At the age of seven, Bebel made an appearance on her mother's first solo album Miúcha. At age nine, Bebel performed with her mother and jazz saxophonist Stan Getz at a jazz festival in New York's Carnegie Hall. Back in Brazil, Bebel performed and recorded for the soundtrack of the children's musical Os Saltimbancos, written by Sergio Bardotti and Chico Buarque. Later on Bebel joined an experimental theatrical group and was a member of the founding team of the performance space Circo Voador (Flying Circus) at Ipanema Beach. In this group she met singer/songwriter Cazuza, who became a close friend and soon a major rock star in Brazil during the 1980s.
Throughout the 1990s, Bebel collaborated with a variety of musical stars such as Arto Lindsay, Thievery Corporation, David Byrne, Towa Tei, Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. In 1996 Bebel was featured in the AIDS charity project Red Hot + Rio, produced by her close friend and collaborator Béco Dranoff. By the mid 1990s, Bebel also had successes as songwriter with the international dance hits "Technova" and "Batucada" in collaboration with producers Towa Tei and Arto Lindsay.
Bebel was featured on the soundtrack of Brad Anderson's film Next Stop Wonderland with Vinicius Cantuária and Mauro Refosco. In the late 1990s, Bebel moved to London where she began to develop the sound featured on her critically acclaimed debut album Tanto Tempo. During this period, she met Suba, the multi-talented Serbian producer living in São Paulo who ended up writing and producing several tracks on Tanto Tempo. While in London, she also worked with DJ/producer Amon Tobin, Dutch duo Arling & Cameron and singer Nina Miranda.
In 2000, Bebel's Tanto Tempo album was released on Ziriguiboom (Crammed Discs sub-label) and has sold over one million copies worldwide. The album was also nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards. Her second album, Bebel Gilberto (2004), was also released to great critical acclaim, receiving a MOBO Award in the UK and also a World Music Grammy nomination.
Also in 2006, Bebel started writing and producing the songs that would become part of her third album Momento, released in April 2007. On this album, Bebel collaborated with UK producer Guy Sigsworth, her friends Didi Gutman and Sabina Sciubba (from NY based band Brazilian Girls) and the Rio based Orquestra Imperial.
Gilberto's most recent album, All In One, was released in the US in September 2009 by jazz imprint Verve.
Close To You
Bebel Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In my sleepless nights
Even though it's you
Playing on my mind
All this time I've tried to hide
All the things I felt inside
And all my words have been torn
I wanna be close to you
Tantos versos eu rasguei
Tantas vezes quis mudar
Quantas lágrimas sequei
Sem seu olhar
Tanto tempo eu contei
Por você então sonhei
Tantas horas sem um porquê
I wanna be close to you
The lyrics of Bebel Gilberto's song Close to You talks about the feeling of loneliness that is experienced by the singer in her sleepless nights. The memories of her loved one keep on playing in her head even though she is all alone. She then admits that she has been trying to hide her feelings inside and couldn't articulate them properly. Her words have been torn apart and she has been struggling to express her emotions. However, she expresses her desire to be close to the person she is longing for.
The second verse of the song is in Portuguese which explains the tears and longing for her lover. She talks about how many verses she has torn, and how many times she has tried to change herself just to make things work with her partner. She has also spent time counting hours and dreaming about the person she loves. The repetition of 'Tanto' (meaning 'so many' in Portuguese) emphasizes the depth of her feelings and how it has consumed a significant part of her life.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm all alone
I'm feeling lonely
In my sleepless nights
I can't sleep at night
Even though it's you
Despite thinking about you
Playing on my mind
You're constantly on my mind
All this time I've tried to hide
I've been keeping my feelings secret for a long time
All the things I felt inside
The strong emotions that I've been feeling
And all my words have been torn
My attempts to communicate have been unsuccessful
I wanna be close to you
I desire to be near you
Tantos versos eu rasguei
I've torn up so many verses
Tantas vezes quis mudar
So many times I wished to change
Quantas lágrimas sequei
I've dried so many tears
Sem seu olhar
Without your gaze
Tanto tempo eu contei
I've counted so much time
Por você então sonhei
I dreamed about you for so long
Tantas horas sem um porquê
So many hours without a reason
I wanna be close to you
I desire to be near you
Lyrics © WARP MUSIC LIMITED, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Gilberto Bebel, Guy Sigsworth
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gxyz222
This is the type of song you just don't play anywhere, the right moment this is played can trigger everything magical!...
...that's the beauty of Bebel's voice!
Lubomira Nedyalkova
+Gxyz222 I totaly agree
Jefferson Mansk
Pure love !