He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within Brazil and internationally.
In 1965 his album Getz/Gilberto was the first jazz album to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It also won for Best Jazz Instrumental Album – Individual or Group and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. The album's single "Garota de Ipanema" ("The Girl from Ipanema"), one of the most recorded songs of all time, won the Record of the Year. Jobim has left many songs that are now included in jazz and pop standard repertoires. The song "Garota de Ipanema" has been recorded over 240 times by other artists. His 1967 album with Frank Sinatra, Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim, was nominated for Album of the Year in 1968.
Antônio Carlos Jobim was born in the middle-class district of Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro. His father, Jorge de Oliveira Jobim (São Gabriel, Rio Grande do Sul, April 23, 1889 – July 19, 1935), was a writer, diplomat, professor and journalist. He came from a prominent family, being the great nephew of José Martins da Cruz Jobim, senator, privy councillor and physician of Emperor Dom Pedro II. While studying medicine in Europe, José Martins added Jobim to his last name, paying homage to the village where his family came from in Portugal, the parish of Santa Cruz de Jovim, Porto. His mother, Nilza Brasileiro de Almeida (c. 1910 – November 17, 1989), was of Indigenous Brazilian descent from Northeastern Brazil.
When Antônio was still an infant, his parents separated and his mother moved with her children (Antônio Carlos and his sister Helena Isaura, born February 23, 1931) to Ipanema, the beachside neighborhood the composer would later celebrate in his songs. In 1935, when the elder Jobim died, Nilza married Celso da Frota Pessoa (died February 2, 1979), who would encourage his stepson's career. He was the one who gave Jobim his first piano. As a young man of limited means, Jobim earned his living by playing in nightclubs and bars and later as an arranger for a recording label, before starting to achieve success as a composer.
Jobim's musical roots were planted firmly in the work of Pixinguinha, the legendary musician and composer who began modern Brazilian music in the 1930s. Among his teachers were Lúcia Branco and, from 1941 on, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, a German composer who lived in Brazil and introduced atonal and twelve-tone composition in the country. Jobim was also influenced by the French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and by the Brazilian composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Ary Barroso. The bossa nova guitar style in Jobim's music has become firmly entrenched in jazz culture. Among many themes, his lyrics talked about love, self-discovery, betrayal, joy and especially about the birds and natural wonders of Brazil, like the "Mata Atlântica" forest, characters of Brazilian folklore and his home city of Rio de Janeiro.
In early 1994, after finishing his album Antonio Brasileiro, Jobim complained to his doctor, Roberto Hugo Costa Lima, of urinary problems. He underwent an operation at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on December 2, 1994. On December 8, while recovering from surgery, he had a cardiac arrest caused by a pulmonary embolism, and two hours later another cardiac arrest, from which he died. He was survived by his children and grandchildren. His last album, Antonio Brasileiro, was released posthumously three days after his death.
His body lay in state until given a proper burial on December 20, 1994. He is buried in the Cemitério São João Batista in Rio de Janeiro.
Este Seu Olhar
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quando encontra o meu
Fala de umas coisas
Que eu não posso
Acreditar
Doce é sonhar
É pensar que você
Como eu de você
Mas a ilusão
Quando se desfaz
Dói no coração
De quem sonhou
Sonhou demais
Ah! Se eu pudesse entender
O que dizem os seus olhos
Este seu olhar
Quando encontra o meu
Fala de umas coisas
Que eu não posso
Acreditar
Doce é sonhar
É pensar que você
Gosta de mim
Como eu de você
Mas a ilusão
Quando se desfaz
Dói no coração
De quem sonhou
Sonhou demais
Ah! Se eu pudesse entender
O que dizem os seus olhos
The lyrics of Este Seu Olhar by Antonio Carlos Jobim describe a complex emotional journey. The singer's interpretation of the other person's gaze is the central theme of the song. The beginning of the song asserts that when the other person's eyes meet the singer's, they seem to communicate something that appears to be unbelievable. This sets the tone of questioning and uncertainty that prevails throughout the song. The next section of the song speaks of the sweetness of dreaming and imagining that the other person loves the singer, as much as they love them. However, the illusions that arise from these thoughts are difficult when they dissipate, leaving a deep hurt in the singer's heart. There is a sense of vulnerability that is conveyed in the singer's yearning to understand the other person's gaze.
The final section of the song seems to repeat the first, and the chorus once again states that the singer feels that the other person's gaze is conveying something that they cannot believe. The lyrics share the ambivalence of romantic longing, where the desire to believe and the potential to be hurt are closely intertwined. The message is conveyed through the combination of melancholic yet sensuous melodies.
Line by Line Meaning
Este seu olhar
The gaze in your eyes
Quando encontra o meu
When it meets mine
Fala de umas coisas
Speaks of things
Que eu não posso
That I can't
Acreditar
Believe
Doce é sonhar
It's sweet to dream
É pensar que você
To think that you
Gosta de mim
Like me
Como eu de você
As I like you
Mas a ilusão
But the illusion
Quando se desfaz
When it fades away
Dói no coração
Hurts the heart
De quem sonhou
Of the one who dreamed
Sonhou demais
Dreamed too much
Ah! Se eu pudesse entender
Ah! If I could understand
O que dizem os seus olhos
What your eyes are saying
Lyrics © CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION
Written by: ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Richard Norris
on Samba Do Soho
It's "Diadem" which is a fancy headband. Also, I believe this song was written by Jobim's son, Paolo.