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.
Next To You
Bebel Gilberto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And summer's fall
Time is just a whisper
In a waterfall
Forever now
Forever now
Every road I wander
Next to you
Be still my love
And close your eyes
Don't say a word
No how's or whys
Everything I need, within me
All the dreams I've dreamed, are true
And all the starry skies, inside me
When I'm next to you
The lyrics of "Next to You" by Bebel Gilberto speak of time, and how it is fleeting, with winter quickly turning to summer, and time being just a mere whisper in a waterfall. The lyrics also speak of the singer's constant searching, but no matter where she goes, she always ends up back where she started, reaffirming her love for the person she is next to. The chorus is a beautiful expression of love, telling her partner to be still and close their eyes, to not say a word and just be present with her. The lyrics express how everything she needs is within her, and her dreams are true when she is next to her partner.
The overall message conveyed in the song is one of love and how it can bring a sense of completeness and fulfillment. The repetition of "Forever now" adds to this theme, making it clear that the moment of being next to someone you love is timeless and all-encompassing.
Line by Line Meaning
So winter's come
The arrival of winter signifies change and the passing of time
And summer's fall
Just as summer ends and gives way to fall, time keeps moving forward
Time is just a whisper
Time is fleeting and can easily slip away without notice
In a waterfall
Time rushes past like a waterfall, constantly moving and changing
Forever now
Despite the passing of time, some things remain constant and unchanging
Forever now
The sense of love and connection is eternal and unchanging
Every road I wander
No matter where life takes me, I always end up back in this familiar place
Brings me back here
I find myself drawn back to you, to this place where I feel safest and most loved
Next to you
Being close to you is where I am happiest and feel most at home
Be still my love
Let's be quiet and reflect on our love for each other
And close your eyes
We can shut out the distractions of the world and focus on each other
Don't say a word
We don't need to speak; our love and connection is enough
No how's or whys
We don't need to explain or justify our love; it simply is
Everything I need, within me
I don't need anything else to be happy or fulfilled as long as I have you
All the dreams I've dreamed, are true
Being with you has made all my hopes and dreams a reality
And all the starry skies, inside me
The love and joy I feel when I'm with you fills me up like a night sky full of stars
When I'm next to you
Being close to you makes everything seem brighter and better
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: Bebel Gilberto, Didi Gutman, Marius De Vries
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind