“Girl from Ipanema”, "Garota de Ipanema," was composed 1962 by Antonio Carlos Jobim, with lyrics in Portuguese by Vinícius de Moraes. (Norman Gimbel wrote the English lyrics.) It was first recorded in 1962 by Pery Ribeiro. A 1964 recording became an American hit. That recording, sung by Astrud Gilberto in English and in Portuguese by João Gilberto, with João Gilberto on guitar, Stan Getz on saxophone, and the composer, Antonio Carlos Jobim, on piano, appeared on the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto, which introduced Bossa Nova to audiences worldwide.
Below, a picture a beautiful Brazilian Girl that could surely be the 2009 Girl of Ipenema:
The History and The legend: Girl from Ipanema with Lyrics:
In 1962, on her way home from school Héloisa Pinheiro regularly passed the Bar Veloso on Rua Montenegro in Rio de Janeiro's fashionable Ipanema district. The composer Antonio Carlos Jobim and poet Vinícius de Moraes, who were collaborating on a musical comedy, were hanging out in the bar. Every afternoon they watched her pass by, and were inspired to write "Garota de Ipanema". Later Jobim said, "She had long, golden hair, these bright green eyes that shone at you and a fantastic figure: let's just say that she had everything in the right place. ..." [Harold Emert, Insight Guide to Rio de Janeiro pp. 138-139]
Above, an original picture of the Girl of Ipanema- Helo Pinheiro, at the beach in the 60´s.
Now the street has been renamed "Rua Vinícius de Moraes" and the bar, "A Garota de Ipanema". But heartbreakingly beautiful girls still walk by every day. . . Ipanema still considered one of the fanciest beaches in Brazil and a great meeting point for Cariocas.
Above, photo of composer of The Girl with Ipanema, lyrics were made by Vinicius de Moraes.
It has already been explained, but people find it hard to accept the truth: Jobim and Vinícius did not write "The Girl from Ipanema” with lyrics in the Veloso bar (today called Garota da Ipanema), which was on the street that used to be known as Rua Montenegro and is now Rua Vinícius de Moraes, at the intersection with Rua Prudente de Moraes (no relation).
It was never the duo's style to write music sitting at a table in some bar, although they had probably spent the best hours of their lives in them. Jobim composed the melody meticulously on the piano at his new home in Rua Barro da Torre, and it was originally intended for a musical comedy entitled "Dirigível" | "Blimp," which Vinícius already had worked out in his head but had not yet committed to paper.
Above, the original Album Cover where song was first released.
Vinícius, in turn, had written the lyrics in Petrópolis, near Rio, as he had done with "Chega de Saudade" six years earlier, and it took him just as much work. To begin with, it wasn't originally called "Garota da Ipanema," but "Menina que passa" | "The Girl Who Passes By," and the entire first verse was different.
Below, we see a Vinicius de Morais picture:
As for the famous girl, Jobim and Vinícius did in fact see her pass by as they sat in the Veloso bar, during the winter of 1962— not just once, but several times, and not always on her way to the beach but also on her way to school, to the dressmaker, and even to the dentist. Mostly because Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, better known as Helô, who was eighteen years of age, five feet, eight inches tall, with green eyes and long, flowing straight hair, lived in Rua Montenegro and was already the object of much admiration among patrons of the Veloso, where she would frequently stop to buy cigarettes for her mother—and leave to a cacophony of wolf-whistles.
Below, we see a recent picture of Helo, the inspiring muse and her daughter:
"Garôta de Ipanema" was first recorded in Brazil by Pery Ribeiro in 1962;
Below, see the full
“Girl from Ipanema” with lyrics in Portuguese:
Olha que coisa mais linda
mais cheia de graça
É ela menina que vem e que passa
nun doce balanço, caminho do mar...
Moça do corpo dourado, do sol de Ipanema
O seu balançado é mais que un poema
é a coisa mais linda
que eu já vi passar...
Ah! Porque estou tão sozinho
Ah! Porque tudo é tão triste
Ah! A beleza que existe
A beleza que não é só minha
que também passa sozinha
Ah! Se ela soubesse
que quando ela passa
o mundo sorrindo
se enche de graça
e fica mais lindo
por causa do amor
por causa do amor
por causa do amor
Translation of “the Girl of Ipanema”
Olha que coisa mais linda
Look, what a most beautiful thing there
mais cheia de graça
moreover full of grace
É ela menina que vem e que passa
and she, this girl that comes and goes
nun doce balanço, caminho do mar ...
with this sweet, swinging gait, along the way to the sea. . . .
Moça do corpo dourado, do sol de Ipanema
The girl with this golden body from the Ipanema sun
O seu balançado é mais que un poema
Her swinging gait is more than a poem
é a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar...
and the most beautiful thing that I ever saw go by
Ah! Porque estou tão sozinho
Ah! why am I so alone?
Ah! Porque tudo é tão triste
Ah! why is everything so sad?
Ah! A beleza que existe
Ah! the beauty that is there!
A beleza que não é só minha
The beauty that is not just mine . . .
que também passa sozinha
that is also passing by alone.
Ah! Se ela soubesse que quando ela passa
Ah! if she only knew that when she passes by
o mundo sorrindo
the world is smiling
se enche de graça
filling up with grace
e fica mais lindo
and turns more beautiful
por causa do amor
because of love
por causa do amor
because of love
por causa do amor
because of love
Below, the Album Cover from Stan Getz:
Girl from Ipanema – English Version
English lyric by Norman Gimbel
Tall and tan and young and lovely
the girl from Ipanema goes walking
and when she passes
each one she passes
goes "Ahhh!"
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 "Ahhh!"
Oh, but he watches so sadly
How can he tell her he loves her?
Yes, he would give his heart gladly.
But each day when she walks to the sea
she looks straight ahead
not at he.
Tall and tan and young and lovely
the girl from Ipanema goes walking
and when she passes
he smiles
but she doesn't see.
She just doesn't see.
No, she doesn't see....
Below, a nice photo of Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim.
Sinatra was one of the most famous singers of the English version of the song.
Below, the Tablature Girl from Ipanema:
G# 69 A# m6 F# M7/A# F# dim/A G# 69
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x x x x x x x x x x x
Olha que graca e ela passa num -lanco mar
coisa mais menina que doce bal- caminho do
linda mais vem que
cheia de
A69 G# 69 A# m6 G# 7 sus 4 G# 7
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Moca do -nema o seu -ema e a linda que
corpo balancado coisa mais eu ja vi
dourado do e mais que pas-
sol de Ipa- um po-
G# 69 DM7 G7 Dm7 A# 7
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-sar Ah porque -zinho Ah porque triste
estou tao tudo e tao
so-
D# m7 B7 Fm7 A# 7 b5 D# m7
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Ah a beleza -xiste A -leza que minha que tambem
que e- be- nao e so passa so-
G# 7 b5 G# 69 A# m6 G# 7 sus 4 G# 7
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-zinha Ah se ela passa o graca e linda por
soubesse mundo fica mais cause do
que quando sorrindo
ela se enche de
G# 69 Gdim/A# F# M7/A# G# 7 G# 69
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amor girl from when she one she ah
Dark and Ipanema passes each passes goes when she
tan and goes walks she's
young and walking and like a
lovely the samba that
Gdim/A# F# M7/A# F# dim/A G# 69 DM7
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swings so when she one she ah oh but he
cool and passes each passes goes watches so
sways so
gently that
G7 Dm7 A# 7 D# m7 B7
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sadly how can he loves her yes he gladly but
tell her he would give each
his heart
Fm7 A# 7 b5 D# m7 G# 7 b5 G# 69
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day when sea, she looks he Dark and
she walks straight tan and
to the ahead not young and
at lovely the
A# m6 F# M7/A# G# 7 G# 69 F# dim/A
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girl from when she smiles but see but she
Ipanema passes he she doesn't doesn't
goes
walking and
G# 69 F# dim/A G# 69
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see she just see
doesn't
Another tablature girl from Ipanema Picture below in a picture:
Below, two pictures of the
famous bar at Ipenema. The first one was taken as it is today, while the second one is an original picture of the Bar as it looked in the sixties.
One of the holy shrines of modern Brazilian music, the bar Garota de Ipanema was renamed after the famous bossa nova song where the poet Vincius de Moraes had his inspiration from a beautiful, young woman called Helô Pinheiro as she walked to and from the beach each day. Enter the place and ask one of the waiters to show you the chair Vincius de Moraes sat in every day and where he wrote many famous songs and poems, and where he gathered with his friends including Antonio Carlos (Tom Jobim) to discuss life, music, love, and women.
Have a chopp (draft beer) and wander around the place, and get lost in the images and beauty of the poetry and lyrics on the walls. Today the tradition continues, with many beautiful women (and men) taking the same path. After you've had your fill of fine Rio beer, walk along
Vinicius de Moraes Street in the direction away from the beach, and in a few short blocks you will find the Toca do Vinicius a store with historical displays where you can buy the “girl from ipanema” with lyrics, bossa music and memorabilia. (The “Garota de Ipanema Bar” was called Bar Veloso in the 60´s.) In this poetic scene, you might be able to sense Tom Jobim´s and Vinicius bossa nova spirits.
The classic Bossa Nova hang-out spot in Rio, shown with its original architecture:
Below, we pay homemage to the new Girf of IPenema, so she can always inspire us: