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.
Garota de Ipanema
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mais cheia de graça most graceful
É ela menina It's her, the girl
Que vem que passa that comes, that passes
Num doce balanço with a sweet swinging
Caminho do mar walking to the sea
Moça do corpo dourado Girl of the golden body
O seu balançado Your swaying
É mais que um poema is more than a poem
É a coisa mais linda It's a thing more beautiful
Que eu já vi passar than I have ever seen pass by
Ah, porque estou tão sozinho Ah, why am I so alone
Ah, porque tudo e tão triste Ah, why is everthing so sad
Ah, a beleza que existe The beauty that exists
A beleza que não é só minha The beauty that is not mine alone
Que também passa sozinha that also passes by on its own
Ah, se ela soubesse ah, if she only knew
Que quando ela passa that when she passes
O mundo sorrindo the world smiles
Se enche de graça fills itself with grace
E fica mais lindo and remains more beautiful
Por causa do amor because of love
Tall and tan
And young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema
Goes walking
And when she passes
Each one she passes
Goes ahhh
When she walks
She's like a samba
That swings so cool
And sways so gently
That when she passes
Each one she passes
Goes ahhh
Oh, but he watches so sadly
How can he tell her he loves her
Yes, he would give his heart gladly
But each day when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead not at he
Tall and tan
And young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema
Goes walking
And when she passes
He smiles but she doesn't see
She just doesn't see
The opening lines of Garota de Ipanema, or “The Girl from Ipanema” in English, encapsulate the pure beauty and grace of the young beach-goers that walk past the songwriter on their way to the ocean. The “sweet sway” of their steps appears like a poem come to life, but the most stunning female of them all is the “golden girl” who exudes an intangible allure that mesmerizes the songwriter. As she passes by, he muses on the frustration and desperation he feels in his own life, making the appearance of the girl all the more poignant. While his own existence becomes dulled by monotony and sadness, the presence of the girl from Ipanema turns the world into a brighter and more beautiful place for a moment. If only she could see the power of her own presence, how much happiness she brings with her simple stroll.
Garota de Ipanema captures the essence of the carefree beach culture that Rio de Janeiro is known for, while also embodying the melancholy undertones that make the city so textured and fascinating. The song, composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim with Portuguese lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes and English lyrics by Norman Gimbel, premiered in 1962 at a Rio nightclub, but did not receive international acclaim until the 1964 version performed by João Gilberto and his then-wife, Astrud Gilberto. This version, recorded in New York City, reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a top 20 hit throughout Europe. Since then, “The Girl from Ipanema” has been covered by countless artists, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Amy Winehouse, cementing its status as a timeless classic. One of the most interesting facts about the song is how its creation brought together two very different artistic circles within Brazil – Jobim, who represented the sophisticated class of Rio de Janeiro’s urban elite, and de Moraes, a poet from the poorer outskirts of the city. It was their shared experiences and sensibilities that allowed them to write a song that resonated with so many people from all backgrounds.
Line by Line Meaning
Olha que coisa mais linda
Look at how beautiful she is
Mais cheia de graça
And how gracefully she moves
É ela menina
It's that girl
Que vem e que passa
Who comes and goes
No doce balanço, a caminho do mar
In the gentle sway, on her way to the sea
Moça do corpo dourado
A girl with a golden body
Do sol de Ipanema
From the sun of Ipanema
O seu balançado é mais que um poema
Her sway is more than a poem
É a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar
It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen go past
Ah, porque estou tão sozinho
Oh, why am I so lonely
Ah, porque tudo é tão triste
Oh, why is everything so sad
Ah, a beleza que existe
Ah, the beauty that exists
A beleza que não é só minha
The beauty that's not just mine
Que também passa sozinha
That also passes by alone
Ah, se ela soubesse
Oh, if she only knew
Que quando ela passa
That when she walks by
O mundo inteirinho se enche de graça
The whole world becomes full of grace
E fica mais lindo
And becomes even more beautiful
Por causa do amor
Because of love
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Antonio Carlos Brasileiro De A Jobim, Marcus Vinicius Da Cruz De M. Moraes
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.