Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (January 25, 1927 – December 8, … Read Full Bio ↴Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (January 25, 1927 – December 8, 1994), also known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, pianist, songwriter, arranger and singer. Widely considered as one of the great exponents of Brazilian music, Jobim internationalized bossa nova and, with the help of important American artists, merged it with jazz in the 1960s to create a new sound with remarkable popular success. As such he is sometimes known as the "father of bossa nova".

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.

Luiza
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Rua espada nua
Boia no céu imensa e amarela
Tão redonda a lua
Como flutua
Vem navegando o azul do firmamento
E num silêncio lento um trovador
Cheio de estrelas

Escuta agora a canção que eu fiz
Pra te esquecer Luiza
Eu sou apenas um pobre amador
Apaixonado um aprendiz do teu amor
Acorda, amor
Que eu sei que embaixo desta neve
Mora um coração

Vem cá Luiza, me dá tua mão
O teu desejo sempre o meu desejo
Vem, me exorciza
Me dá tua boca e a rosa louca
Vem me dar um beijo
E um raio de Sol nos teus cabelos
Como um brilhante que partindo a luz
Explode em sete cores
Revelando então os sete mil amores
Que eu guardei somente
Pra te dar
Luiza
Luiza

'Iza
Luiza

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Antonio Carlos Jobim's song "Luiza" convey the singer's longing for a woman named Luiza. The imagery in the first stanza describes a yellow and immense moon floating through the sky, while a troubadour listens to the song the singer has composed. The song is dedicated to Luiza, with the singer acknowledging his own status as a poor and inexperienced lover, but still filled with passion and adoration for her.

The second stanza is a plea for Luiza to awaken and reciprocate the singer's love. The singer insists that behind the snow, there is a heart and desires Luiza's hand. The repeated phrases of "Vem" (Come) emphasize the singer's yearning for Luiza and the desperation to be with her. The stanza concludes with the singer asking for a kiss and a ray of sunshine to illuminate Luiza's hair and reveal the many loves that he has saved only for her.

Overall, the lyrics of "Luiza" capture the intensity of desire and longing. The song depicts the singer's love as pure and all-consuming, with a desire for nothing more than to be with Luiza.

Line by Line Meaning

Rua espada nua
A street without people or life

Bia no see you imensa e amarela
The huge and yellow moon shines above

To redonda a lua
The moon is round

Como flutua
It seems to be floating

Vem navegando o azul do firmamento
The blue of the sky comes sailing

E num silncio lento
In a slow silence

Um trovador, cheio de estrelas
A troubadour, filled with stars

Escuta agora a cano que eu fiz
Listen now to the song I made

Pra te esquecer Luza
To forget about you, Luiza

Eu sou apenas um pobre amador
I am just a poor amateur

Apaixonado
Passionate