Military Dictatorship Songs

Brazilian popular music was one of the main instruments used to contest the military dictatorship (1964-1985).

The lyrics of several songs indicated dissatisfaction with the regime and several songwriters were targets of censorship and persecution.

Pointing out direct dissatisfaction or using metaphors, they had to go into exile to avoid successive calls for depositions and the possibility of arrest.

Now let's look at six songs that help to understand this period:

1. In spite of you (Chico Buarque, 1970)

The composer, singer, playwright and writer from Rio de Janeiro, Chico Buarque, has one of the greatest productions aimed at criticizing the military dictatorship. His work is influenced by samba and everyday lyricism.

In the late 1960s, he was criticized for not taking a political stand, but when he did, he had to seek self-exile in Rome in 1968, and only returned to Brazil in 1970.

Following the advice of the poet Vinícius de Moraes, the composer returns to Brazil making noise. Submit the lyrics of the song "Despite you " to the censor and explains that it was a couple's fight. The chosen rhythm, the samba, left no doubt that it was a matter of a breakup in love.

The censors did not understand the message hidden in each of the metaphors and, to the composer's surprise, released the work. "Despite you " was released as a single (disc that contained only two songs, one on each side of the vinyl).

From the first verse "Tomorrow will be another day ", referring to a possible fall of the military, the lyrics criticized the military regime. The song achieved a resounding success and was played on radio stations across the country. When the military wanted to censor it, it was too late.

"Despite you" would be released in 1978 and would be part of the album that would bring together other famous songs by Chico Buarque such as "Tanto mar" and "Homage to the Trickster" .

In spite of you

Today you are the boss
It's spoken, it's spoken
there is no discussion
(.....)

In spite of you
tomorrow must be
Another day

2. Not to say that I didn't mention the flowers (Geraldo Vandré, 1967)

It is by Geraldo Vandré from Paraíba, one of the most sung songs in the marches carried out against the military regime. The song "Not to say I didn't mention the flowers" portrays the Brazilian reality while urging the population to react against the country's political situation.

Verses like "Famine in the fields / in large plantations" revealed Brazil's socio-economic inequality. On the other hand, "Come, let's go/ That waiting is not knowing" it was an invitation to change the situation of the moment.

The theme was presented at the International Song Festival in 1968, but lost to "Sabiá" , by Chico Buarque and Tom Jobim. Performed by the duo Cynara and Cybele, the song received a thunderous boo from the audience.

Geraldo Vandré left Brazil that year and would only return in 1973, without ever having returned to the Brazilian art scene.

Although the music was widely used by opponents of the dictatorship, Vandré never agreed with the use that part of the left made of his composition. He defined it as an "urban music and chronicle of reality" and not as a protest song.

He never hid his admiration for the Air Force and even wrote "Fabiana" in honor of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).

Not to say I didn't mention the flowers

In the fields there is hunger
in large plantations
Through the streets marching
indecisive cords
still make the flower
Your strongest refrain
And believe in flowers
Beating the Cannon

Come, let's go
That waiting is not knowing
who knows what time it is
Don't wait for it to happen

3. The drunk and the tightrope walker (Aldir Blanc and João Bosco, 1975)

Both resorted to metaphors to allude to facts never explained by the military dictatorship, such as the collapse of the Paulo de Frontin highway in Rio de Janeiro ("Fall in the afternoon like a viaduct").

Likewise, the murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog is portrayed through the phrase "Choram Marias e Clarices" . The mentioned Clarice makes reference to Clarice Herzog, Vladimir's wife.

Initially, the lyrics paid homage to Charles Chaplin and his famous character, Carlitos. However, after a meeting with the cartoonist Henfil, verses were added alluding to the "brother of Henfil", Betinho, who was in exile.

They also use popular expressions such as "gentle mother country " and sayings like "the show must go on " in order to make the lyrics accessible to all audiences.

The song sums up the feelings of those who called for amnesty for exiles and those who lost their political rights. It was recorded in 1979, the same year the Amnesty Law was signed, and became an anthem of those times.

The drunk and the tightrope walker

And clouds there on the blotter of the sky
Sucked tortured stains
What a choke!
Crazy!
The drunk with the bowler hat
I made a thousand irreverences
For the night of Brazil

My Brazil!
Who dreams of the return of Henfil's brother
With so many people gone
In a rocket tail

Cry
Our gentle motherland
Marias and Clarisses cry
On the soil of Brazil

4. Chalice (Gilberto Gil and Chico Buarque, 1973)

Singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil wrote, in partnership with Chico Buarque, one of the most striking songs in opposition to the dictatorship. "Chalice " was composed in 1973, but was only released by the censors in 1975.

The work is a metaphor for the moment of supplication of Jesus Christ, aware that he will be killed, so that the Father may remove the chalice (destiny) from him. However, Gilberto Gil took advantage of the paronomasia produced by the sound of the syllables, as it is also possible to hear "cale-se" from the verb to shut up.

Thus, the lyrics induce the "cale-se" to be removed from the people, that is, the censorship, imposed by the dictators.

In biblical history, Jesus Christ knows that he will be tortured and that death will be marked by blood. In the same way, the song denounces the blood shed by those tortured in the basements of the dictatorship.

The melody and chorus make the lyrics more impactful. In one of the recordings, with Chico Buarque and Milton Nascimento, the word "cale-se" is repeated more and more by the male choir performed by the quartet MPB4.

The last time the stanza is repeated, the instruments disappear, and the effect of the solo voices accompanied by the chorus makes the message disturbing.

Chalice

How to drink this bitter drink
Swallow the pain, swallow the toil
Even if you keep your mouth shut, your chest remains
Silence in the city is not heard
What's the point of being a saint's son?
It would be better to be someone else's child
Another less dead reality
So much lies, so much brute force

Father, take this cup away from me
Father, take this cup away from me
Father, take this cup away from me
Of blood red wine

5. Joy, Joy (Caetano Veloso, 1967)

The songs of Bahian Caetano Veloso also marked the criticism against the dictatorship. Among the most important is "Alegria, alegria", which inaugurates the Tropicalismo movement in Brazil.

The song was performed at the Festival da Canção in 1967 and finished in 4th place. Later, it would be consecrated as one of the most important in Brazilian history.

It is a march with a strong accent of American pop music. Caetano Veloso adds guitars to the instrumentation, faithful to his proposal of cannibalizing foreign influences.

Lyrics can be understood as the impressions a person comes across when "walking against the wind ". On the street, she sees "The sun on the newsstands/ It fills me with joy and laziness/Who reads so much news ". Likewise, he makes reference to the political situation that was going through Brazil "Between photos and names/ No books and no rifle ".

In the last verse, a wish that would become prophetic for all opponents of the military dictatorship "I want to go on living, love ". The lyrics were considered disrespectful and did not pass the scrutiny of the censors.

Caetano Veloso followed with Gilberto Gil into self-exile between 1969 and 1971, in London.

Joy, joy

She thinks about marriage
And I never went to school again
No scarf, no document
I will

I drink a coke
she thinks about marriage
And a song consoles
I will

Between photos and names
No books and no rifle
No hunger, no phone
In the heart of Brazil

6. Underneath the curls of your hair (Roberto and Erasmo Carlos, 1971)

Romantic music icon Roberto Carlos led Jovem Guarda, which introduced rock n'roll in Brazilian daily life. Roberto Carlos did not declare himself against the regime, and his music, which spoke of the problems of youth, made the artist be seen as sympathetic to the military dictatorship.

However, in 1969, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso are "invited" to leave the country and go to London. There, Veloso would write one of his greatest ballads, "London, London ", which described the sadness he felt at being away from Bahia.

Roberto Carlos had the opportunity to visit him in the British capital and, upon returning to Brazil, decided to write a song in honor of his friend. However, if he spoke of Caetano explicitly, the lyrics would be censored. The solution was to resort to metonymy and use Caetano Veloso's curly hair to allude to the artist without having to say his name.

Written in partnership with Erasmo Carlos, the lyrics mention the sadness that Caetano was living in exile. The feeling is expressed in lines like "And your sad look/let your chest bleed/A longing, a dream ". However, he also gave support and hope to his friend by mentioning the "white sand" and "blue sea water" of Bahian beaches.

The protest went unnoticed by the censors, accustomed to lyrics that dealt with love and passion in a rocambolian way.

Caetano Veloso and Roberto Carlos made numerous recordings of this song throughout their careers.

Under the curls of your hair

A story to tell
From a world so far away
Underneath the curls of your hair
A hiccup and the will
To stay a moment longer

You walk in the afternoon
And your sad look
let your chest bleed
A longing, a dream

One day I will see you
arriving in a smile
Stepping on the white sand
What is your paradise

Read our texts on Military Dictatorship in Brazil :

• Economic Miracle
• Direct Now
• Democracy in Brazil
• Years of Lead
• Military Coup of 1964
• Questions about the Military Dictatorship