The song “comonossospais” (“Like our Parents”), written by Belchoir, and sung by Elis Regina, holds great significance, when it comes to thinking about generations. The lyrics reveal the immense gap between the singer and her parents. Even more interestingly, the song also expresses the huge gap between young people today and their parents.
I don’t want to talk to you
About the things I’ve learned
From my records…
(The new generations are barely familiar with the “records,” which had such huge impact on previous generations. This is the generation of CDs, chips, and pen drives.)
I want to tell you how I’ve lived
And everything that’s happened to me
Living is better than dreaming
I know that love is such a beautiful thing
But I also know
That its charm is so much smaller
Than any one of our lives…
(Love? Well, that’s a frequent theme for generation Y. But their perception of love is much more about having fun, and living in the “now,” with a carpe diem attitude.)
So be careful my darling
The street corner is dangerous
Their light turns green
And is constantly red for us
For we are young…
(For young people today, there are no red lights. Everything is allowed. Everything is OK. There are no obstacles. Nothing is too difficult. They can do anything.)
To hug your brother
And kiss your girl in the middle of the street
That’s what your arms,
Lips, and voice, were made for…
(Because of the violent environment in Brazil these days, it’s a bit dangerous to kiss in the street. So people kiss in shopping malls, in school, and wherever other safe public spots they can find.)
You ask me about my passion
I say that I’m under your spell
Like a new creation
I want to stay in this city
I’m not going back home
Through the wind
I smell a new season coming
I know everything inside my wounded heart
It’s been a while
I saw you on that street
Your wild wind blown hair
All the young people standing there
Against this wall of memories
The memories hurt the most…
(Again, this shows the sense of real life community youth had back then, these days that doesn’t exist, and youth get together virtually, and are usually much more individualistic.)
My pain is inknowing
That despite everything we’ve done
We are still the same
We live
And we are still the same
Just like our parents…
(This verse is the one that seems most out of tune today. Nobody belonging to this generation lives like their parents! What’s worse is that they don’t do anything to be different from them. Previous generations made a real effort not to be like their parents. It’s normal to want to be different. But this generation is different from their parents, effortlessly. It’s as if the generation gap develops naturally.)
Our idols
Are still the same
You say that after them, there was nobody else… “Today I know where my ideas come from.” “A new conscious is youth.”
(Idols? What? This generation has very few)
But you
Love the past
And you don’t see
That newness constantly flows…
(Even in Elis’ time, older people didn’t like the new)
Today I know where my ideas come from
A new conscious is youth
(The new conscious that Elis sings about comes from parents. Even this has changed. Youth today doesn’t learn as much from their parents. Rather, they learn with their friends. That is a fact. Of course this is greatly due to the fact that parents today, aren’t at home constantly keeping an eye on their kids. Most of them are out working hard. Much to their kids’despair….
