The use of clashing chords (such as E minor and F major played simultaneously) mimics the chaotic noise of city traffic.
This wordplay changes the meaning of the worker's actions—for example, he kisses his wife "as if it were the last time" in the first verse, but "as if it were logical" in the third. This repetition mirrors the mechanical, repetitive nature of labor. Construção
By focusing on the "invisible" worker, Buarque bypassed government censors to highlight the human cost of Brazil's "economic miracle," which prioritized infrastructure over individual dignity. The use of clashing chords (such as E
Released during the "years of lead" of Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964–1985), "Construção" is a masterpiece of social critique. It chronicles the final day of a construction worker, whose mundane routine leads to a tragic and dehumanized death. By focusing on the "invisible" worker, Buarque bypassed
The song consists of three sections. In each, the verses are largely the same, but the final proparoxytone words are shuffled.
The song’s brilliance lies in its mathematical "construction." It is composed of dodecasyllabic verses where every line ends in a proparoxytone (a word stressed on the third-to-last syllable), such as máquina , última , and sábado .