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.
Matita Perê
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pelos canteiros de espinhos e flores
Lá, quero ver você
Olerê, Olará, você me pegar
Madrugada fria de estranho sonho
Acordou João, cachorro latia
João abriu a porta
Que João fugisse que João partisse
Que João sumisse do mundo
De nem Deus achar, Ierê
Manhã noiteira de força viagem
Leva em dianteira um dia de vantagem
Folha de palmeira apaga a passagem
O chão, na palma da mão, o chão, o chão
E manhã redonda de pedras altas
Cruzou fronteira da servidão
Olerê, quero ver
Olerê
E por maus caminhos de toda sorte
Buscando a vida, encontrando a morte
Pela meia rosa do quadrante Norte
João, João
Um tal de Chico chamado Antônio
Num cavalo baio que era um burro velho
Que na barra fria já cruzado o rio
Lá vinha Matias cujo o nome é Pedro
Aliás Horácio, vulgo Simão
Lá um chamado Tião
Chamado João
Recebendo aviso entortou caminho
De Nor-Nordeste pra Norte-Norte
Na meia vida de adiadas mortes
Um estranho chamado João
No clarão das águas no deserto negro
A perder mais nada corajoso medo
Lá quero ver você
Por sete caminhos de setenta sortes
Setecentas vidas e sete mil mortes
Esse um, João, João
E deu dia claro e deu noite escura
E deu meia-noite
No coração
Olerê, quero ver
Olerê
Passa sete serras passa cana brava
No brejo das almas tudo terminava
No caminho velho onde a lama trava Lá
No todo fim é bom
Se acabou João
No Jardim das rosas De sonho e medo
No clarão das águas
No deserto negro lá
Quero ver você lerê, lará
Você me pegar
The lyrics to Antonio Carlos Jobim's song "Matita Perê" evoke a sense of mystery and symbolism. The singer describes a dream-like garden, with both thorny and beautiful flowers, where they want to find someone. The phrases "olerê, olará, você me pegar" can be interpreted as a call to this person, an invitation to be found and caught.
The song then shifts to the story of João, who is awakened by a strange dream and the barking of a dog. João opens the door, and the dream becomes a reality. There is a sense of João needing to escape and disappear, to the point where not even God can find him. The lyrics paint a picture of a cold dawn and a journey full of challenges, represented by stones and a palm leaf erasing the path.
The narrative continues with a series of names, perhaps representing different characters or aspects of João's journey. It references Chico, Antônio, Matias, Pedro, Horácio, Simão, and Tião. These names blur the line between reality and symbolism, adding to the enigmatic nature of the lyrics.
The song concludes with the idea of finding courage in the midst of fear, losing everything yet continuing on. It speaks of the seven paths, the hundreds of lives, and the thousands of deaths that João goes through. In the end, day and night, light and dark, come together in his heart. The repetition of "olerê, quero ver" reinforces the desire to be seen, to be found, and to be understood.
Overall, "Matita Perê" combines surreal imagery and poetic language to convey a sense of longing, escape, and resilience in the face of adversity.
Line by Line Meaning
No jardim das rosas De sonho e medo
In a garden of roses filled with dreams and fears
Pelos canteiros de espinhos e flores
Among the flower beds of thorns and flowers
Lá, quero ver você
There, I want to see you
Olerê, Olará, você me pegar
Olerê, Olará, you catch me
Madrugada fria de estranho sonho
Cold dawn of a strange dream
Acordou João, cachorro latia
João woke up, the dog was barking
João abriu a porta
João opened the door
O sonho existia
The dream existed
Que João fugisse que João partisse
That João escaped, that João left
Que João sumisse do mundo
That João disappeared from the world
De nem Deus achar, Ierê
Without even God finding him, Ierê
Manhã noiteira de força viagem
Nighttime morning of a powerful journey
Leva em dianteira um dia de vantagem
Leading with an advantage of one day
Folha de palmeira apaga a passagem
A palm leaf erases the path
O chão, na palma da mão, o chão, o chão
The ground, in the palm of the hand, the ground, the ground
E manhã redonda de pedras altas
And a round morning of tall stones
Cruzou fronteira da servidão
Crossed the border of servitude
Olerê, quero ver
Olerê, I want to see
Olerê
Olerê
E por maus caminhos de toda sorte
And through bad paths of all kinds
Buscando a vida, encontrando a morte
Seeking life, finding death
Pela meia rosa do quadrante Norte
Through the half rose of the North quadrant
João, João
João, João
Um tal de Chico chamado Antônio
A guy named Chico called Antônio
Num cavalo baio que era um burro velho
On a bay horse that was an old donkey
Que na barra fria já cruzado o rio
That in the cold bar had already crossed the river
Lá vinha Matias cujo o nome é Pedro
There came Matias whose name is Pedro
Aliás Horácio, vulgo Simão
Also known as Horácio, alias Simão
Lá um chamado Tião
There a guy called Tião
Chamado João
Called João
Recebendo aviso entortou caminho
Receiving a warning, he deviated from the path
De Nor-Nordeste pra Norte-Norte
From Nor-Northeast to North-North
Na meia vida de adiadas mortes
In the halfway life of postponed deaths
Um estranho chamado João
A stranger called João
No clarão das águas no deserto negro
In the brightness of the waters in the black desert
A perder mais nada corajoso medo
Losing nothing else but courageous fear
Lá quero ver você
There, I want to see you
Por sete caminhos de setenta sortes
Through seven paths of seventy fates
Setecentas vidas e sete mil mortes
Seven hundred lives and seven thousand deaths
Esse um, João, João
This one, João, João
E deu dia claro e deu noite escura
And it gave bright day and dark night
E deu meia-noite
And it gave midnight
No coração
In the heart
Olerê, quero ver
Olerê, I want to see
Olerê
Olerê
Passa sete serras passa cana brava
Passes seven mountains, passes wild cane
No brejo das almas tudo terminava
In the swamp of souls, everything ended
No caminho velho onde a lama trava Lá
On the old path where the mud gets stuck There
No todo fim é bom
In the end, everything is good
Se acabou João
If João ended
No Jardim das rosas De sonho e medo
In a garden of roses filled with dreams and fears
No clarão das águas
In the brightness of the waters
No deserto negro lá
In the black desert there
Quero ver você lerê, lará
I want to see you lerê, lará
Você me pegar
You catch me
Lyrics © CORCOVADO MUSIC CORPORATION, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Paulo Cesar F Pinheiro, Antonio Carlos Brasi Jobim, Paulo Cesar Francisco Pinheiro
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.