“Pedro Pedreiro”, “Bye Bye Brasil”, “Pelas Tabelas”: towards the collapse of historical time

Abstract

The issue of historical time in the repertoire of Chico Buarque de Hollanda is not new. In this article I seek to add this subject to two guidelines that, in a sense, are related: the process of Brazilian conservative modernization and the end of the prospect of singing the country’s future. Therefore, the paper is divided into two parts. First, I demonstrate how Chico Buarque´s songs are permeated by the radical melancholy linked to the loss of future country’s image. Second, I analyze how this “future” was materialized. The first point can be summed up in several songs from the beginning of Chico's career. However, I will consider the socio-historical analysis of “Pedro Pedreiro” (1965) which comprises the decline of the left´s utopias. To summarize the consequences of this decline, into the context of democratization, I will analyze “Bye Bye Brazil” (1979) and “Pelas Tabelas” (1984). I would like to underline that “Pedro Pedreiro” song will be as a sort of introduction to the main subject of the paper: the time diagnosis´s stuck in the late capitalism, together with changes in the modernization of the Brazilian process.