ABSTRACT
The song "You Don't Know Me" appears on the 1972 album Transa and the refrain can be taken as a clue to the relationship between Veloso and his listening public around this time. This chapter examines the role of Caetano Veloso's capricious voice in the construction of this contradictory singer/listener relationship. Although Veloso's work can furnish any number of songs whose vocalisations are worthy of comment, the analysis of the recorded voice focuses on the period between 1968 and 1972. The chapter seeks to combine a detailed analysis of elements of song structure and their role in the communicative process with a demonstration of how such elements, which are internal to a song, may comment on the social, political and cultural conditions which prevailed at the moment of its creation. It also examines how vocalisations in recorded performance contribute to the total discourse of the songs, the lyrics and music of the songs as they relate to vocal activity.
