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.
How Insensitive
Astrud Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I must have seemed
When he told me that he loved me
How unmoved and cold
I must have seemed
When she told me so sincerely
Why he must have asked
Did I just turn and stare in icy silence
What can you say
when a love affair is over
Now he's gone away
And I'm alone with the memory of his last look
Vague and drawn and sad
I see it still
All his heartbreak in that last look
Why he must have asked
Did I just stood and stare in icy silence
What was I to do?
What can one do
when a love affair is over, over?
In Astrud Gilberto's song "How Insensitive," the singer reflects on a past love affair and her own lack of emotional response to her partner's declaration of love. The lyrics suggest that she was "unmoved and cold" when he told her he loved her, and that she did not know how to respond to his affection. Similarly, when a female friend told the singer that she loved her, the singer responded in the same unfeeling manner. The singer reflects on how her behavior may have hurt these people, and wonders why she was unable to reciprocate their feelings.
The singer's regret is particularly poignant in the second half of the song, where she reflects on her former partner's departure. She is haunted by the memory of his "last look," which was "vague and drawn and sad." She wonders why she did not respond to his love with more enthusiasm and warmth, and laments the fact that their relationship did not last. However, the singer also suggests that there may have been nothing she could have done to save their love affair: "What can one do when a love affair is over?"
Overall, "How Insensitive" is a commentary on the complexities of romantic relationships and the ways in which we often fail to communicate our feelings effectively. The song's narrator is acutely aware of her own shortcomings and her inability to respond to love in a way that is authentic and genuine.
Line by Line Meaning
How insensitive
I am reflecting on how remorseless and unfeeling I have been in past romantic relationships.
I must have seemed
I realize that my actions didn't convey the empathy I now feel, and I must have appeared cold-hearted at the time.
When he told me that he loved me
I am specifically recalling a moment when a lover expressed their affection to me.
How unmoved and cold
My lack of emotional response in that situation is what I am lamenting now.
When she told me so sincerely
In the same vein, I recall another instance where a romantic partner expressed love to me genuinely.
Why he must have asked
I am considering how my past partner might have felt confused and hurt by my callous demeanor.
Did I just turn and stare in icy silence
I am envisioning myself failing to offer comfort, instead reacting coldly or with a lack of sympathy.
What was I to say
I am pondering what the right response might have been, given that I was not sincere in my romantic feelings in those instances.
What can you say
I am still unsure, even now, of what an appropriate response might have been.
when a love affair is over
I am grappling with the loss of love, and how relationships ultimately come to an end.
Now he's gone away
I am acknowledging now that the relationship has ended and the romantic partner has left.
And I'm alone with the memory of his last look
I am left to contemplate and mourn what remains of our romance.
Vague and drawn and sad
The final memory I have of my partner is one of sadness and despair, though the details are hazy.
I see it still
The memory of the breakup and the partner's final look remain vivid to me, and I cannot shake the feeling of loss.
What was I to do?
I am still grappling with the right course of action to have taken to be more supportive and empathetic in those past relationships.
What can one do
Even now, I am still uncertain how to behave in a way that is supportive and compassionate when a romantic relationship is ending.
when a love affair is over, over?
I am still preoccupied with thoughts of the relationship and its end, and how I could have done better.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Norman Gimbel, Vinicius De Moraes
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@avitalalef9947
Hey, here are the lyrics!
How insensitive
I must have seemed
When she told me that he loved me
How unmoved and cold
I must have seemed
When she told me so sincerely
Why she must have asked
Did I just turn and stare in icy silence
What was I to say
What can you say when a love affair is over
Now she's gone away
And I'm alone with the memory of her last look
Vague and drawn and sad
I see it still
All her heartbreak in that last look
Why she must have asked
Did I just stare in icy silence
What was I to do
What can one do when a love affair is over
@user-yo7ir4uk2o
"How Insensitive"
(originally by Antônio Carlos Jobim)
How insensitive
I must have seemed
When he told me that he loved me
How unmoved and cold
I must have seemed
When he told me so sincerely
Why he must have asked?
Did I just turn
And stare in icy silence?
What was I to say?
What can you say
When a love affair is over?
Now he's gone away
And I'm alone
With a memory of hist last look
Vague, and drawn, and sad
I see it still
All his heartbreak in his last look
"Why?", he must have asked
Could I just turn
And stare in icy silence?
What was I to do?
What can one do
When a love affair is over?
Over
@joaobatistademelloayresneto
How Insensitive [Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes e Norman Gimbel]
com Astrud Gilberto
How insensitive
I must have seemed
When he told me that you loved me
How unmoved and cold
I must have seemed
When he told me so sincerely
Why he must have asked
Did I just turn and stare in icy silence
What was I to say?
What can you say
When a love affair is over?
Now he's gone away
And I'm alone
With a memory of his last look
Vague and drawn and sad
I see it still
All the heartbreak in his last look
How he must have asked,
Did I just turn and stare in icy silence
What was I to say?
What can you say
When a love affair is over?
@MonogramistaML
Thank you, Astrud, for some of the most beautiful experiences in my life.
@lesliecallender5397
When I first heard her sing I was hypnotized.
After all these years,I am still hypnotized.
@maurolima7135
Thank u for your words ❤
@spindriftdrinker
When her eyes met mine it was eternity🎵
@davidmoss9083
So painful .... So true ! How many others have felt this ? ...
@zoet9508
Some songs are perfect, This is one of them.
@retrorockdriquesrock9638
Omg.....too perfect
@melissamanning7004
That's because it's inspired by Chopin's Prelude in e minor :-)
@ccaammiinniiito2
Astrud's voice is the right carrier for the surreal emotion.
@geejee1255
they way she changes mid word WOW......