Panis et Circensis-Tropicália Part 3

The words to Panis et Circensis are in part Two. The video in Part One. The day my blog is WP/MT... Soon, soon.

In Part Two of this series, Panis et Circensis--Tropicália, I present the song Panis et Circensis, the Roman Cesars' rule of thumb, bread and circus for the masses, or food and entertainment in today's world.

Something like that 300 bucks we got as a tax break, anyone remember?

Today I am coming back to it to make a comment on its metalanguage. What is that? It's language that has a meaning beyond the apparent one, in reference to another less obvious. Understanding the metalanguage of Tropicália helps one see this movement in its revolutionary vision, and helps one understand why most of its leaders left the country after the AI-5.

In Panis et Circensis, the LP, also known as Tropicália, Rogério Duprat holds a urinol. The meanings? One the obvious, perhaps, they are all crazy fools. The less obvious, the œuvre by Marcel Duchamp, the urinol, a porcelain urinol, a real one, he brought as an entry to an art contest, promptly rejected by the jurors.



Likewise, the public consisting of left-wing students at first booed Gil and Caetano, when they misbehaved and used electric guitars.

In Panis et Circensis, the musical metalanguage shows us vocals that are subtly out of pitch at the end of each line. The instrumental part at the end evokes the Beatles' Penny Lane, there is a soothing flute, followed by a rhythmic repetition faster and faster of part of the refrain, "These people in the dining room..."

At the very end of the song, you can hear Caetano saying, "Pass me the salad, just a little more" There is the waltz played in 2001 in the background. The idea is one of formality even in the future 33 years ahead of them. Sounds of crystal glasses, gentle sounds of a meal. Will they too become like the people in the dining room?

A metalinguistic analysis makes us wonder who the people in the dining room worried about birth and death may be. Our families? Why worry about natural facts of life? First they worry, that is part of a family's modus operandi. Second, their view is shallow and limited to birth and death, events which gather the families in churches or temples, cemiteries, memorial services...

In the first part of the song Os Mutantes describe a circus whose tent and pole are raised in mid-air. The lion and tiger are set loose in the backyard. The people in the dining room are oblivious to all this.

I wonder if the lion stood for MGM and the tiger for Esso. Although Tropicália incorporated music and instruments from the USA, they were aware of the policies of Uncle Sam and friends.

It's akin to how the USA is hated worlwide but no youngster will turn down an iPod.
The main idea is how even fantastic events won't move these people in the dining room.

In the second part of the song, Sérgio Dias mentions how he had a pure steel dagger made and killed his love at 5 P.M. on Central Avenue, but the people in the dining room were worried about birth and death.

It is interesting to observe the dagger was used in Gilberto Gil's Domingo no Parque, as the instrument José kills João. It is also noteworthy how a murder takes place without phasing the people in the dining room. It's as if they are worried about the end in itself, birth and death. How, when, why are questions they don't ask.

Another reference, "at 5 p.m. on Avenida Central" could be a) The crowds at rush hour
b) The rally which was the last straw for the generals, when Jango and others and a sailor made speeches in front of central station, which is next to the Ministery of War, as it was called back then.

In the third part, Rita Lee sings about planting seeds, how plants know how to seek the sun and roots know how to seek, to seek...

Any baby boomer will say, "I know this one!" Of course you do. Roots, mescaline, plants, weed. This is 1968, it's even dubious to call it a metalinguistic analysis.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, metalanguage for Domingo no Parque, with Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes. I'm not joking. I've been having respiratory problems; maybe the heat, heat? what heat? It's a Gore concoction :P