“The Song Keeps on Begging for You”

The Pain of Loss in the Songs by Chico Buarque

Abstract

This text presents a reading of three songs by Chico Buarque in which the self lyric is female: “Pedaço de mim” (1977), “Atrás da porta” (1972) and “Olhos nos olhos” (1976). The goal is to analyze the Linguistic and Musical strategies used by the Brazilian artist in order to express the pain of loss in his compositions. This work compares the rhymes used in the song about the loss of a son and the ones used in the song about breaking up. The text also presents a comparison among the song about the exact moment of discovering the loss by the lyric self and the songs that cover a long time lag since the loss. The conclusion is that, in contrast to what Freud proposes in his text Remember, repeat, working through, in these three songs by Chico Buarque, the working through the loss happens by repeating: in the rhymes, in the chords or in complete sentences. Furthermore, it is possible to conclude that the songs are in favor to the oblivion of the trauma by the lyric self, in a kind of concession of rest to the woman who suffered in order to let the Music express her pains.