Caetano Veloso, “You Don’t Know Me”

by Alexandra Molotkow

Caetano Veloso is… you could call him the Brazilian Bob Dylan? And you could maybe call Chico Buarque the Brazilian Leonard Cohen, but that’s a whole ‘nother exit song. Could be Bob Dylan is the American Caetano and Leonard is the Canadian Chico, or that these comparisons are very silly to begin with and not worth entertaining for as long as I have, but I don’t have the answers.

(What I mean is, Caetano Veloso is an iconic songwriter and performer who has composed many popular classics, and Chico Buarque is an iconic songwriter who has composed slightly fewer popular classics but is more sensual and also a poet — Brazilian friends, please forgive me if I’ve gotten this all wrong.)

“You Don’t Know Me,” from one of my very favorite albums, is lovely, mellow angst. Caetano recorded it in exile in London, having been banished by Brazil’s military dictatorship, so his problems at the time were probably a lot worse than yours now. But that’s how music works, sad is sad.