Bebel Gilberto (born Isabel Gilberto de Oliveira on May 12, 1966 in New Yor… Read Full Bio ↴Bebel Gilberto (born Isabel Gilberto de Oliveira on May 12, 1966 in New York City) is an American-born Grammy Award-nominated Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle is singer/composer Chico Buarque. Bebel has been performing since her youth in Rio de Janeiro.

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 Your Eyes
Bebel Gilberto Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You know you can feel the breeze with patience of a lifetime
Dance above the trees to the rhythm in your mind
Gently touching your skin inside out
Floating on the seas, it carries me around

You can close your eyes and never be alone
(4X)

Penso em você, sinto um gosto de mar
Nos grãos de areia, e eu a rolar
Vou rodar o mundo, mas aqui é o meu lugar
Eu vou rodar o mundo mas aqui é o meu lugar

You can close your eyes and never be alone
(4X)

Since the day I left, from the start
I can feel megabytes of memories in my heart
Wish I disappear and wake up in some other place
Where there´s no pain or fear, is simple like ´Hello´

You can close your eyes and never be alone
(4X)

Overall Meaning

The song "Close Your Eyes" by Bebel Gilberto is a beautiful composition that encourages us to release ourselves into the moment and let ourselves be taken up in the rhythm of life. The lyrics describe the sensation of letting go and being carried away by the gentle breeze, the stillness of a quiet mind, the ocean waves, and the music that floats through our thoughts. Bebel sings of floating on the seas, carried around, and dancing above the trees, as if in a state of meditation, free from the chaos of the world. She reminds us that it is possible to close our eyes and never be alone, implying that we are not separate from the world around us.

In the second verse of the song, Bebel sings in Portuguese, "I think of you and feel the taste of the sea in the grains of sand, and I roll over. I'll turn the world, but this is my place. I'll turn the world, but this is my place." This verse speaks to the concept of home and the importance of feeling a connection to a place where we feel rooted. In the final verse, she expresses a longing to escape to a place where there is no pain or fear, where life is simple and straightforward.

Overall, the song is incredibly uplifting, reminding us to take time to slow down and appreciate the beauty around us. It encourages us to let go of our worries, to close our eyes, and to trust in the music of life.

Line by Line Meaning

You know you can feel the breeze with patience of a lifetime
If you allow yourself to be patient, you can enjoy the sensation of the breeze for a lifetime

Dance above the trees to the rhythm in your mind
Allow your mind to create a rhythm that you can dance to, even above the trees

Gently touching your skin inside out
The sensation is so gentle that it feels like it's touching you from the inside out

Floating on the seas, it carries me around
Letting go and floating on the seas can take you on a beautiful journey

You can close your eyes and never be alone
You can find comfort even when alone by closing your eyes and taking in the beauty around you

Penso em você, sinto um gosto de mar
Thinking of you brings a taste of the sea to my mind

Nos grãos de areia, e eu a rolar
Rolling in the sand is like being massaged by thousands of tiny hands

Vou rodar o mundo, mas aqui é o meu lugar
Traveling the world is exciting, but there's no place like home

Since the day I left, from the start
From the moment I left, I've been carrying these memories in my heart

I can feel megabytes of memories in my heart
The memories are so vivid it feels like a digital file size of megabytes

Wish I disappear and wake up in some other place
Sometimes the desire to escape is so strong, you wish to wake up in a different place altogether

Where there´s no pain or fear, is simple like ´Hello´
A place where there is no pain or fear seems almost too good to be true, like something as simple as saying hello

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Isabel Gilberto De Oliveira, Mitar Subotic, Patricia Ermel, Preto Dinho Ouro, Roberto Dranoff

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS