The daughter of a Brazilian mother and a German father, Gilberto was raised in Rio de Janeiro and moved to the USA in the early 1960s. In her mid-teens, she became part of (her own words) a "musical clan" when she met João Gilberto, whom she described as the clan's musical "guru". She married him a few months later, in 1959. She frequently sang duets with him, or sang while he accompanied her on guitar, and he acted as her musical tutor. She also sang publicly with her husband in a concert at the Rio de Janeiro Faculty of Architecture, but did not sing professionally at that time.
The couple moved to the United States in 1963, where she performed on the influential Getz/Gilberto album with João Gilberto, Stan Getz and Antonio Carlos Jobim. While rehearsing "The Girl from Ipanema", João asked her to sing a verse in English, and then persuaded Getz to include this in the final recording. Getz agreed, and Astrud's professional career began. After the recording Getz told Astrud it would make her famous, and was proved correct.
In the mid-1960s the couple divorced.
The success of Gilberto's vocal work on the song "The Girl from Ipanema" quickly turned her into a jazz star, and soon she started recording solo. She started as an interpreter of Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz standards, but started recording her own compositions in the 1970s.
Gilberto's recordings exposed the nations of the World to the sensuality of Brazilian music and to her unique vocal interpretations of American music, such as "The Shadow of your Smile", "It Might as well be Spring", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Look to the Rainbow" (from her album of the same title, with Gil Evans), "Love Story", etc...
Following the hit with "Ipanema", her recording career quickly took off. Her first solo effort, "The Astrud Gilberto Album", was an immediate best-seller and was itself nominated as album of the year. Her next albums were all chart-toppers and were released on a yearly schedule. Her talents were much in demand in other areas as well as she appeared in two motion pictures, "The Hanged Man" and "Get Yourself a College Girl" and also recorded the soundtrack for "The Deadly Affair", arranged by Quincy Jones. She made appearances in all of the popular US television shows of the time, and had TV specials built around her in Europe, Japan and Africa. For many years she was the voice of Eastern Airlines, having recorded award-winning commercials.
In the early seventies, Gilberto revealed another facet of her talents, her songwriting, which was introduced on the albums "Astrud Gilberto Now" (1972) and "That Girl From Ipanema" (1977). On the "That Girl from Ipanema" album, Gilberto recorded one of her songs, "Far Away" (with lyrics by Hal Shaper), as a duet with the legendary Chet Baker. As she has revealed in interviews, this was one of the most rewarding events of her career, since Baker had been one of Gilberto's idols dating back to her teenage years. In 1976, one of her compositions, "Live Today" (co-written with Jerome Schur), received an award at the Tokyo Music Festival.
In the early eighties, Gilberto formed a group, a sextet comprised of piano, bass, drums, trombone, guitar and percussion. Her son, Marcelo Gilberto, joined her group as bassist. With this group format, she toured Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States. With the aid of Marcelo's valuable musical contributions, she polished the group's arrangements and entered a different phase in her career, as her music became more diversified and her songwriting more proliferous. Her shows, from the beginning of her career up to her last public appearance (2001), have been usually sold out and at many venues she has broken the house record in attendance. Seeking for a way to overcome her stage fright, which was sometimes overwhelming, Gilberto attended the Stella Adler School of Acting, for a couple of years, in the early eighties. The experience was helpful. Although still shy, Gilberto learned to control the stage fright to the extent that she can "live with it".
Her album "Astrud Gilberto Plus The James Last Orchestra", released in 1987, solidified her career as songwriter. The album includes a few of her own original compositions of which "Champagne & Caviar", "Amor e Som" and "I'm nothing without you" (Astrud's lyrics to A.C. Jobim's melody) are best known. The release of this album combined with the reissuing of some of her early records as CDs has created a whole new generation of fans for Astrud Gilberto all over the world, in addition to her already large number of followers. The "Astrud Gilberto Plus the James Last Orchestra" album was extremely well received by critics, as well as fellow artists.
In 1990, Gilberto, along with her sons Marcelo Gilberto and Gregory Lasorsa, formed Gregmar Productions, Inc. In the years that followed, Gilberto toured extensively, developing her live show and writing new material.
In 1992, Gilberto received the "Latin Jazz USA Award for Lifetime Achievement" for her outstanding contribution to Latin jazz music.
In 1995, the first project by Gregmar studios was released on an album as tribute to Jobim on the label Ps Flag/BMG ("Heirs To Jobim"). The song, "Forever Green", one of Jobim's last compositions before passing away, features saxophonist Michael Brecker. In that same year, in a sold-out Thursday night appearance, Astrud Gilberto became the first "Jazz" Artist to sing at the trendy "House of Blues" in Los Angeles, which had until then presented Blues and Rock acts, exclusively. She has also broken house records at the very popular "Jazz Cafe" club in London.
In early 1996 the first album from Gregmar was released in the Asian territories, including Japan, on the Pony Canyon label. It is comprised of various live performances recorded in NYC in 1989, for which is called "Astrud Gilberto - Live in New York".
The "Desafinado" duet with George Michael, in the Fall of 1996 included on the "Red Hot & Rio" album, gained international attention, and exposed the Bossa Nova style to a large number of Pop music fans. "Desafinado" has also been included on George Michael's 1999 release "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best of George Michael".
Also in 1996, Gilberto recorded a duet with the famous European vocalist, French Pop star, Ettienne Daho. The song, "Les Bordes de Seine", included on Daho's "Eden" album, was co-written by Daho and Gilberto and was particularly well received by "Hip-Hop" fans.
In late 1997, a studio album (also by Gregmar Productions), produced by Astrud and Marcelo Gilberto, was released in the Asian territories by the Pony Canyon label. Comprised entirely of Astrud Gilberto's original compositions (with the exception of just one American standard), the album bears the title of "Temperance". Yet to be released outside of Asia, the album features guests Michael Franks and the New York Voices.
Gilberto's sold-out performances at the "House of Blues", and her legendary shows at NYC's SOB's continued to be musical "happenings" to her fans up until 2001, when she decided to take indefinite time off the "road", in order to be able to spend more time with her family, and do more writing and painting (she is also a fine art artist (click here to view some of her artwork).
Gilberto's style has been a strong influence in contemporary music. Many artists have revealed the fact that they have been inspired by her musical style, among them: Basia (who recorded a tribute to Astrud, a song named "Astrud"), Sade, Sinead O'Connor, Michael Franks, Pat Metheney, and Suzanne Vega. Several "avant-garde" groups have also professed having Astrud as their "inspiring muse".
Gilberto's work as songwriter has gradually but surely developed from a "side thing" in the beginning of her career, to an integral part of it, in the later years. Since the mid-eighties, her live shows featured a large number of her own original compositions, to which audiences have been just as receptive as they have always been to old standards such as "The Girl from Ipanema", "One Note Samba", or "Quiet Nights".
Gilberto's 2002 "Jungle" album release, is a showcase of her songwriting, as it features ten original new compositions.
In April 2002, Gilberto was inducted into the "International Latin Music Hall of Fame".
In November 2008, Gilberto was awarded by the Latin Recording Academy the "Lifetime Achievement" Grammy Award.
Gentle Rain
Astrud Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And alone in the world
Walk with me
In the gentle rain
Don't be afraid, I've a hand
For your hand and i
Will be your love for a while
On my cheek
They are warm like gentle rain
Come little one you have me in the
World and our love will be sweet
Very sweet
Our love will
Be sweet very sad
Very sweet like gentle rain
Like the gentle rain
Like the gentle rain
The lyrics to Astrud Gilberto's song Gentle Rain express a feeling of loneliness and isolation that is common to many people. The two characters in the song are lost and alone in the world, but they find solace in each other's company. The singer invites the other person to walk with her in the gentle rain, a metaphor for the emotional support that they can offer each other.
The line "Don't be afraid, I've a hand for your hand and I will be your love for a while" is a message of reassurance and support. The singer is offering to be there for the other person, even if it is only for a time. The idea that their love will be sweet and sad at the same time suggests a bittersweet quality to their connection. The gentle rain is a symbol of the tenderness and compassion that they are sharing.
The final refrain, "Like the gentle rain, like the gentle rain" reinforces the metaphor from earlier in the song. It is an expression of the enduring nature of their connection, despite the transience of their time together. The song is both sad and hopeful, acknowledging the challenges of life while celebrating the human capacity for empathy and connection.
Line by Line Meaning
We both are lost
You and I are both feeling lost in the world
And alone in the world
We are also feeling isolated and alone
Walk with me
Come with me
In the gentle rain
Let's walk together in the rain
Don't be afraid, I've a hand
Don't worry, I am here to hold your hand
For your hand and i
I will be there for you
Will be your love for a while
I will be your loving companion for some time
I feel your tears as they fall
I can sense your tears as they drop
On my cheek
I feel them touch my face
They are warm like gentle rain
Your tears feel warm, much like the gentle rain
Come little one you have me in the
I'm here for you, no matter what
World and our love will be sweet
Our love will be sweet and special
Very sweet
Incredibly sweet
Our love will
The love between us will
Be sweet very sad
Be bittersweet
Very sweet like gentle rain
The sweetness will remind us of the gentleness of raindrops
Like the gentle rain
Just like the gentle rain
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Luiz Bonfa, Matt Dubey
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@m1l_0
here’s the lyrics it might be helpful!
(even tho it’s mostly for me lolol)
We both are lost
And alone in the world
Walk with me
In the gentle rain
Don't be afraid, I've a hand
For your hand and I
Will be your love for a while
I feel your tears as they fall
On my cheek
They are warm like the gentle rain
Come little one, you’ve got me in the
world
And our love will be sweet
Very sweet
Come little one, you’ve got me in the world
And our love will
Be sweet, very sweet, very sad
Like the gentle rain
Like the gentle rain
@lyna2295
I'm surprised this is actually a song- I totally loved it and gotta thank jazz for two for showing me this masterpiece 🥺
@ryuhohitori9079
all the songs in jazz for two are real songs. All were hand picked to suit the story
@patrickjanicke
Sometimes I'm tired of this world. But when I hear a song like that - it's all worth it!
@oklol7496
hi are you still alive
@glen7695
Music is a profound healing source. Live long and be happy. Best wishes.
@Chroamina
here from jazz for two
@hitomi7961
Sameee
@muanaaplazeck3210
same 🤪
@mariaisabelpenayauyo7971
Me too!! 😭😭😭😭
@ulandariita9382
Same...