Imbalança" ("Shake It"), "A Volta da Asa-Branca" ("The Return Of The Picazuro Pigeon"), "Cintura Fina" ("Slender Waist"), "O Xote das Meninas" ("The Girls' Schottische", written with Zé Dantas, and "Juazeiro", "Paraíba", "Mangaratiba", "Baião-de-Dois", "No Meu Pé de Serra" ("There In My Homeland"), "Assum Preto" ("Blue-back Grassquit"), "Légua Tirana" ("Tyrannical league"), "Qui Nem Jiló" ("Like Solanum gilo", written with Humberto Teixeira. Other successful collaborations resulted in "Tá Bom Demais" ("It's Very Good") (with Onildo de Almeida), "Danado de Bom" ("Very Good") (with João Silva), "Dezessete e Setecentos" ("Seventeen And Seven hundred") and "Cortando o Pano" ("Cutting Cloth") (both with Miguel Lima).

Gonzaga died of natural causes at the age of 76.

Cantiga De Vem Vem
Luiz Gonzaga Lyrics

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Vivo sempre escutando
A cantiga de vem-vem
Quando ouço ele cantando
Penso ser você que vem
Fico de ôio no caminho
Por fim não chega ninguém
Ai, ai, ai
Por fim não chega ninguém } bis

Quando perco a esperança
Parece uma tentação
Me sento lá no terreiro
Escoro o rosto com a mão
Sem plano, pobre coitado
Fazendo risco no chão
Ai, ai, ai } bis
Fazendo risco no chão
Tá vendo, meu bem tá vendo
Como é doce querer bem
Faz inté levar em conta
A cantiga de vem-vem

Ai, ai, ai } bis
A cantiga de vem-vem

Overall Meaning

Luiz Gonzaga's Cantiga De Vem Vem is a deeply contemplative, melancholic song that speaks of the singer's unfulfilled longing for someone who never seems to arrive. The song begins with the singer's keen anticipation, as he constantly listens out for "the song of the come-come" (cantiga de vem-vem), hoping that the person he has been waiting for will soon arrive. The singer fixates on this song, convinced that the person he is waiting for will be the one singing it.

However, the song soon takes a darker turn when the anticipation becomes too much, and the singer is forced to accept that his wait may be in vain. He sits down in the yard, resting his chin on his hand, and idly drawing lines on the ground. The repetition of the phrase "ai, ai, ai" highlights the singer's sense of sorrow and lamentation as he wonders why the person he is waiting for has not arrived.

Despite the obvious sadness of the song, it ends on a note of sweetness and sincerity. The singer tells his love, "See my love, see how sweet it is to love. Even the song of come-come is worth listening to, because it reminds me of you." This final sentiment reinforces the singer's steadfast determination to wait for the one he loves, despite the pain of his anticipation.

Line by Line Meaning

Vivo sempre escutando
I always listen

A cantiga de vem-vem
to the song of the come and go

Quando ouço ele cantando
When I hear it being sung

Penso ser você que vem
I think it's you who's coming

Fico de ôio no caminho
I keep an eye on the way

Por fim não chega ninguém
but in the end no one comes

Ai, ai, ai
Oh, oh, oh

Por fim não chega ninguém } bis
but in the end no one comes (repeat)

Quando perco a esperança
When I lose hope

Parece uma tentação
It seems like a temptation

Me sento lá no terreiro
I sit there in the yard