Chico Buarque - Construção (REACTION) WRITER REACTS 

I'm from Chile, 51 years old now and I grew up in the dictatorship of the time, another one in Latin America during those years. I remember being 13 or 14 years old when one morning on the radio they played this song (which I had not heard) in its Spanish version. I still remember how it impacted me and how I couldn't stop crying when the song had finished a while ago. Chico was a genius of composition and lyricism, there is a lot of very interesting material in Portuguese and Spanish, very unknown to English speakers. Good reaction.

He tells the story three times but changes the final word in each line, thus totally transforming the narrative. A masterpiece.

Chico Buarque should win a Nobel for literature. For real.

The song "Construção" by Chico Buarque is deeply intertwined with the social and political context of Brazil during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Released in 1971, Brazil was under a military dictatorship known for its repression and censorship. "Construção" tells the story of a construction worker who falls to his death from a building under construction. The lyrics are fragmented and non-linear, using poetic imagery to depict the worker's life, his tragic accident, and the indifferent response of society. Socially, the song reflects the harsh conditions faced by Brazil's working class, highlighting their struggles and the dehumanizing nature of labor. Politically, it serves as a critique of the oppressive military regime and the societal inequalities it perpetuated. The song's innovative use of narrative structure and poetic language made it a powerful piece of protest art, resonating with the Brazilian public who were grappling with political repression and censorship. "Construção" became a symbol of resistance and artistic defiance against the authoritarian regime. Its impact extended beyond music, influencing Brazilian literature and culture by challenging the status quo and advocating for social change. Thus, the song "Construção" remains a poignant reflection of its turbulent time, capturing the spirit of resistance and resilience amidst political adversity in Brazil.

Sometimes is easy to forget how blessed Brazilian PT speakers are to be born in that land! 🥺😭

This song is a Brazilian masterpiece in composition. There are some interesting tidbits in it. Chico repeats the lyrics 4 times, always using proparoxytones at the end of each phrase. These words are repeated in different orders in each segment of the song, giving a different meaning to the character's "personality, in this case the worker. The song is called construction because the man works in a construction, but in my understanding it also reflects the way Chico builds the song, intelligently using this play on words to change the meaning in each segment.

I don't know if you noticed, but past the first and second reference to the traffic, the orchestra and the voices harmonizing with Chico actually remember vehicle horns, that is great imagery building. Chico and who arranjed this song are actually geniuses.

BRASIL MENTIONED!! Brasileiros vamo pedir mais, o cara sentiu mesmo a vibe da música kkk

Trabalhei na construção civil por mais de 20 anos,sempre me emociono com esta música.

The instrumentation! It was written by Rogério Duprat! Really good writer and conductor. Very underapreciated here in Brazil. Worked a lot with Mutantes, a really good Beatles like rock band from the same era as this record.

Wow, that was a fast turn-around! Thank you so much for the reaction. This song blows my mind with its power and nuanced writing.

The chords in the music symbolise the horns of the cars on the street when he fell down the building, this is genius

This is one of the best interpretations of this song, how cleaverly he changes words to totaly change the meaning of the sentence, if you ever lived in a country with a dictatorial goverment you learn to listen between lines and this is a master piece... it really hurts inside.

Chico Buarque has a wonderful body of work, in compositions, plays, books. He recently turned 80 on the 19th and is still on stage. This composition is from 1971, pure art. Thank you for bringing him, Chico is the owner of many successes here in Brasil.

Thanks for having me hearing this old song again as it was for the first time ever. Last June 19th, Chico has turned 80 years old!.

Stooooop, this is my favorite song of all history, so well written, so well "Constructed" and deconstructed and reconstructed, pure musical alchemy. Chico was an Alchemist of human art.

If you want a more in depth analysis on this song theres a great video by Charles Cornell callled "How brazil's music hid protest inside harmony", he does a great job at explaining not just the music but the historical context around that time! Anyway, great video

Poetry masterpiece and spectacular orchestration!!!

I have known and listened to this song for 20 years and it always gives me chills!! I loved your reaction; unlike other channels, you really reflect on the lyrics in a meaningful way. Chico Buarque is perhaps the greatest composer of the Portuguese language; almost all of his songs are gold. I suggest listening to 'Geni e o Zepelin' (it talks about a transgender woman who is ostracized in her town. Note that it is a song written almost 50 years ago and could not be more modern). 'Pedaço de Mim' (a song about a mother's grief whose son was killed by the military dictatorship). Also listen to 'Pedro Pedreiro,' 'João e Maria,' 'Caro Amigo,' 'Roda Viva,' 'Olho nos Olhos,' 'Cio da Terra.' I also recommend other national singers, such as Milton Nascimento (the most Brazilian voice there is), Caetano Veloso, Ney Matogrosso (the man who literally inspired Kiss), Maria Bethânia, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil.

YES! The thing is, there are several interrpetations on this music, all of them political. Onde way to look at it all is to see the diferent versions as how people my see the story. The first being someone in the news, telling the story of a loving husband worker who accidentally fell for his demise, the second one may be the construction company, saying he's a cheating husband who got there drunk and fell on his own, and the third can be looked at as a police report, really shorter version, more analytical and doesn't care about the details of the common worker's life, also because he "messes up the saturday", because the police will have to file a report (which they don't around here on saturdays). Overrall, ithe song is a criticism on the dictatorship we were having in brazil when the song came out, about the condition of the workers, about the censorship we've gone through. It's a great song, i can't listen to it without watering my eyes.

You have summoned the Brazilians

Chico is the best. A genius.

The lyrics are just unbeliavable poetry. It describes the life and accidental death of an anonimous construction worker. But the social commentary that is interwoven... 🌻❤️

I'm from Brazil, Chico is one of my absolute favorite singers. I was SO shocked the first time listened to this song and the "stumbled in the sky" part didn't seem literal in a fisrt moment, and then he dies. It felt like a slap in my face. Love all his songs

Awesome! Please try "Meu Guri". An underrated master piece from Chico, at least for this generation.

O melhor intérprete de Chico Buarque é ele mesmo! Viva Chico Buarque.

Grande CHICO...não é para qualquer ouvido...dai...

Fun fact (told me by my father): at this time, a famous brazilian artist was asked how he wrote his songs and rhymes, and he said that he used to look for words with strong syllables being the last or the one before the last (oxytones and paroxytones) and when asked why he said "because it's impossible to make a rhyming lyric with proparoxytones (strong syllable being the two before the last one), it's just too difficult".... Chico Buarque apparently heard this interview and was intrigued to see if he could do this. And he could... and it is still today a masterpiece for those listening to the lyrics in portuguese!

Chico Buarque is amazing, thousands of genial lyrics

Chico is way ahead of any lyricists in the world (at least compared to the ones we know). Bob Dylan, Cole Porter, and even Jobim don't compare to him. His songs are not only full of meanings and subtle cultural references, but also full of an irony which can be sharp, poignant and sweet/ benevolent at the same time. He is in a league of his own. It's like comparing Shakespeare to most other writers. Also, the harmonies in his songs are rich. I don't like using the word "genius", but I do think it applies to him. Chico has at least 20 (if not 30) songs which are out of this world (perfection). Who else in the world could own 30 perfect songs (whatever "perfect" is)? "Construção" is one. Another is "Roda Viva". Check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IzwBVOPu7iM.html

This is one of my favourite songs ever. It's a true masterpiece!

You unsderstood it so well 🎉

It was a short comment but surprisingly spot on to the nuance and depth of the lyrics. Not many people can do that.

You should definitely react to more of his songs, I highly recommend "Cotidiano", "Geni e o Zepelim" and "João e Maria"

I love Chico, I think he is one of the bests poets in the world. This song is amazing, he tells you the same story in three diferent ways only changing the ending word of each verse on each version. At my point of view, first version is what really hapened, a guy went to work, he fell from the building, he died.. 2nd maybe is the popular version, full of gossips and hearsayings, difamation, etc, they point a guy who has lovers (kissed his wife like she was the only one"), he is irresponsible, etc.. the third one maybe the press version, very short, resumed... and full of lies, its like, manipulative, just giving a news cos they have to do it, but also pay attention: NOBODY talks, on any version, that a guy died and left behin a wifes and kids... instead, he emsses up the traffic (could you hear the traficc on the first part? lol.. hard to miss it, all those sounds and metals section of the music was the traffic), the public, the saturday, the life.. The second music is Deus Lhe Pague, and in this album he joined both (although its just a short part of Deus Lhe Pague) cos in the original version, Deus Lhe Pague was censored by goverment... reallly good lyrics "for the sunday who is pretty, tv novels, (religion) mass and comic books... God Pays you bakc..." The lyrics was censored mostly cos its against church who, on its side, was supporter of military goverment, so... yeah... hard times. And to at least have a piece of the song on record he did this junction here. Also he recorded Deus Lhe Pague, I think on same album, only with the music, no lyricvs, aqnd later, 2 or 3 years later, he could record the full version of the song.

👏👏👏👏 You got perfectly the message !

Chico Buarque had aplicate to Archtecture School before that time (at early '60s), but he prefered to follow the musician carreer (to us pleasure and luck).

The lyrics were composed in twelve-syllable verses, which always end in a proparoxytone word. The 17 verses of the first part (four quartets, plus a closing verse) are practically the same seventeen that make up the second part, changing only the last word.

It would be cool if you heard more from Chico Buarque, he is one of the best Brazilian composers/singers

Chico é daquela geração que explodiu no Mundo todo. Em todo canto do Mundo surgiu talentos maravilhosos. Eu, me sinto abençoada por isso. Na minha juventude curti os artistas brasileiros, latinos, americanos, ingleses, franceses, italianos e africanos. Infelismente, hj, no Brasil, só temos músicas ruins.

Chico é um patrimônio mundial!!!!❤

🥰 Love Chico Buarque and love brazilian music

Chico is one of the mankind's greatest genious ❤❤❤🇧🇷

Essa é apenas uma das grandes composições desse gênio da MPB que é Chico Buarque de Holanda.

Amar como máquina, é frio e sem sentimento

No ano anterior à criação desta música, o Brasil havia quebrado o recorde mundial de acidentes no trabalho. Eram outros tempos aqui no país. Pouca segurança e recursos para a mão de obra. Hoje, são outros os padrões. 🇧🇷🇧🇷

Plot twist: the second and third times the lyrics are sung they narrate the delirium of the dying worker, that's why the words are mixed-up compared to the first part. As for the horns, they represent the carns honking and revving.

Amazing reaction. You got it! One common interpretation on the three different versions is that the first is the real story, from the point of view of the working class. He died on the street messing up the traffic. The second time it's from the point of view of the common man of middle class, the story gets warped, he's not such a hard worker or sympathetic character and his dead messes up the public, the inconvenience of his death. The third time it's from the police's perspective. Souless, making him the drunk villain, he messes up their saturday, usually a day off but they have to write this report. great work! keep it up!

This music is a masterpiece composed by Chico. If he had born in a first world country he would be a legend like Bob Dylan.Remember this song is 50 years old and the orchestra made a good job without an electronic parafernália we have today.

Homem não sois, máquina é que sois!

Hola amigo !, Chico Buarque es de los principales poetas existenciales del mundo, junto a otros grandes letristas y poetas del siglo XX/XXI, en muchos lenguajes. Esta canción/poema en particular, trata sobre "alguien que pensó demasiado" y terminó suicidándose. La mirada literaria del asunto, es pensar que alguna persona de ese rango social (trabajador de la construcción), piense alguna cosa fuera de su status como hombre trabajador de una sociedad que miró al suicida, como alguien que interrumpió su sábado y su placer !. Un gran saludo desde Buenos Aires, Argentina !. Hello friend!, Chico Buarque is one of the main existential poets in the world, along with other great lyricists and poets of the 20th/21st century, in many languages. This song/poem in particular is about "someone who thought too much" and ended up committing suicide. The literary view of the matter is to think that a person of that social rank (construction worker) thinks something outside of his status as a working man in a society that looked at the suicide, as someone who interrupted his Saturday and his pleasure! . A big greeting from Buenos Aires, Argentina!

Obrigada por reagir ao grande Chico Buarque. Um abraço do Brasil 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Love your reaction, this is a amazing song ❤

Essa música é um soco no estômago 😢

Isso é o ápice de um quase neorealismo absurdo do Chico. Com essa canção ele conseguiu se eternizar de verdade. Ele será lembrado enquanto a humanidade existir.

3:12 i think that the way the music got dramatic there was to simbolize the car horns

Reaja a Elis Regina ( como nossos pais ), Belckior ( comentario a respeito de Jhon), 14 Biz ( linda juventude ).

Gostei da sua interpretação 😁💜

🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷Eu amo Chico Buarque, l'm from Brasil, 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

I love this song.

Chico Buarque one of the best singers and composers of all time, Brazilian music is very diverse, the MPB artists are brilliant.

This song is also done in Alexandrine verses

The song talks about work accidents in construction, due to carelessness on the part of workers.

Yes, seamiana. Both Spanish and portuguese speakers can fully grasp the power of these lyrics. The notion of the époch dictatotships Will help.He is a Genius of lyricism and popular music.

I consider him the greatest genius of Brazilian popular music - MPB. Critical, intelligent and with great musicality. I also recommend listening to "O meu guri" [Considero o maior gênio da música popular brasileira - MPB. Crítico, inteligente e com grande musicalidade. Recomendo escutar também "O meu guri"]

I believe that this song wanted to portray several different workers dying in the same way. That's why he changes the verse a little every time. The song portrays a little of what city construction was like during the dictatorship period.

Keep up the good work! And I recommend you to invest in Brazillian music, Brazillian people love this kind of video hahaha (me included)

If you want to find music with this kind of poetic quality, keep looking for Brazilian music classics man. Not to brag, but the level of some lyrics here are soul-shaking. Nice analysis of how the verses are repeated but just by changing one word at the end of each one, they become more fragile and show both the human and the inhuman side of the whole thing

Genial ❤

Theres subtext where the WORKERS being oppreesed were Messing up the dictatorship on power when he wrote this by dying

O Chico é 10

There is much more to those lyrics than the story it tells. I think most people miss the self-referential irony of writing Constructivist lyrics about a construction worker. The lines are “constructed” in a “logical design” with interchangeable “word bricks” like ‘Saturday’, ‘traffic’, ‘bird’, ‘shy’ &c. The importance of the lyrics as a powerful artistic statement was certainly not lost to the music producers, who made sure they pulled all the stops to create a gigantic recording.

Chico Buarque is our Lou Reed, in the lyrics concepcion and Caetano Velos, Bob Dylan. They are contemporary

You must listen to "Corrente" also Chico Buarque

Hey man, brazilian music is very diverse and have so quality, i recomend react to Jorge Ben Jor, any song is just the best

Tem um vídeo que tem resenha dessa música, é simplesmente maravilhosa, mas triste!

Man, you need to listen to Faroeste Caboclo by Legião Urbana!!!

Since you really care to understand the lyrics in your reactions (which is very good) you should give a try to Racionais MC. It’s a Brazilian rap group from the 90s. I would recommend you start with “Jesus Chorou”, one their most famous songs, which you can easily find with English subtitles here in RU-vid. You’ll see a lot of Brazilians joining your channel, for sure hahaah.

incrível que eu levei 2 dias pra entender a música e ele entendeu TUDO de primeira vey, até mesmo a teoria das diferentes perspectivas

Try listening to Milton Nascimento - "travessia", it's pure poetry.

Você nesses comentários, já agradeceu a Deus por falar português ?

This song has so many layers, not easy to explain in another languange and it's much better on original languange, and make more sense. The last words proparoxytone, and in each three passages they change the last word changin' all the meaning of the phrase and the story. It is indeed like the same story told by three different perspectives.

this 1981 Brazilian movie ("O Beijo no Asfalto" - "The Kiss on the Asphalt" based on our greatest playwright Nelson Rodrigues) may give you an idea of how we lived at that time and what this song refers to. There's also a 2018 remake and both movies are amazing ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m587-nxUVsg.htmlsi=b9H_XkL92XZpCYDN

brabo, reaga a mais músicas brasileiras, tem muita coisa boa^^

Chico is by far one of the best lyricists of brazilian music. If you liked it you probably would also love to know the work of two other brazilian lyricists: Aldir Blanc and Paulo César Pinheiro. Check it out! They have big partnerships with famous popular composers like Guinga and Baden Powell. A recommendation for you: Resposta ao Tempo, by Aldir and Cristóvão Bastoa.

Chico Buarque is a genius.

If you liked "Construção", You will definitely love "Geni e o Zeppelim", also by Chico Buarque! 🇧🇷

7:50 Pam Pam Pam Pam Pam Pam Pam

Groundhog Day-like

SAEED procure e ouça também GONZAGUINHA.

Interpretation given by Chico Buarque was that the song was portraying what happens when you put a person in a construction, in this case he is using a word construction and he starts playing with his actions, at some point of the story this person suicides. Message is when you are playing with people actions, you end up messing with their feelings and they blow up. The approach of just interpreting this as something associated with politics or protest is very narrow, this something that will keep happening until the end of our days as a human species, as the ending of the song suggest.

react legião urbana, renato russo is a genius!

Some more? Try: GITA (gîtâ) -by Raul Seixas. Enjoy

For more Brazilian Songs! Love the reaction :) Recommend checking out "Robocop Gay" by Mamonas Assassinas

Chico, deus da MPB, gênio fis gênios,o melhor dos melhores!!!

Wonderful reaction! Great. Chico is considered by many to be the greatest Brazilian poet, and just a few days ago he celebrated his 80th birthday. Remain firm and faithful to your convictions. Below are more of his works subtitled and recorded in English. Chico Buarque - Geni e o Zepelim (With English Subtitles) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tgbYStOfGvo.html Vai Passar - Chico Buarque - sub ESPAÑOL | ENGLISH (LETRA) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0Uo_C36SJkM.html Chico Buarque - Apesar De Você - sub ESPAÑOL | ENGLISH (LETRA) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4RhKTzVVDno.html Album - Chico Buarque Experience (in English) "Jornal O Dia" - By daniela.lima Published 02/02/2014 19:13 Rio - Among all the brilliant composers of MPB, Chico Buarque is the one with the least visibility abroad. This is because, in his work, the lyrics are as important or even more important than the music, which has always made it difficult for Chico's beautiful songs to be absorbed by the international market, resistant to works made in Portuguese. Produced to celebrate the composer's 70th birthday, the CD 'The Chico Buarque Experience' tries to change this situation. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xrA_E7HTGe4.htmlsi=lsd2pUqOJmRrEuyU

Prefer to Say "Shico" than "Tchico" (There is no "T"), and the "ão" sounds more like the vowel in "John" (although a little more open in the beginning), instead of simple "AO".

React Milton Nascimento !

You did it great on your reaction. This song isn't for everyone. You should go futher into other Chico's songs.

this is suicide...