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 ...
Oh, you are my HERO!!
To M1903A1 Thank you, too!
Good line.
Sinatra and Jobim. Best ever.
The girl has her head on strait.
Thanks!
Nice!
Now I’ll never get this song out of my poor head today! I’d rather have I Who Have Nothing, In-a-gadda-da-vida, or even Seasons in the Sun there. Why, MacArthur Park would be like a cavalry rescue!
Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz: THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA - 1964
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJkxFhFRFDA
Thanks iowamark.
I liked the version by Petula Clark on “The Muppet Show.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfgpHxl1vs4
Coooool! Thanks!
I prefer thr Homer & Jethro version - “The Gal from Possum Holler”
The Astrud Gilberto version is my favorite. Can’t wait to check out that link!
Unstoppable hotness.
Tnx for the link - without a doubt the coolest music ever written! And I’m not exactly from that era.
I was first exposed to this kind of music in the 80s when I bought an old reel-to-reel player and a bunch of reels. The player and reels are long since gone, along with the cassettes I transferred them to.
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