Não Atire O Pau No Gato

Aline Barros takes a well-known Brazilian children's folk song about not throwing sticks at cats and gives its familiar refrain a source it never had before: "Jesus Cristo nos ensina a amar os animais" ("Jesus Christ teaches us to love animals"). The melody stays the same one generations of kids already know; the reason behind the rule is what changes.

The playful dialogue running through it — a character named Seu Afrânio threatening a barbecue, getting scolded for the joke, calling the cat over for a hug instead — keeps the lesson from feeling like a sermon. It's still, underneath the jokes, a song about choosing kindness over cruelty toward something smaller and defenseless.

Proverbs' description of a righteous person as one who cares for the needs of their animals, and the psalmist's claim that God's compassion is over all he has made, both back up the song's simple ethic dressed in a nursery-rhyme melody. The closing "Amém!" turns what could have been just a cute animal song into something the song itself insists is worship, however small.