Lado a Lado Lyrics - Carol Navarro

Song Facts:

• Genre: Soundtrack


• Featured Artist: Carol Navarro


• Part of the soundtrack for the production "A Infância de Romeu e Julieta"

Annotations and Meaning:

"Shoulder to Shoulder" is an example of a song included in the album A Infância de Romeu e Julieta. It puts forward themes of separation and union, drawing the metaphorical and physical lines that define and at times separate communities. The song starts with a few questions—what can be on the other side of the plaza that's dividing them. In this, he suggests questions of whether differences are actually serious and only skin-deep.
The second stanza contrasted both ways to difference with the following line: building walls against building bridges. That juxtaposition brings forth the very fundamental choice within society: conflict versus cooperation. Some people like war, while others prefer peace and love. Establishing a dichotomous relation in human behavior and values, it simply tries to say that the point of view is the most important factor forming this or that society.

As the song progresses, it paints a vivid picture of the contrasting characteristics of the two sides. It's a rather orthodox and natural one, to one extreme, with so much flora, fauna, and artwork all around, while, on the other hand, it is fairly modern and forward in approach, with buildings and commercial development. This contrast brings out more than the physical differences—it reaches into the cultural and temporal divides in the symbol of how environments forge identities, social, and individual.

The chorus, "É sobre viver lado a lado, tão perto mas tanta distância," sums up the message about living together in diversity, in some way expressing the paradox of nearness and farness. Truly, you live close, but so many times in understanding and lifestyle, you are far away from each other. Presenting the perspectives of relative truths each holds, it puts the listener through a question: "Quem será o dono da verdade? Quem será que tem razão?" This question is an oblique question of the truth and calls the listener to ponder these things.

Themes and Messages:

One would be able to evoke the running theme of dichotomy within "Lado a Lado" society, natural versus modern, tradition versus progress, conflict versus peace. The film is a reflection of how one has to put in certain efforts for building bridges of differences between cultures and amongst physical things that are dividing us to gain mutual understanding and harmony. The song appeals to seeing the sympathy from beyond the external differences and enjoins to see appreciation of deeper, uniting relations that may keep often different communities together.