The Girl From Ipanema

-Jobim/Gimbel/DeMoraes

Tall and tan and young and lovely
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 - ooh

(Ooh) But I watch her so sadly
How can I tell her I love her
Yes I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when she walks to the sea
She looks straight ahead, not at me

Tall, (and) tan, (and) young, (and) lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, I smile - but she doesn't see (doesn't see)
(She just doesn't see, she never sees me,...)

I've always loved this song and I remember being intrigued by it the first time I heard it on the radio. I did not understand at the time but I think I liked it because it is so sophisticatedly simple; like Cole Porter and Burt Bacharach/Hal David songs. I caught the end of a program about the story behind the song on LinkTV this morning and was surprised to see some different lyrics than the ones above:

Ah! If she only knew that when she passes by
the world is smiling,
filling up with grace
and turns more beautiful
because of love

So I googled the song and found the English translation of the original words:

Look, what a most beautiful thing there
moreover full of grace
and she, this girl that comes and goes
with this sweet swinging gait, along the way to the sea. . . .

The girl with this golden body from the Ipanema sun
Her swinging gait is more than a poem
and the most beautiful thing that I ever saw go by

Ah! why am I so alone?
Ah! why is everything so sad?
Ah! the beauty that is there!
The beauty that is not just mine . . .
that is also passing by alone.

Ah! if she only knew that when she passes by
the world is smiling
filling up with grace
and turns more beautiful
because of love
because of love
because of love

The Girl From Ipanema is a Brazilian style of music called Bossa Nova and it came out after the Bossa Nova fad in the United States had ended.

Of course some people didn't get what the music was all about. I remember another song I would hear on Oldies weekends called Blame It On The Bossa Nova written by Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil and by recorded by Eddie Gorme:

I was at a dance when he caught my eye
Standin' all alone lookin' sad and shy
We began to dance, swaying' to and fro
And soon I knew I'd never let him go

Blame it on the bossa nova with its magic spell
Blame it on the bossa nova that he did so well
Oh, it all began with just one little dance
But then it ended up a big romance
Blame it on the bossa nova
The dance of love

(Now was it the moon?)
No, no, the bossa nova
(Or the stars above?)
No, no, the bossa nova
(Now was it the tune?)
Yeah, yeah, the bossa nova
(The dance of love)

[Instrumental organ]

Now I'm glad to say I'm his bride to be
And we're gonna raise a family
And when our kids ask how it came about
I'm gonna say to them without a doubt

Blame it on the bossa nova with its magic spell
Blame it on the bossa nova that he did so well
Oh, it all began with just one little dance
But then it ended up a big romance
Blame it on the bossa nova
The dance of love

(Now was it the moon?)
No, no, the bossa nova
(Or the stars above?)
No, no, the bossa nova
(Now was it the tune? )
Yeah, yeah, the bossa nova
(The dance of love)

(Now was it the moon?)
No, no, the bossa nova
(Or the stars above ?)

[Fade]

Blame It On The Bossa Nova was released in 1963. Catchy little tune but it probably signaled the end of the Bossa Nova fad in the United States until The Girl From Ipanema was released a year later.

You can find sound clips of both the English version recorded by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto and the Joao Gilberto version sung in Portuguese here.