“É proibido proibir” is a song written by Brazilian Tropicália musician Caetano Veloso for the 1968 for the third annual International Song Festival in Rio de Janeiro. Veloso performed the song with the backing of Tropicália band Os Mutantes. The song itself is a mixture of Brazilian popular music and psychedelic rock which originated in the United States. The performance was recorded and released as a single, with the song on the A-side and the impromptu speech from Veloso following the backlash from the audience on the B-side. The lyrics of the song itself speak out against the censorship imposed by the Brazilian government that had recently began to be imposed.
The speech happened after the audience, which mostly consisted of young students, jeered at Veloso and the band for playing a song so heavily influenced by the commercial sounds from the U.S. It criticizes the audience for their conservative backlash. This performance would later lead to Veloso and another Brazilian pop artist who performed with him, Gilberto Gil, to be forced to leave Brazil. The song and it’s history is a valuable snapshot of the conflict around pop music in Brazil during the late 1960’s and the 1970’s.
Lyrics (In English):
The virgin’s mom says no
And the TV ad
Was written on the gate
And the bandmaster raised his finger
And beyond the door
There’s the doorman, yes…
And I say no
And I say no to no
I say:
No! — forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding…
Give me a kiss, my darling
They’re waiting for us
The cars are burning in flames
To take down the shelves
The bookcases, the statues
The windows, wares, books, yes…
I say yes
I say no to no
And I say
No! – forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding…
(spoken)
I fell on the sand at that hour contrary that God concedes to his own, for the interval in which the soul is steeped in dreams that are God. What matters the sand and death and misadventure if I shielded myself with God? It is Who I dreamed myself, that is everlasting; it is as Such that I shall return.*
Give me a kiss, my darling
They’re waiting for us
The cars are burning in flames
To take down the shelves
The bookcases, the statues
The windows, wares, books, yes…
And I say yes
And I say no to no
And I say: No!
…Forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding
No forbidding…
Veloso, Caetano. “É proibido proibir”. Philips, 1968, Accessed November 15, 2022.