Helôise Pinheiro, the "Girl from Ipanema"
Posted on 07/21/2012 9:32:53 AM PDT by iowamark
“Tall and tan and young and lovely…” You’ve heard of her. The Girl From Ipanema.
You might have come across the bossa nova classic while on hold on the phone, during a long elevator ride, or in a cafe in Beirut or Bangkok _ but you’ve heard it. It’s been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Amy Winehouse, and survived bad lounge singers and Muzak incarnations to become, according to Performing Songwriter magazine, the second most recorded song in the world.
The quintessential bossa nova tune, inspired by a young woman who passed the songwriters in a beachside bar on her way to the sea, introduced Rio de Janeiro to the world. Now, it’s turning 50, and to its legions of fans, the decades have only heightened its allure, adding a wash of nostalgia to this hymn to passing youth and beauty...
This girl who “swings so cool and sways so gently” first stepped out in public on August 1962, in a cramped Copacabana nightclub.
On stage together, for the first and only time, were the architects of bossa nova: Tom Jobim on piano and Joao Gilberto on guitar, with help from the poet Vinicius de Moraes, who gave “The Girl” her lyrics. Also performing was the vocal group Os Cariocas....
The 1962 show at the club Au Bon Gourmet established bossa nova, wrote Castro in his book about the genre. It didn’t just introduce the Jobim-penned “Girl”; other bossa classics, such as “So danco samba” and “Samba da bencao,” also were played publicly for the first time.
The small club _ 20 by 130 feet _ sold out every night as patrons realized something extraordinary was happening on the cramped little stage...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Aah...
Brasilians have more words for how a woman sways her hips when she walks than Eskimos have words for snow. It all depends on you local resources, I suppose. : )
Simply the best song ever.
Carlos Jobim composed some incredible tunes. It wasn’t just the rhythms (and he wasn’t the only Bossa composer, of course) he used, he had some very innovative chord changes.
The melody alone evokes wonderful memories of Rio de Janeiro. Love those bossa nova tunes.
And any man who has ever been to Brazil knows why ...
Submitted for your approval:
For the best collection of bachelor pad music from the fifties and sixties. Hundreds of hours of free downloads.
I liked the version by Petula Clark on “The Muppet Show.”
Approved!
When this song comes on the world becomes right for a few minutes. Thanks!
I was sitting in front of a bar on Ipanema Beach in 1977, and then that year’s version of The Girl walked by. It was enjoyable!
Luxuriamusic.com is a great streaming-audio source of that genre too.
Later
“Brusha, brusha, brusha”
;^)
LOL, in the three minute version, at :30, the Sax player you see is none other than John Roberts.
Thanks! Reminiscing on a special time of life — learned bossa nova when it appeared at dances in my college days, about ‘56 — taught to dance, really dance by my girl friend Hedi, who had toured with the Jose Greco troupe — this tune became popular a bit later — always one of my most favorite compositions — just close ones eyes and travel back to a different time and culture — hmmmm — play this again — thinking of the beautiful girls in the flower of youth — and dancing together as we used to — thanks ————
I think my favorite version is by Sergio Mendez & Brazil ‘66, because is has the rich instrumentation and a good vocalist.
There’s a lot of arrangements out there that just don’t work as well.
I should add the parody lyrics:
Short and fat and pale and ugly
The guy from Ipanema is leering
And when a girl passes, each time she passes
Goes “Ewwwww!”
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