The Girl from Ipanema

"The Girl from Ipanema" ("A Garota de Ipanema") is considered the best-known bossa nova song ever written, and was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s. It was written in 1962, with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes; English lyrics were later written by Norman Gimbel.

Background

The song was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (or, simply, Helô Pinheiro), an 18-year-old girl who lived on Montenegro street in the fashionable Ipanema district of Rio de Janeiro. Every day, she would stroll past the popular "Veloso" bar-cafe on the way to the beach, attracting the attention of regulars Jobim and Moraes.

Related Topics:
Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto - Ipanema - Rio de Janeiro

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The song was originally composed for a musical comedy entitled Dirigível (Blimp), which was a work in progress of Vinícius de Moraes. The original title was "Menina que Passa" ("The Girl Who Passes By"), and the famous first verse was completely different.

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In Revelação: a verdadeira Garota de Ipanema (Revealed: The Real Girl from Ipanema) Moraes wrote that she was:

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:"o paradigma do bruto 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 que passa, da beleza que não é só nossa — é um dom da vida em seu lindo e melancólico fluir e refluir constante."

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which roughly translates to:

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:'"the exemplar of the rude Carioca: a golden-tanned girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of brightness and grace, but with a touch of sadness, in that she carries with her, on her route to the sea, the feeling of that which passes by, of the beauty that is not ours alone — it is a gift of life in its constant, beautiful and sad ebb and flow."

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Today, "Montenegro Street" is called "Vinícius de Moraes Street", and the "Veloso Bar" is named "A Garota de Ipanema". There is also a Garota de Ipanema Park in the nearby Arpoador neighborhood.

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