Waters of March

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"Waters of March"
Song
Published1972
GenreBossa nova
Songwriter(s)Antônio Carlos Jobim
Composer(s)Antônio Carlos Jobim

"Waters of March" (Portuguese: "Águas de março" [ˈaɡwɐʒ dʒi ˈmaʁsu]) is a Brazilian song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927–1994) in 1972. Jobim wrote both the Portuguese and English lyrics.[1] The 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...").[1] 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 S.Paulo.[1] It was also voted by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone as the second greatest Brazilian song.[2]

The inspiration for "Águas de março" came 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.

Lyrics

In both the Portuguese and English versions of the 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,

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 cascading "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 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.

When writing the English lyrics, Jobim endeavored to avoid words with

southern hemisphere
.

Composer-guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves

stream of consciousness was his version of therapy and saved him thousands in psychoanalysis bills.[citation needed
]

Versions

1970s

1980s

  • Nara Leão recorded the song in her album "Garota de Ipanema", the first Compact Disc released in Brazil (Philips, 1986).
  • Jobim and Gal Costa recorded a live English version on the album, Rio Revisited (Verve/Polygram, 1989).
  • New Zealand jazz singer Malcolm McNeill recorded an English version in 1982 that was released on Malcolm McNeill (Kiwi-Pacific Records International Ltd., 1985).

1990s

  • Joanne Brackeen recorded a version on her Concord Jazz album Breath of Brazil (1991).
  • Susannah McCorkle also released a bilingual version on her album From Bessie to Brazil (1993). It was repeated in her album Most Requested Songs (2001). Her version of the song was played over the closing credits of the 2002 documentary Comedian, featuring Jerry Seinfeld.
  • Carlos Berlanga recorded the song in Portuguese with Ana Belén on his album Indicios (1994).
  • David Byrne and Marisa Monte recorded the song for the benefit compilation album Red Hot + Rio
    (Polygram Records, 1996).
  • Trio Esperança recorded a Portuguese version on Segundo (1996).
  • The New York City group Cibo Matto performed the song in Portuguese for their EP Super Relax (1997).
  • Al Jarreau recorded this song on the album A Twist of Jobim (by various artists, for Polygram Records, 1997).
  • Smoke City recorded a version of this song entitled "Águas de Março (Joga Bossa Mix)" for their album Flying Away (1997).
  • Israeli singers Gidi Gov and Mika Karni recorded a Hebrew version of the song titled "והגשם יבוא" [Ve Ha-Geshem Yavo] ("And the rain will come") on Laila Gov 2 (1997).
  • Basia
    recorded a version that was later included on the release of Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia (1998).
  • Rosa Passos recorded the song in Portuguese on O Melhor de Rosa Passos (1997).[5]
  • Lani Hall recorded the English lyrics version in on her album Brasil Nativo (1998).
  • Paula West recorded a version on her album Restless (1999).

2000s

2010s

2020s

  • South Korean singer/songwriter Sogumm recorded her version of "Waters of March" featuring Keumbee in her album Salt Rain (Prod. By Alfie Hole) (2022).

Other uses

The song was adapted for use in a series of advertisements for Coca-Cola. These ended with the then current slogan "Coke Is It".[13] This was also used in a 1994 ad for Ayala Malls in the Philippines.

See also

  • List of jazz standards

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Nascimento, Elma Lia. "Calling the Tune". Brazzil, September 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
  2. ^ Rocha, Antonio do Amaral (2009). "As 100 Maiores Músicas Brasileiras - "Águas de Março"". Rolling Stone Brasil (in Portuguese). Spring. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. ^ Oscar Castro-Neves (in Portuguese)
  4. ^ Discografia Nazionale della Canzone Italiana
  5. ^ Rosa Passos – O Melhor De Rosa Passos (1997, CD), retrieved 2021-04-04
  6. ^ YouTube (2009).
  7. ^ "Gloria". 10 February 2013.
  8. ^ "'Águas de março' inspira diretor do longa chileno 'Glória'". 25 January 2014.
  9. ^ Manheim, James (2014). "Rio-Paris". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 Dec 2014.
  10. ^ PH, One Music. "FULL LIST of winners at 29th Awit Awards". One Music PH. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  11. ^ "29th Awit Awards' Best Vocal Arrangement 2016 - Waters of March - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  12. ^ available as a video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuX2sYFUjbQ&t=6m10s
  13. YouTube

Further reading

  • Charles A. Perrone 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.

External links