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.

O Que Vai Ser Mim?
Antônio Carlos Jobim Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Sem amor, sem carinho
O que é que vai ser de mim?
Você diz que vai embora
Diz agora que é pra sempre
Não quer mais o meu amor

Se eu continuar lhe querer
O que é que vai ser de mim?

Já fiz reza, fiz macumba
Nada disso adiantou
Fiz até uma promessa
E o senhor não me escutou

Eu sei que você não dorme
De tanto que pensa em mim
Se você não se resolve
O que é que vai ser de mim?

Já fiz reza, fiz macumba
Nada disso adiantou
Fiz até uma promessa
E o senhor não me escutou

Eu sei que você não dorme
De tanto que pensa em mim
Se você não se resolve
O que é que vai ser de mim?

O que é que vai ser de mim?
O que é que vai ser de mim?
O que é que vai ser de mim?
O que é que vai ser de mim?

O que é que vai ser de mim?

O que é que vai ser de mim?
O que é que vai ser...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Antônio Carlos Jobim's song O Que Vai Ser Mim? express the singer's fear and uncertainty about their future without love and affection. The first verse begins with the question "Without love, without affection, what is going to happen to me?" to which the singer already knows the answer. The second verse continues with the theme of rejection and loss, as the singer describes their lover leaving for good and no longer wanting their love. The chorus repeats the question "What is going to happen to me?" with a sense of desperation and hopelessness.

The third verse introduces the theme of religion, as the singer claims to have performed various rituals such as prayer, voodoo, and making promises to a higher power. The repetition of "and the Lord did not listen to me" shows the singer's continued despair and lack of faith. The final verse brings back the theme of the lover still thinking about the singer, but not making any changes. The final repetition of "What is going to happen to me?" leaves the listener with a sense of unresolved anxiety and fear for the singer's future.

Overall, the lyrics of O Que Vai Ser Mim? showcase the complex emotions that can arise from rejection and uncertainty in love, and the search for answers in religion and spirituality.

Line by Line Meaning

Sem amor, sem carinho
Without love or affection

O que é que vai ser de mim?
What will become of me?

Você diz que vai embora
You say you're leaving

Diz agora que é pra sempre
And that it's forever

Não quer mais o meu amor
You don't want my love anymore

Se eu continuar lhe querer
If I keep loving you

O que é que vai ser de mim?
What will become of me?

Já fiz reza, fiz macumba
I've prayed and cast spells

Nada disso adiantou
But none of that worked

Fiz até uma promessa
I even made a promise

E o senhor não me escutou
And the lord didn't listen to me