The Girl from Ipanema
| "The Girl from Ipanema" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Antônio Carlos Jobim | |
| Genre | Bossa nova |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Writer | Vinícius de Moraes Norman Gimbel (English lyrics) |
| Composer | Antônio Carlos Jobim |
"The Girl from Ipanema" ("Garota de Ipanema") is a well known bossa nova song, a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s that won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes with English lyrics written later by Norman Gimbel.[1] It was also famously sung and played by Jobim in 1965 on The Andy Williams Show.
The first commercial recording was in 1962, by Pery Ribeiro. The version performed by Astrud Gilberto, along with João Gilberto and Stan Getz, from the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto, became an international hit, reaching #5 in the United States, including number one on the Pop Standard chart,[2] #29 in the United Kingdom, and charting highly throughout the world. Numerous recordings have been used in movies, sometimes as an elevator music cliché (for example, near the end of The Blues Brothers).
In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.[3]
Contents |
History
Myth has it "The Girl from Ipanema" was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (now Helô Pinheiro), a fifteen-year-old girl living in Montenegro Street of the fashionable Ipanema district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Daily, she would stroll past the popular Veloso bar-café on her way to the beach, attracting the attention of regulars Jobim and Moraes.
In fact, the song originally was composed for a musical comedy titled Dirigível (Blimp), then a work-in-progress of Vinícius de Moraes. The song's original title was "Menina que Passa" (The Girl Who Passes By); the famous first verse was different. Jobim meticulously composed the melody on his piano in his new house in Rua Barão da Torre, in Ipanema. In turn, Vinícius had written the lyrics in Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, as he had done with Chega de Saudade six years earlier.
The myth is true in that the composers did know Helô Pinheiro, and later attributed the song's composition to her. In the winter of 1962, they watched her pass by the Veloso bar, not just to the beach, but in the everyday course of her life. It is easy to imagine why they noticed her — Helô was a five-foot-eight-inch-tall (1.73m) gimlet-eyed brunette living in Rua Montenegro, already the objet du désir of many Veloso patrons, where she would enter to buy cigarettes (for her mother) and leave to a flattering wolf-whistle soundtrack.[4] Since the song became popular, she has become a celebrity.
In Revelação: a verdadeira Garota de Ipanema (Revealed: The Real Girl from Ipanema) Moraes wrote she was:
- "o paradigma do broto carioca; a moça dourada, misto de flor e sereia, cheia de luz e de graça mas cuja a visão é também triste, pois carrega consigo, a caminho do mar, o sentimento da mocidade que passa, da beleza que não é só nossa — é um dom da vida em seu lindo e melancólico fluir e refluir constante."
Translation:
- "the paradigm of the young Carioca: a golden teenage girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of light and grace, the sight of whom is also sad, in that she carries with her, on her route to the sea, the feeling of youth that fades, of the beauty that is not ours alone — it is a gift of life in its beautiful and melancholic constant ebb and flow."
Legal disputes
In 2001, the song's copyright owners (heirs of their composer fathers) sued Pinheiro for using the title of the song as the name of her boutique (Garota de Ipanema). In their complaint, they stated that her status as The Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema) does not entitle her to use a name that legally belongs to the heirs.[5][6] Public support was strong in favor of Pinheiro. A press release by Jobim and Moraes, the composers, in which they had named Pinheiro as the real Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema) was evidence that they had intended to bestow this title on her. The court ruled in favor of Pinheiro.[7]
Separately, when Frito-Lay used the song in a TV ad for its baked potato chips, Astrud Gilberto argued that "as the result of the huge success of the 1964 recording, and her frequent subsequent performances of "Ipanema," she has become known as The Girl from Ipanema and is identified by the public with the 1964 recording. She claims as a result to have earned trademark rights in the 1964 recording, which she contends the public recognizes as a mark designating her as a singer. She contends, therefore, that Frito-Lay could not lawfully use the 1964 recording in an advertisement for its chips without her permission." Her claims were rejected in Oliveria v. Frito-Lay, Inc., 251 F.3d 56 (2nd Cir. 2001), http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/251/56/539915/.
Media appearances
- Hearing a Muzak version of "The Girl from Ipanema" in an elevator has become a commonplace comedy trope in popular culture, often to lighten the mood or provide ironic contrast to a tense scene. This tradition most likely began with the climactic scene of The Blues Brothers (1980): the title characters listen to the song during a slow elevator ride in a building being surrounded by police and S.W.A.T teams. The Muzak version of the song has appeared in several subsequent films, notably Deep Rising, Finding Nemo, The Emperor's New Groove, Mallrats and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
- Rick Moranis made a comedy/rap version of the song (retitled "Ipanema Rap") in 1989 for his album You, Me, the Music and Me.
- Julian Lloyd Webber recorded a cello version of the song on his 2001 album Made in England.
- In Wayne's World 2 (1993), Honey Hornee (Kim Basinger) seduces the hapless Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) to a performance of this song played by Stan Getz.
- An American musical film, Get Yourself a College Girl includes a performance of the song by Astrud Gilberto.
- A Brazilian musical film, Garota de Ipanema, inspired by the song, was released in 1967.
- The song was parodied by Stephen Sondheim and Mary Rodgers as "The Boy From...."
- The band The B-52's have a song titled "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland."
- The 1987 Barry Levinson film Tin Men uses the song in a singalong at a late-evening watering hole; its use is anachronistic, though, since the film is set in 1963 and the record was released in 1964.
- The song is sung by a female crooner in a lounge scene in The Color of Money.
- The film Alpha Dog uses the song in its closing scene.
- The song is used in the Monty Python sketch "Mrs. Premise and Mrs. Conclusion visit Jean-Paul Sartre", featured in episode #27 of the Flying Circus television show.
- An instrumental version of the song is heard briefly in the Simpsons episode Simpson Tide.
Disco version
In 1977, a disco version of "The Girl from Ipanema" by Astrud Gilberto was released, produced by Vincent Montana featuring a distinct Salsoul style disco sound.
In Vegas Vacation, the song is used during a scene on the plane.
The instrumental version was played in a 2005 episode of Everybody Loves Raymond entitled "The Power of No."
Other versions
In 2005, contemporary jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb covered the song from his album "When I'm With You."[8][9]
The Boy from Ipanema
When sung by female artists the song has often been rendered as The Boy from Ipanema. A few examples:
- Shirley Bassey[10]
- Petula Clark[11]
- Rosemary Clooney[12]
- Ella Fitzgerald[13]
- Eartha Kitt[14]
- Diana Krall[15]
- Peggy Lee[16]
- The Supremes[17]
- Crystal Waters[10]
- Sarah Vaughan[10]
- Lena Horne
References
- ↑ "STAN GETZ lyrics - "The Girl From Ipanema" (feat. Astrud Gilberto)". OldieLyrics.com. http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/stan_getz/the_girl_from_ipanema.html. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 102.
- ↑ The Full National Recording Registry National Recording Preservation Board. http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-masterlist.html.
- ↑ Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World, by Ruy Castro, pp.239-240.
- ↑ Rohter, Larry (2001-08-11). "Ipanema Journal; Still Tall and Tan, a Muse Fights for a Title". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3D8133FF932A2575BC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all.
- ↑ Folha Online - Pensata - Marcio Aith - Herdeiros de Ipanema querem destruir a poesia - 13/08/2001
- ↑ http://stan-shepkowski.net/girlfromipanema.htm
- ↑ "When I'm With You overview". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hpfoxqtsldse.
- ↑ "Chuck Loeb When I'm With You". SmoothVibes.com. http://www.smoothvibes.com/movabletype/archives/cat_smooth_sailing.html.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 http://www.songsofshirleybassey.co.uk/song/sng94005.html
- ↑ The Boy From Ipanema at Wikia
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Brazil-Rosemary-Clooney/dp/B00004TQYE
- ↑ http://www.hotlyrics.net/lyrics/E/Ella_Fitzgerald/The_Boy_From_Ipanema.html
- ↑ http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Eartha-Kitt/dp/B000JYW5MS
- ↑ http://www.dianakrall.com/music.aspx?pid=12009
- ↑ http://www.spaceagepop.com/ipanema.htm
- ↑ http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_supremes/the_boy_from_ipanema.html
18. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120917/soundtrack
External links
- astrudgilberto.com Astrud Gilberto
- (English)+(French)History of BOSSA NOVA with audio and video samples, by ABDB
- Journalist Scott Vogel visits the "girl from Ipanema", now in her 60s
| Preceded by "People" by Barbra Streisand |
Billboard Pop-Standard Singles number-one single July 18 – 25, 1964 |
Succeeded by "Everybody Loves Somebody" by Dean Martin |
|
||||||||||||||||||||