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.
If You Never Come To Me
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Or the peaks where winter snows
What's the use of the waves that break in the cool of the evening
What is the evening without you, it's nothing
It may be you will never come, if you never come to me
What's the use of my wonderful dreams, and why would they need me
Where would they lead me without you? To nowhere
What's the use of my wonderful dreams, and why would they need me
Where would they lead me without you? To nowhere
In these lyrics, the singer expresses the feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness that is present when the person they love is not with them. They point out the beauty of natural elements such as moonlight and snow-capped peaks, but also show that these things hold no value if their beloved is not present to experience them with. The lines "What is the evening without you, it's nothing" and "Where would they lead me without you? To nowhere" emphasize the idea that without the one they love, the singer's life feels hollow and pointless.
The title of the song, "If You Never Come to Me", highlights the theme of longing for the return of a loved one. The lyrics were written by Ray Gilbert, and the music was composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Frank Sinatra recorded the song in his 1967 album "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim", which was a collaboration between the two artists.
Line by Line Meaning
There's no use of a moonlight glow Or the peaks where winter snows
The beauty of nature is insignificant without you in my life.
What's the use of the waves that break in the cool of the evening
The tranquility of the ocean is meaningless without your presence.
What is the evening without you, it's nothing
My life is incomplete and dull without you by my side.
It may be you will never come, if you never come to me
I fear the possibility of never being with you if you don't come to me.
What's the use of my wonderful dreams, and why would they need me
My aspirations and fantasies are meaningless without you in my life.
Where would they lead me without you? To nowhere
My dreams would be unfulfilling and pointless without your love and companionship.
Lyrics © CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION
Written by: Aloysio De Oliveira, Antonio Jobim, Ray Gilbert
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Boy_inthe_Box
Melancholic & yet immensely beautiful :)
Lyrics:
There's no use of a moonlight glow
Or the peaks where winter snows
What's the use of the waves that break in the cool of the evening
What is the evening,
without you,
it's nothing..
It may be you will never come,
if you never come to me
What's the use of my wonderful dreams and why would they need me
Where would they lead me,
without you,
to nowhere
What's the use of my wonderful dreams and why would they need me
Where would they lead me,
without you,
to nowhere.
Just nowhere..
@francescocirillo9063
There's no use of a moonlight glow
Or the peaks where winter snows
What's the use of the waves that will break
In the cool of the evening?
What is the evening without you?
It's nothing
It may be, you will never come
If you never come to me
What's the use of my wonderful dreams?
And why would they need me?
Where would they lead me without you?
To nowhere
What's the use of my wonderful dreams?
And why would they need me?
Where would they lead me without you?
To nowhere
Just nowhere
@peterjazzguitar
Revisiting playing this beautiful song on guitar and recall this wonderful version---they don't compose or make music like this any more ...
@harveynavigator599
Bought this album around 67 or68,cherished it ever since,some songs I didn’t liked back then but I sure love them all now
@sparkster65
Simply perfect!!!!!!!!!!
@richardcondon3797
This is a reinvention of music. Sinatra sometimes strained to get through some songs but never with Jobim. They were brothers. You get to hear some solo's here too and it shows how the band loved this music.
@nazarenalusana0691
Un duo perfetto ❤
@Boy_inthe_Box
Melancholic & yet immensely beautiful :)
Lyrics:
There's no use of a moonlight glow
Or the peaks where winter snows
What's the use of the waves that break in the cool of the evening
What is the evening,
without you,
it's nothing..
It may be you will never come,
if you never come to me
What's the use of my wonderful dreams and why would they need me
Where would they lead me,
without you,
to nowhere
What's the use of my wonderful dreams and why would they need me
Where would they lead me,
without you,
to nowhere.
Just nowhere..
@stephenbennett3688
Ahhhhh perfection
@awilda2790
I love when Frank sing Bossanova music.
@cosmicsprings8690
In the cool of the evening..what is the evening with out..
@esca7902
Beautiful song thanks for posting, by the way it is Sinatra's second best selling album.