Two Drunk Men Were Leering at a Teenager at a Beachside Bar in Rio . . .
Stop Me If You've Heard This One.
Author’s Note: This essay was originally published June 6, 2023 following the passing of Astrud Gilberto.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s American jazz musicians discovered the samba, Brazil’s complex, indigenous music. Saxophonist Stan Getz was one of the first to travel there, finding a thriving and welcoming musical scene.
Getz began working with composer, singer, and guitarist João Gilberto. They softened the hard samba rhythms and superimposed American jazz song forms, creating a Brazilian “new wave” (“bossa nova”) sound. They got the sound they wanted but needed to add vocals in order to appeal to an international audience.
While in the studio with Getz, Gilberto recalled a half-written song from an abandoned musical comedy project called “Blimp,” created while he was drinking in a bar leering at a local teenager in a bikini.
It was about a Martian who landed his spaceship on Rio’s shoreline and falls in love with a beautiful young woman, “Menina que Passa” (“The Girl Who Passes By”).
Olha que coisa mais linda
Mais cheia de graça
É ela menina
Que vem e que passa
Num doce balanço, a caminho do marMoça do corpo dourado
Do sol de Ipanema
O seu balançado é mais que um poema
É a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar
A translation was quickly made.
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 gently
That when she passes
Each one she passes goes, "Ah"
Who was going to sing it? Getz was no singer and Gilberto didn’t know English. In fact, the only one in the room who could sing in English was Gilberto’s 22-year wife Astrud, hanging around waiting to go to dinner. Yeah, she had a pretty voice but it was like a whisper . . .
The Girl From Ipanema, of course, became one of the most popular songs in music history, selling 5 million copies (so far) and bumping the Beatles off of the #1 position on the charts (July 18, 1964, displacing “A Hard Day’s Night”).
Astrud Gilberto died yesterday at age 83.
RIP Astrud.