One Note Samba (Samba de Uma Nota Só)

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"Samba de Uma Nota Só" ("One Note Samba") is a song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim with Portuguese lyrics by Newton Mendonça. The English lyrics were written by Jobim.

The song title refers to the main melody line, which at first consists of a long series of notes of a single tone played in a bossa nova rhythm (typically D, as played in the key of G). The first eight measures consist of D, followed by four measures of G, and then four measures of D. This is followed by eight measures of a more varied melody line. This well-known song has never charted as a single record. The best known version on LP is probably the Sergio Mendes-Brasil '66 version, in medley with "Spanish Flea" (1966).