The hit "Como Nossos Pais" was written by the late Belchior (1946-2017), but was perpetuated and known nationally mainly through the interpretation of Elis Regina (1945-1982) for the album "Falso Brilhante" (1976).

It is important to mention that this song is originally from Belchior's album "Alucinação". The album has songs that basically portray the same theme, so much so that when we pay attention we notice that all the songs have a kind of fixed philosophy, since living is better than dreaming, nothing more intelligent than a way to synthesize all this philosophy approached in his work.

Understanding the Song: Like Our Fathers

"I don't want to tell you my great love about the things I learned on the records I want to tell you how I lived and everything that happened to me"

It is noticeable two different segments written. The lyric self does not want to talk about things understood in books, records, and the most diverse theories. He wants to talk about practice and about all that he has learned if through the difficulties he has faced in his life. The learning acquired through suffering faced in his life and in the most terrible way possible.

In this excerpt it is basically noted the idea of reality versus fantasy, fiction or things that are politicized. The composer was a bit harsher on this because he showed that today we are getting a lot of broken truths through these records and books.

He suggests that we have to go listen to the people, actually see how these same people suffer, and how their view will be a little bit different than the people in records and books.

Living is better than dreaming

"Living is better than dreaming I know love is a good thing but I also know that any corner is smaller than anyone's life"

The reality is far worse than the fantasy created. It is much more difficult than the singing and writing found in a book. Thus, the jargon was created that living is better than dreaming, and the only certainty is that love is a good thing. Belchior reiterates that love is important, that it is a good thing.

Another point in this passage: anyone singing will not reach the dimension that is the reality of life. You will not come to the knowledge of the harshness of life of someone who is breathing out into the world.

The one who is having various contacts with others and receives, in turn, various blows provided by this very life.

On Like Our Fathers: "The Sign is Closed to Us

"So watch out, baby, there's danger on the corner, they've won and the sign is closed for us young people.

Who were the winners? Here it is very important to think a little bit about the time when the song was released. The year was 1976. A period marked by the incongruities of the Military Dictatorship, in which the lyrics portray in their entirety the disappointment of the youth, but on the other hand, there was hope for better days through constant struggles for the concrete possession of democracy in Brazilian society.

It is logical that "they won" portrays the authoritarianism of those who were in power, while "and the sign is closed to us young people" shows that it is strictly the young people who tried to question and went in search of some significant change, just as it had occurred in the 60s.

Like Our Fathers and a parallel between the 60s and the 70s

Let us now draw a parallel between the 60's and the 70's. The first was a period when young people complained about many things, protested against tyranny, and there was the emergence of the Tropicalism movement, which brought innovation to Brazilian society by mixing several cultural aspects.

The second, on the other hand, and according to the song, these same young people were now standing still, doing nothing else. Some had already become rich by their speech, others were simply eliminated or were silenced by the system. So the signal was completely closed for those young people.

From now on, Belchior will bring his vision in front of some relationships that have been changed based on the history of these young people who fought and then stopped.

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Why waste your evenings with political and economic issues?

"To hug your brother and kiss your girl on the street is what made your arm your lip and your voice"

Arm, lip, and voice used to be signs of protest. The arm was yours, you had the lip and the voice, that voice was not quiet. He was not silent in the face of an oppressive system. But look today, he is completely disassociated.

His lip and voice were made for hugging his brother and kissing his girl anywhere. What is happening today is the false sense that we no longer have anything to worry about. Why waste our evenings with political and economic issues? It is simply to sit back and contemplate what has been built.

A kind of alienation

Now our arms, lips and voice are made for love and for forgetting a little bit of the problems, that is, a kind of alienation of not trying to fight against what is in force, against what might be hurting us. It is noticeable that there are some criticisms, where they certainly apply to today as well as to many historical moments.

The reference made to the past and the need to forget it is also emphasized in this excerpt. Now, there are things that are being built, right? The past, it's over.

Some people consider the past to be infinitely better in terms of art, politics and society. It says that the past was better and that absolutely everything was better before. Today, we have remnants of these memories, but everything is bad, empty and sad.

A reference to the feeling of pain

"You ask me about my passion, I tell you that I am enchanted like a new invention. I will stay in this city, I won't go back to the backlands because I see it coming in the wind, I smell the smell of a new season, I know everything in the living wound of my heart.

A reference is made to the feeling of pain, that wound that insists on remaining in the heart. Imagine an exposed wound, where any contact with it causes gigantic pain. Even a simple wind makes it hurt.

Belchior wrote that the truth that the wind causing this suffering promises new events, that is, here he perceives the possibility of a present by observing that people are experiencing the past, but are doing very little and yet it is possible to glimpse a situation being changed. Soon, when he is asked about his passion, the lyrical self is completely enchanted, similar to a new invention.

The song always refers to the new, the past is behind us. It is important to point out that we are highlighting the fact that there is no need to revere the past in an exacerbated way. It is almost like: wake up and realize the present, otherwise you will be without a future.

How Our Parents and Society

"It's been a long time since I saw you on the street hair in the wind young people gathered on the wall of memory this memory is the picture that hurts the most"

Here, the composer evidences that it has been a while since he noticed any attitude happening in our society. He argues that to remember these things is to remember a movement as if it were a retrograde memory, it hurts even more to realize how things used to be and the way they have settled in the present.

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It hurts to realize that once upon a time young people stood up against the system, and now we are simply remembering that time considered good and wonderful. Meanwhile, in our present, we are sitting back, accepting everything discriminately or without thinking.

Don't make references to records and books, don't talk about memories, but talk about the present and what you are experiencing today, think about what is concrete and not abstract.

Revering the past the way our parents did

"My pain is to realize that even though we have done all that we have done we are still the same and live we are still the same and live like our parents"

All that has already happened and we suffer a lot remembering it. Today, we remain the same and live inertly like those we commonly criticized in our youth, our parents.

Let's stop to think about the words we used to use to them in our more rebellious years: old-fashioned, archaic, backward, obsolete, and old. What happens is that today, we realize that we are at the same stage: revering the past in the same way as our parents did.

Our music scene and the context of the song

"Our idols are still the same and appearances do not deceive not you say that after them no one else appeared"

The older people think that after Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Raul Seixas and Rita Lee nothing else happened in our musical scenario. But think about it. Djavan, Lulu Santos and Zeca Baleiro appeared. All is not lost, but the discussion is old.

There are people who insist on revering the past, who believe that everything stopped there, at that time, but no. It is exactly these people who have not moved on. They have decided not to move on.

A better future

"You may say that I'm out of touch or that I'm making it up, but you're the one who loves the past and doesn't see that the new always comes.

The importance of opening one's mind, changing focus, and discovering all the possibilities that exist in the present is highlighted. There are many ways, today, of being and seeing the world. What happens is that unfortunately many are stagnant, stagnant. Staying like this, it is impossible to find the motivation to continue.

Today needs to be built with decisions that will make the future better than the experiences and roots of what was lived.

Like Our Fathers: Crumbs of Attention, Love, and Money

"Today I know that whoever gave me the idea of a new consciousness and youth 'is at home guarded by God counting vile metal"

In this excerpt, the composer emphasizes again the idea of the one who fought for his rights, who raised the flag for democracy and freedom.

But unfortunately, today, this same person who proclaimed the discourse of acceptance and peace is supposedly safe in his home, protected only by his faith and accepting the crumbs of attention, love and money. Both the subject and his idols have been handed over to the system.

Conclusion

Belchior says that to remain admiring the past does not solve the problem, since it is natural for us to be like our parents. Believe me, you declare, by thinking like this, society will become stagnant and there will be nothing new, just circles and more circles around the repetitions experienced by our parents.

The central idea is: contemplate the past, yes, but don't belittle the present. There is no action and no possibility of intervention in the facts of the past, but the present, we can certainly help to improve.

Moreover, the whole album addresses this problematic issue. So let's take advantage of this remembrance of Belchior and listen to the tracks from his album, "Anunciação".

This article about the song Como Nossos Pais (Belchior) was written by Wallison Christian Soares Silva ([email protected]), Psychoanalyst, Economist, specialist in Neuropsychoanalysis and post-graduate student of Literature and Literature.