The Boy From Ipanema
Written by Antonio Carlos Jobim / Vinícius de Moraes / Norman Gimbel.
Recorded March 9 and 14, 1966, but not released before 1994 on the collection Bassey - The EMI/UA Years 1959 - 1979.
This song had originally been written in Spanish by Antonio Carlos Jobim and the poet Vinícius de Moraes. 1963 the great tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, who was known as "The Sound", made an album "Getz/Gilberto" together with Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto. For the song "The Girl From Ipanema", in the last minute Astrud Gilberto was added to the team, though he had never sung professionally before, but it was mainly this song which made the album Getz's biggest seller. Norman Gimbel wrote the English-language adaptation of that song. The song became a classic all around the world, and has been interpreted by many artists, including such fine names like: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan,Peggy Lee, Petula Clark, Frank Sinatra, and of course, Shirley Bassey.
The famous Brazilian jazz pianist, guitarist, singer and composer Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim contributed many songs to the jazz repertoire. Because of his musical style and his international fame he even tends to symbolize his country in the eyes of the rest of the world. In 1958, the then-unknown Brazilian singer Joao Gilberto recorded some of Jobim's songs, which had the effect of launching the phenomenon known as Bossa Nova. Jobim's breakthrough outside Brazil occured in 1962 when Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd scored a surprise hit with his tune "Desafinado" - and later that year, he and several other Brazilian musicians were invited to participate in a Carnegie Hall showcase. Fueled by Jobim's songs, the Bossa Nova became an international fad. He's among the great songwriters of the last century, mainly in the jazz scene.
Read also about Norman Gimbel in Killing Me Softly With His Song.
On the video "Divas Are Forever" Shirley Bassey calls a man "the boy from Ipanema".
Please tell me if You know to whom she says this.
When he walks, he's like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when he passes, each girl he passes goes aaah
Ooh, but I watch him so sadly
How can I tell him I love him
Yes, I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when he walks to the sea
He looks straight ahead, not at me
Tall, and tan, and young, and handsome
The boy from Ipanema goes walking
And when he passes, I smile
But he doesn't see
And when he passes, each girl he passes goes aaah
And when he passes, each girl he passes goes aaah
Ooh, but I watch him so sadly
How can I tell him I love him
Yes, I would give my heart gladly
But each day, when he walks to the sea
He looks straight ahead, not at me
Tall, and tan, and young, and handsome
The boy from Ipanema goes walking
And when he passes, I smile
But he doesn't see
No, he doesn't see
Oh, poor little me
Why can't it be me
I wish ...
(transcribed by Roman <scribbler@gmx.net>)