''Alegria, Alegria'' (Joy, Joy or Happiness, Happiness) is a song written and performed by

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...

. Often referred to as "the Brazilian anthem of 1967", it later appeared on his influential eponymous 1968 album. At first booed at the 1967

Rede Record Record (stylized in uppercase; ), formerly known as Rede Record and RecordTV, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In ...

festival for its use of electric guitars, Caetano's interpretation and attitude eventually won the audience over. It placed fourth at the festival. Caetano has called it his "best-known song", comparing it to the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

' "

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership, it features a guitar riff by Richards that opens and drives the song. The riff is w ...

" in terms of its place in his oeuvre.Pareles, John (September 9, 1992)
"At lunch with Caetano Veloso"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. He partially based the song's

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

on the previous year's winner,

Chico Buarque Francisco Buarque de Hollanda (born 19 June 1944), popularly known simply as Chico Buarque (), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer, and poet. He is best known for his music, which often includes social, econom ...

's much more conventional "A Banda", purposely incorporating controversial

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...

– provided by the

Paulino Paulino is a surname and a masculine given name. It is a Spanish and Portuguese form of the Roman family name ''Paulinus'', which was itself derived from the Roman family name Paulus meaning "small" or "humble" in Latin. People with the given ...

band The Beat Boys – to provoke the crowd. Although "alegria" means "joy" or "happiness" in Portuguese, the theme of the song is

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

. Caetano took the title phrase from the popular TV personality

Chacrinha José Abelardo Barbosa de Medeiros (September 30, 1917 – June 30, 1988), better known as Chacrinha (), was a Brazilian comedian, radio and TV personality. His career was at its peak from 1950 to 1980. He was author of a famous Brazilian phr ...

, who had in turn borrowed it from singer

Wilson Simonal Wilson Simonal de Castro (February 23, 1938 – June 25, 2000) was a Brazilian singer. He was a singer with great success in the 1960s and in the first half of the 1970s. He was married two times and had two sons: Wilson Simoninha and Max de Cast ...

. The song is, alongside

Daniela Mercury Daniela Mercury (born Daniela Mercuri de Almeida on July 28, 1965) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, dancer, and producer. In her solo career, Mercury has sold over 11 million records worldwide, and had 24 Top 10 singles in the country, with ...

's " O Canto da Cidade", remembered by the population for the 1992

Fernando Collor de Mello Fernando Affonso Collor de Mello (; born 12 August 1949) is a Brazilian politician who served as the 32nd president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, when he resigned in a failed attempt to stop his impeachment trial by the Brazilian Senate. Collor ...

impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...

. The miniseries ''

Anos Rebeldes ''Anos Rebeldes'' (''Rebel Years'') was a popular telenovela which first aired on the Brazilian television Rede Globo on July 14, 1992. It was the first serial drama to highlight themes and stories of political violence and the repressed who wer ...

'' – the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for which was "Alegria, Alegria" – was a hit at the time, and Caetano's song was sung during public manifestations in favor of impeachment. Fittingly, Mercury later recorded the song for an album celebrating the thirty years of the

Tropicália Tropicália (), also known as tropicalismo (), was a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s. It was characterized by the amalgamation of Brazilian genres—notably the union of the popular and the avant-garde, as well as the meldi ...

movement. The song was voted by the Brazilian edition of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as the 10th greatest Brazilian song.

References

Caetano Veloso songs 1967 songs Songs in Portuguese Telenovela theme songs {{1960s-song-stub