Lyrics from “Panis et Circenses” (Bread and Circus) by  Gilberto Gil & Caetano Veloso with Os Mutantes; arrangement and sound by Rogério Duprat

Album:  Tropicalia: ou Panis et Circensis(1968) & Os Mutantes (1968)

—

I wanted to sing my song, illuminated by the sun

I unfurled the sails on the masts in the air

I set free the tigers and the lions in backyards

But the people in the dining room

Are busy being born and dying

I ordered that a knife be made, of pure shiny steel

To kill my love, and I killed…

At 5 o’clock, on the Central Avenue

But the people in the dining room

Are busy being born and dying

I ordered planted

Leaves of dreams in the garden

The leaves know how to seek the sun

And the roots, to seek, to seek

But the people in the dining room