{"id":449,"date":"2015-09-18T10:44:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T13:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/?p=449"},"modified":"2024-04-26T19:43:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T22:43:57","slug":"449","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/18\/449\/","title":{"rendered":"Literature\u2019s influence on popular music: Bob Dylan and Caetano Veloso"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_counters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/lang\/pt\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:2px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_c=new Array(\"twitter\",\"facebook_like\",\"facebook_send\",\"pinterest\",\"email\",\"print\",\"linkedin\");var hupso_counters_lang = \"pt_BR\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"blogdootavio\";var hupso_url_c=\"\";var hupso_title_c=\"Literature%E2%80%99s%20influence%20on%20popular%20music%3A%20Bob%20Dylan%20and%20Caetano%20Veloso\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/counters.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Undoubtedly, great songwriters (like artists from other areas) usually find inspiration in books by renowned authors. Furthermore, this circulation of texts among writers is part of literature\u2019s nature itself. In this regard, Irene Severina Rezende, Ph.D. in Literary Studies of Compared Literature, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.revistas.usp.br\/crioula\/article\/download\/53581\/57549\">writes, paraphrasing the great Brazilian scholar Antonio Candido, that \u201cliterature must be circular, be read and shaped as pleased by each audience, and by the peculiar way of each author\u201d <\/a>(free translation here and in everything next).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Thus, great songwriters like Chico Buarque, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Caetano Veloso (among so many others), are able to adapt, in a very intelligent and creative way, the spirit and idea of certain writer into a more popular narrative, in an easier understanding for the modern audience. Therefore, there is no plagiarism, only inspiration.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some examples of songs influenced by literature are:\u00a0 \u201cRamble on\u201d by Led Zeppelin (inspired, just like other songs from the band, in Tolkien\u2019s Lord of the Rings); \u201cMonte Castelo\u201d by Renato Russo (it unites a chapter from Paul\u2019s epistle to Corinthians and the most famous sonnet from Lu\u00eds de Cam\u00f5es); and \u201cGeni e o Zepelim\u201d, that has a close and direct relationship with Guy de Maupassant\u2019s \u201cBoule de Suif\u201d (about this subject, I recommend the reading of Brazilian articles <a href=\"http:\/\/www.revistas.usp.br\/crioula\/article\/download\/53581\/57549\">&#8220;Similaridades tem\u00e1ticas al\u00e9m-fronteiras: Chico Buarque e Guy de Maupassant&#8221;<\/a> from the aforementioned Irene Rezende and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inventario.ufba.br\/07\/GeniEOZepelimXBolaDeSebo2aVersao.pdf\">\u201cGeni e o Zepelim X Bola de Sebo: a intertextualidade vista como um procedimento de originalidade\u201d<\/a> from Fernanda Isabel Bitazi, Master in Literature).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In this article, I\u2019ve decided to write about two songs that suffered literally influences so far unknown or little known: \u201cGotta Serve Somebody\u201d by Bob Dylan; and \u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d (Happiness, happiness) by Caetano Veloso.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nesse texto, decidi escrever sobre duas can\u00e7\u00f5es que sofreram influ\u00eancias liter\u00e1rias at\u00e9 ent\u00e3o desconhecidas ou pouco divulgadas: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bobdylan.com\/us\/songs\/gotta-serve-somebody\">\u201cGotta Serve Somebody\u201d<\/a> de Bob Dylan; e <a href=\"http:\/\/letras.mus.br\/caetano-veloso\/43867\/\">\u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d<\/a> de Caetano Veloso.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Gotta Serve Somebody \u2013 Bob Dylan.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2577\" style=\"width: 280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4aTMZjL\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2577\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2577\" src=\"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/dylaneng.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"266\" srcset=\"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/dylaneng.jpg 270w, https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/dylaneng-88x88.jpg 88w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click in the above picture to by albums by Bob Dylan<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most brilliant American songwriter, Bob Dylan, is a literature savant. Because of that, it is common to see in his songs references to words of master from that genre. It\u2019s the case of \u201cTangled up in Blue\u201d, which has influences by Dante\u2019s \u201cDivine Comedy\u201d and Theckov\u2019s short stories (Russian who influences the whole \u201cBlood on the Tracks\u201d album).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In the 80\u2019s, Dylan live his \u201cChristian period\u201d, when he wrote several religious songs. Perhaps the most beautiful one has been \u201cEvery Grain of Sand\u201d, with several references to Biblical passages and a poem called \u201cAuguries of Innocence\u201d by William Blake.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In those days, one his most popular songs were \u201cGotta serve somebody\u201d. In the lyrics, Dylan tells us that everyone, regardless of fame or money (rich or poor; famous or unknown), must serve somebody. \u201cIt may be the devil or it may be the Lord. But you&#8217;re gonna have to serve somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Anyone can see this clear Christian influence. According to that tradition, we are all equal in God\u2019s eyes, whom we must serve.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Are there any other inspirations besides the obvious biblical tone? I believe so. To my surprise, while reading \u201cMoby Dick\u201d (Herman\u2019s Melville classic), I noticed a passage almost exactly as Dylan\u2019s message. The main character, Ishmael, explains while he is not ashamed of having the most simples job in a ship:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">What of it, if some old hunks of a sea-captain orders me to get a broom and sweep down the decks? What does that indignity amount to, weighed, I mean, in the scales of the New Testament? Do you think the archangel Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who ain&#8217;t a slave? Tell me that. Well, then, however the old sea-captains may order me about\u2014however they may thump and punch me about, I have the satisfaction of knowing that it is all right; that everybody else is one way or other served in much the same way\u2014either in a physical or metaphysical point of view, that is; and so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other&#8217;s shoulder-blades, and be content.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Practically the same idea passed on by Dylan. \u201cWho ain&#8217;t a slave? [\u2026] that everybody else is one way or other served in much the same way\u201d. To reinforce my argument, it is important to say that Dylan has showed appreciation for Melville\u2019s famous book in other moments, since he mentioned it in two other songs: Bob Dylan\u2019s 115th dream (several references to Moby Dick, especially when he speaks of a whale and a Captain Arab \u2013 Ahab in the book); and Lo and Behold! (&#8220;What&#8217;s it to ya, Moby Dick?).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Oddly, I have not found any article online dealing with this Dylan\u2019s inspiration in \u201cMoby Dick\u201d, which for me seems extreme likely.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Alegria, Alegria \u2013 Caetano Veloso<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2576\" style=\"width: 261px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3wd47C2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2576\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2576\" src=\"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/velosoing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"251\" height=\"246\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2576\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click in the picture above to by albums by Caetano Veloso<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cTropicalismo&#8221; (Brazilian musical movement from the late 60) was greatly influenced by the 1929 Brazilian Modernism in poetry and its \u201cMovimento Antropof\u00e1gico\u201d (anthropophagic movement, proposed by poet Oswald de Andrade). During nationalist times in Brazilian music, Caetano, Gilberto Gil (like in his song \u201cGeleia gera\u201d, for example) and the \u201ctropicalistas\u201d, adopted anthropophagy, \u201cdevouring\u201d everything around (in music, it meant mainly embracing innovations from British and American popular music).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">About \u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d, Brazilian Literature Ph.D., J\u00falio Diniz,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br\/NELIM\/ensaios_artigos\/julio_antropogafiaetropicalia.pdf\"> explains Caetano\u2019s anthropophagic character:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The anthropophagus \u201ctropicalista\u201d runs through his body and, particular, through his voice, the devouring and assimilation of aesthetical and political behaviors in good part opposed to a hegemonic vision of Brazilian culture, defended by segments of the intellectual left, as previously explained. His voice works like a passage place and staying of Bossa Nova, and from the traditional Brazilian music, to \u201cTropicalismo\u201d \u2013 from intimism to excess, from introspection to spectacularization, from the chair and the acoustic guitar to the baroque concert of juxtapositions.\u00a0 Caetano\u2019s voice comes from the mouth of technical cannibal, sweet barbarian that gives back to the exterior everything that was devoured by the ear that internalized the \u201cmillionaire contribution of all mistakes\u201d. as previously stated by Oswaldo de Andrade.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, as a good \u201canthropophagus tropicalista\u201d, Veloso also assimilated other thinkers into that song, specially Ferreira Gullar. This opinion is not very well known, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.drzem.com.br\/2014\/12\/a-historia-da-musica-onde-andaras-de.html\">but the Brazilian poet from Maranh\u00e3o himself has explained that process<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This partnership was not born from a relationship between Caetano and me. It was Maria Beth\u00e2nia who asked me if I would like for her two extremely sad lyrics, about jealously, that she wanted to record for her first album. So I did it and handed to her two lyrics, one is \u201cOnde Andar\u00e1s\u201d and the other is a poem, also from the same book, that I had adapted to serve as lyrics, since it was too long. But Caetano only put melody to one of them. The other poem I think inspired \u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d, because it says \u201catravessa a rua, entra no cinema\u201d (crosses the streets, enters the movie theater) and it\u2019s an urban poem that speaks exactly about the city and the focus is the same. The fact that he did not put melody to my poem and wrote \u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d gives the impression that he thought it best to write a song about that subject. There is in \u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d an expression that comes from my poem: \u201co sol se reparte em crimes\u201d (the sun split into crimes). This comes from one of my poems that says: \u201cthe afternoon splits into yogurt, curd, glasses of milk\u201d. This use of the verb spilt comes from the poem \u201cNa Leiteira\u201d. \u201cThe afternoon split into glasses of milk\u201d (note: in the poem), \u201cthe sun splits into crimes\/ military spacecraft\u201d (note: in the song). That\u2019s all right. That\u2019s the function of poetry, the poet invents expressions and popular artist, o songwriter does not have that job \u2013 it is more of communicating in a wider way with the public, it is not about changing language, reinventing language; that is more from poets [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Essential to repeat that those \u201crevelations\u201d in no shape of form reduces the importance and greatness of Dylan and Veloso. One can use, as an analogy, the words of Fernand Bitazi about Buarque and Maupassant, and say that \u201cAlegria, Alegria\u201d and \u201cGotta serve somebody\u201d keep their originality, since they follow a \u201ccreative process consisting not of a negligent and direct imitation, but rather an accurate and indirect imitation\u201d.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_counters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/lang\/pt\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:2px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_c=new Array(\"twitter\",\"facebook_like\",\"facebook_send\",\"pinterest\",\"email\",\"print\",\"linkedin\");var hupso_counters_lang = \"pt_BR\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"blogdootavio\";var hupso_url_c=\"\";var hupso_title_c=\"Literature%E2%80%99s%20influence%20on%20popular%20music%3A%20Bob%20Dylan%20and%20Caetano%20Veloso\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/counters.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_counters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/lang\/pt\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:2px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_c=new Array(\"twitter\",\"facebook_like\",\"facebook_send\",\"pinterest\",\"email\",\"print\",\"linkedin\");var hupso_counters_lang = \"pt_BR\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"blogdootavio\";var hupso_url_c=\"\";var hupso_title_c=\"Literature%E2%80%99s%20influence%20on%20popular%20music%3A%20Bob%20Dylan%20and%20Caetano%20Veloso\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/counters.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>Undoubtedly, great songwriters (like artists from other areas) usually find inspiration in books by renowned authors. Furthermore, this circulation of texts among writers is part of literature\u2019s nature itself. In this regard, Irene Severina Rezende, Ph.D. in Literary Studies of Compared Literature, writes, paraphrasing the great Brazilian scholar Antonio Candido, that \u201cliterature must be circular, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_counters\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/lang\/pt\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:2px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_c=new Array(\"twitter\",\"facebook_like\",\"facebook_send\",\"pinterest\",\"email\",\"print\",\"linkedin\");var hupso_counters_lang = \"pt_BR\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"blogdootavio\";var hupso_url_c=\"\";var hupso_title_c=\"Literature%E2%80%99s%20influence%20on%20popular%20music%3A%20Bob%20Dylan%20and%20Caetano%20Veloso\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/counters.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,88],"tags":[85,86,87,89,90],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2578,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449\/revisions\/2578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otaviopinto.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}