Waly Salomão launched his first book, -Me Segura Qu'Eu Vou Dar Um Troço, in 1972, as a protest against the Brazilian dictatorship. A cut-and-paste of fragments, a puzzle that unites the erudite and the popular, the open aggressiveness of the journalistic report of crimes and the hidden aggressiveness of the official texts, it was defined by the author as "a realism de la rivage." The book had been written during a period of imprisonment, and its layout was done by his friend the visual artist Hélio Oiticica (a fundamental figure for the esthetics of Tropicália). Salomão would also later write the biography of Oiticica, -Qual É o Parangolé. Influenced by the Tropicalista movement of 1967-1968, and clearly distinguished from the marginal literature done at that period, Salomão, with Me Segura, wanted to be in, not out, of the system of cultural production. A collaborator with several artists identified with the Tropicalista movement, like Torquato Neto, Gal Costa, Maria Bethânia, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Jards Macalé, as a lyricist he wrote songs with Veloso, Gil, Macalé, Moraes Moreira, and others, but he never took upon himself the Tropicalista tag. In 1973, Salomão participated in the organization and publishing of -Os Últimos Dias de Paupéria, a compilation of articles by the poet and friend Torquato Neto, who died in 1972. Together with Neto, Salomão founded the Navilouca poetry magazine, which had only one issue but became largely influential. Also a publisher, Salomão developed reactions to cinema, videotape, and photography, with the -Babilaques series (realized with Marta Braga). About him said Glauber Rocha, the genius of the Cinema Novo: "I think that Waly Salomão is the matrix of the Bahian poetry of the Tropicalismo. The poetry of Gil, Veloso, was drunk from the source called Waly Salomão."

With Veloso, Salomão wrote Mel and Talismã. The songs became the titles of the albums recorded by Maria Bethânia in 1979 (over one-million copies sold) and 1980. Anjo Exterminado (written with Macalé) became the title of another album by Bethânia, in 1972. Salomão also wrote Mal Secreto (with Macalé), the Paralamas do Sucesso hit Assaltaram a Gramática (with Lulu Santos), Balada de um Vagabundo (with Frejat, recorded by Cazuza), Pista de Dança (with Adriana Calcanhoto, recorded by Calcanhoto on Marítimo), and Vapor Barato (with Jards Macalé, written in 1968 and recorded by Gal Costa on her Fa-tal in 1972; a show of the same name was also directed by Salomão, and the song had success again in 1995 on the soundtrack of the film #Terra Estrangeira). ~ Alvaro Nederà, Rovi