Rio-de-Janeiro is celebrating today it´s 444th founding anniversary. The wonder city was founded by founded by Estácio de Sá in 1565, its name comes from an earlier comment made by André Gonçalves, commander of the expedition responsible for surveying the land discovered by Cabral. On January1, 1502 he discovered an estuary that he thought must be the mouth of a great river, and called it Rio-de-Janeiro January River.

Paying a tribute to this special date, Belavista-Rio will publish a special report about “Aguas de Março” – “Waters of March”, one of Tom Jobim´s favorite songs. Tom Jobim was a true Carioca.



Waters of March" (Portuguese: "Águas de Março") is a Brazilian song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim who write the famous The Girl from Ipanema, wrote both the English and Portuguese lyrics. When writing the English lyrics, Jobim endeavoured to avoid words with Latin roots resulting in the English version having more verses than the Portuguese. Another way in which the English lyrics differ from the Portuguese is that the English version treats March from the perspective of an observer in the northern hemisphere. In this context, the waters are the "waters of defrost" in contrast to the rains referenced in the original Portuguese, marking the end of summer and the beginning of the colder season in the southern hemisphere

In 2001, "Águas de Março" was named as the all-time best Brazilian song in a poll of more than 200 Brazilian journalists, musicians and other artists conducted by Brazil's leading daily newspaper, Folha de São Paulo.

Below, a photo of Frank Sinatra and Tom Jobim:



The song lyrics, originally written in Portuguese, do not tell a story, but rather present a series of images that form a collage; nearly every line starts with "É..." ("[It] is...").

In both the Portuguese and English versions aquas de marco antonio carlos jobim lyrics "it" is a stick, a stone, a sliver of glass, a scratch, a cliff, a knot in the wood, a fish, a pin, the end of the road," and many other things, although some specific references to Brazilian culture (festa da cumeeira, garrafa de cana), flora (peroba do campo) and folklore (Matita Pereira) were intentionally omitted from the English version, perhaps with the goal of providing a more universal perspective. All these details swirling around the central metaphor of "the waters of March" can give the impression of the passing of daily life and its continual, inevitable progression towards death, just as the rains of March mark the end of a Brazilian summer. Both sets of lyrics speak of the water being "the promise of life," perhaps allowing for other, more life-affirming interpretations, and the English contains the additional phrases "the joy in your heart" and the "promise of spring," a seasonal reference that would be more relevant to most of the English-speaking world.

Aquas de Marco Antonio Carlos Jobim TABS:




The inspiration for aquas de marco antonio carlos jobim lyrics comes from Rio-de-Janeiro s rainiest month. March is typically marked by sudden storms with heavy rains and strong winds that cause flooding in many places around the city. The lyrics and the music have a constant downward progression much like the water torrent from those rains flowing in the gutters, which typically would carry sticks, stones, bits of glass, and almost everything and anything. The orchestration creates the illusion of the constant descending of notes much like Shepard tones.

Free MP3 Download of: "Aquas de Março - Tom Jobim Song"

The song was used by Coca-Cola for a jingle in the mid-1980s concurrent with the "Coke is it!" campaign, which run until 1988, and is currently the track for a 2008 British Gas advert in the UK and in Italy. In the Philippines, it was also used in the early 90s as the soundtrack for an advertising campaign for the newly developed Ayala Center

Composer-guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves relates that Jobim told him that writing in this kind of stream of consciousness was his version of therapy and saved him thousands in psychoanalysis bills.

Prof. Charles A. Perrone, an authority on contemporary Brazilian popular music (MPB), wrote about the song in his doctoral dissertation (1985), an abridged version of which was published in Brazil as Letras e Letras da MPB (1988). He notes such sources for the song as the folkloric samba-de-matuto and a classic poem of pre-Modernist Brazilian literature.



Above, nice picture from Camafunga - Flickr

Below, aquas de marco antonio carlos jobim lyrics in Portuguese:

Águas de Março - Letra - TOM JOBIM

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
é um caco de vidro, é a vida, é o sol
é a noite, é a morte, é um laco, é o anzol
é peroba do campo, é o nó da madeira
cainga, candeia, é o Matita Pereira
É madeira de vento, tombo da ribanceira
é o mistério profundo
é o queira ou nao queira
é o vento ventando, é o fim da ladeira
é a viga, é o vao, festa da cumeeira
é a chuva chovendo, é conversa ribeira
das aguas de marco, é o fim da canseira
é o pé, é o chao, é a marcha estradeira
passarinho na mao, pedra de atiradeira

Uma ave no céu, uma ave no chao
é um regato, é uma fonte
é um pedaco de pao
é o fundo do poco, é o fim do caminho
no rosto o desgosto, é um pouco sozinho

É um estrepe, é um prego
é uma ponta, é um ponto
é um pingo pingando
é uma conta, é um conto
é um peixe, é um gesto
é uma prata brilhando
é a luz da manha, é o tijolo chegando
é a lenha, é o dia, é o fim da picada
é a garrafa de cana, o estilhaco na estrada
é o projeto da casa, é o corpo na cama
é o carro enguicado, é a lama, é a lama
é um passo, é uma ponte
é um sapo, é uma ra
é um resto de mato, na luz da manha
sao as aguas de marco fechando o verao
é a promessa de vida no teu coracao

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
é uma cobra, é um pau, é Joao, é José
é um espinho na mao, é um corte no pé
sao as aguas de marco fechando o verao
é a promessa de vida no teu coracao

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho
é um passo, é uma ponte
é um sapo, é uma ra
é um belo horizonte, é uma febre terca
sao as aguas de marco fechando o verao
é a promessa de vida no teu coracao

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho

É pau, é pedra, é o fim do caminho
é um resto de toco, é um pouco sozinho

Pau, pedra, fim do caminho
resto de toco, pouco sozinho

Pau, pedra, fim do caminho,
resto de toco, pouco sozinho.





Below the English Version: “aquas de marco antonio carlos jobim lyrics”

Waters of March : English Version: “Aquas de Marco Antonio Carlos Jbim Lyrics”

A stick, a stone,
It's the end of the road,
It's the rest of a stump,
It's a little alone
It's a sliver of glass,
It is life, it's the sun,
It is night, it is death,
It's a trap, it's a gun
The oak when it blooms,
A fox in the brush,
A knot in the wood,
The song of a thrush
The wood of the wind,
A cliff, a fall,
A scratch, a lump,
It is nothing at all
It's the wind blowing free,
It's the end of the slope,
It's a beam, it's a void,
It's a hunch, it's a hope
And the river bank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the end of the strain,
The joy in your heart
The foot, the ground,
The flesh and the bone,
The beat of the road,
A slingshot's stone
A fish, a flash,
A silvery glow,
A fight, a bet,
The range of a bow
The bed of the well,
The end of the line,
The dismay in the face,
It's a loss, it's a find
A spear, a spike,
A point, a nail,
A drip, a drop,
The end of the tale
A truckload of bricks
in the soft morning light,
The shot of a gun
in the dead of the night
A mile, a must,
A thrust, a bump,
It's a girl, it's a rhyme,
It's a cold, it's the mumps
The plan of the house,
The body in bed,
And the car that got stuck,
It's the mud, it's the mud
Afloat, adrift,
A flight, a wing,
A hawk, a quail,
The promise of spring
And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the promise of life
It's the joy in your heart
A stick, a stone,
It's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump,
It's a little alone
A snake, a stick,
It is John, it is Joe,
It's a thorn in your hand
and a cut in your toe
A point, a grain,
A bee, a bite,
A blink, a buzzard,
A sudden stroke of night
A pin, a needle,
A sting, a pain,
A snail, a riddle,
A wasp, a stain
A pass in the mountains,
A horse and a mule,
In the distance the shelves
rode three shadows of blue
And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the promise of life
in your heart, in your heart
A stick, a stone,
The end of the road,
The rest of a stump,
A lonesome road
A sliver of glass,
A life, the sun,
A knife, a death,
The end of the run
And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the end of all strain,
It's the joy in your heart.

Note: You will note that the English translation of Aquas de Marco antonio carlos jobim lyrics” is longer than the original Portuguese version. Jobim added lyrics to the song when it made the transition to English. If you speak Portuguese, you will also notice that some of the English lyrics bear no resemblance to the original lyrics. For example, the beautiful fourth stanza more properly translates to "It is wood that resists the wind, the falls of the riverbank, it's the profound mystery, it's wanting or not wanting." You can find more faithful (but perhaps less lyrical) translations, such as this one or this one. In each case, however, both the original lyrics and translations are flawed. Regarding the original lyrics, trust those offered at the Jobim fan site (which are the ones offered on this page).

This translation is a little better, (and you can read about the results of selecting the best Brazilian song of all time ... guess first, of course). Regrettably, no translation can do justice to the original lyrics. You've just got to learn Portuquese