Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niteroi, 11 February 1… Read Full Bio ↴See Sérgio Mendes.
Sérgio Santos Mendes (born Niteroi, 11 February 1941) is a Brazilian musician. Born the son of a physician in Niteroi, Brazil, Mendes attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late-1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was taking off. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor), and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.
Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderly and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the Brasil '65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records. When sales were tepid, he replaced his Brazilian born vocalist Wanda Sa with the distinctive voice of Chicago native Lani Hall (who learned Mendes' Portuguese material phonetically) and switched to Herb Alpert's A&M label and released Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. (Hall would later marry Alpert). The album ultimately went platinum based largely upon the success of the single Mas Que Nada and the personal support of Alpert, with whom Mendes toured regularly. Though his early singles with Brasil '66 (most notably Mas Que Nada) met with some success, Mendes really burst into mainstream prominence when he performed the Oscar nominated Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "The Look of Love" on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1968. Brasil '66's version of the song quickly shot into the top 10, eclipsing Dusty Springfield's version from the soundtrack of the movie, and Mendes spent the rest of 1968 enjoying consecutive top 10 and top 20 hits with his follow-up singles, "The Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair." Though he continued to enjoy adult contemporary chart successes with Brasil '66 through 1971, he would not experience the mainstream chart hits he enjoyed in 1968 until his comeback album in 1983 generated the biggest single of his career, "Never Gonna Let You Go." However, from 1968 on, Mendes was arguably the biggest Brazilian star in the world, enjoying immense popularity worldwide and performing in venues as varied as stadium arenas and the White House, where he gave concerts for both President Johnson and President Nixon.
Mendes' career in the U.S. stalled in the mid-70s, but he remained very popular in South America and Japan. (This disparity became a Seinfeld in-joke.) His two albums with Bell Records in 1973 and 1974, followed by several for Elektra from 1975 on, found Mendes continuing to mine the best in American pop music and post-Bossa writers of his native Brazil, while forging new directions in soul with collaborators like Stevie Wonder, who wrote Mendes' R&B-inflected minor hit, "The Real Thing." In 1983, he rejoined Alpert's A&M records and enjoyed huge success with a self-titled album and several follow-up albums, all of which received considerable adult contemporary airplay with charting singles. By the time Mendes released his Grammy-winning Elektra album Brasileiro in 1992, he was the undisputed master of pop-inflected Brazilian jazz. The late-1990s lounge music revival brought retrospection and respect to Mendes' oeuvre, particularly the classic Brasil '66 albums. He has released over thirty-five albums, and still plays his bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. His newest album, Timeless released in 2006, featured Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas, Q-Tip, Justin Timberlake, and Pharoahe Monch.
(Text taken in whole from the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Mendes on March 30, 2006)
The Girl From Ipanema
Sergio Mendes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah
When she walks, she's like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah
How can he tell her he loves her
Yes I would give my heart gladly
But each day, that she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at he
Tall, (and) tan, (and) young, (and) lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, he smile - but she doesn't see
(Doesn't see)
(She just doesn't see, she never sees him)
"The Girl From Ipanema" is a romantic bossa nova song, originally written in Portuguese and inspired by a young woman named Heloísa Eneida Menezes Pais Pinto, who used to walk by a bar frequented by the songwriters Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes in the Ipanema neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The song's lyrics describe her beauty and grace, with her tall and tan figure, and the way she mesmerizes everyone who sees her walking by. The song's narrator is a man who admires her from afar, but is unable to tell her how he feels, as she walks past him every day without even noticing him.
The verses have a playful and light-hearted tone, and are sung in a slow and smooth way, with a melody that evokes the rhythm of a samba. The chorus, on the other hand, has a melancholic quality, as the singer bemoans his unrequited love and the fact that the girl he admires so much never seems to notice him.
Line by Line Meaning
Tall and tan and young and lovely
She is a tall, naturally tanned young woman who is beautiful and captivating.
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
The subject of the song is often seen walking down the streets of Ipanema, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
And when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah
The woman is so stunning that when people see her, they are struck with awe and admiration, often making a noise of surprise or shock.
When she walks, she's like a samba
The woman moves with grace and fluidity, much like the Brazilian dance known as the samba.
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
Her movements are smooth and relaxed, creating a captivating and mesmerizing effect on those who watch her.
That when she passes, each one she passes goes - ah
Her beauty and gracefulness are so striking that people are left in awe and admiration when she walks by.
(Ooh) But he watch her so sadly
One person in particular watches her with sadness, possibly because he loves her but is not loved in return.
How can he tell her he loves her
He is struggling with his feelings for her and doesn't know how to express them to her.
Yes I would give my heart gladly
He is willing to offer his heart to her and give her his love completely.
But each day, that she walks to the sea
Every day, she walks towards the sea, possibly indicating that she is not interested in being tied down to anyone or anything at the moment.
She looks straight ahead, not at he
Despite his feelings for her, she does not seem to notice him and does not make eye contact when they cross paths.
Tall, (and) tan, (and) young, (and) lovely
Repeating the opening line emphasizes her striking physical appearance and the effect it has on those around her.
And when she passes, he smile - but she doesn't see
He still smiles when he sees her, even though she never seems to notice him or his affection for her.
(Doesn't see)
The repetition of this phrase drives home the idea that she is not aware of his feelings or presence.
(She just doesn't see, she never sees him)
He is invisible to her and unable to get her attention, despite his love and willingness to give his heart to her.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
IN HIS SERVICE GOD IS
JUST SAW THEM IN CONCERT. NEVER GETS OLD, HIS WIFE IS FROM IPANEMA, LOVED CONCERT
IN HIS SERVICE GOD IS
ALWAYS LOVED THIS SONG, MADE ME WANT TO GO TO BRAZIL. EXCELLENT
Carmen Ñique
Sergio Mendez, lo MÁXIMO.
Enrique Iturralde Avila
Nunca morirá esa canción
Dariusz Duszynski
Piękna piosenka , ciekawe klimaty.
MrReal112
Thanks for posting! This beautiful track is actually composer Antonio Carlos Jobim himself playing with an orchestra Conducted by Eumir Deodato first released on the Jobim's album "Tide" and recorded in May 1970.
Elio Sanfeliu
You are right¡¡All the best..
helen clark
Nice visuals and music thanks so much for Brazil 66 & Sergio Mendez
J. F. Gecik
Sergio spells his surname, "Mendes," not "Mendez." The "-ez" ending for names is common where Spanish is spoken, but not in Brazil and Portugal, where Portuguese is spoken. Also, the final "-s" is usually pronounced like the "-sh" in English.
Heather Ferreira
You're right, but close. It's pronounced more like "zhj", not "sh".
Citations: my last name