"Waters of March" ("Águas de Março") is a bossa nova song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim wrote both the English lyrics and Portuguese lyrics. When writing the English lyrics, Jobim avoided words with Latin roots resulting in the English version having more verses. Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music created by Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto and first introduced in Brazil by Gilbertos recording of Chega de Saudade, in 1958, a song written by Antonio Carlos Jobim, first released as a single, and shortly thereafter as the album... A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (possibly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). ... Antonio Carlos Jobim (born Antonio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim, January 25, 1927 in Rio de Janeiro – December 8, 1994 in New York City), also known as Tom Jobim, was a Brazilian composer, arranger, singer, pianist and one of the greatest legends of the bossa nova era. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language. ...

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.

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's..."). Collage (From the French, coller, to stick) is regarded as a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

In Jobim's English version, "it" is a stick, a stone, a sliver of glass, a scratch, a cliff, a knot in the wood, the wind blowing free, a fish, a pin, a buzzard, the end of the road, and many other things. All these details swirling around the central metaphor of "the waters of March", give the impression of the the passing of daily life and its continual, inevitable progression towards death, just as the rains of March mark the end of summer and the beginning of the colder season. In language, a metaphor (from the Greek: metapherin) is a rhetorical trope defined as a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... For other senses of this word, see Summer (disambiguation). ...

The inspiration for Águas de Março comes from Rio de Janeiro's most rainy 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. Ipanema beach A NASA satellite image of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro (meaning River of January in Portuguese) is the name of both a state and a city in southeastern Brazil. ... Shepard tone illustration A Shepard tone is a sound consisting of a superposition of tones separated by octaves. ...

The song was used by Coca-Cola for a television commercial in the mid-1970s. The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

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.

Renditions

• The definitive, though not first, recording is considered to be the duet sung by Jobim and Elis Regina, from the 1974 album Elis & Tom.
• João Gilberto's recording from 1973 is known for its considerable deviation in rhythm and meter from the original.
• David Byrne and Marisa Monte recorded the song for the "Red Hot + Rio" Sampler.
• Bilingual version on Susannah McCorkle's album "From Bessie to Brazil".
• Oscar Castro-Neves also has recorded the English version.
• Art Garfunkel, of the singer / songwriter duo, Simon & Garfunkel, recorded the song on his solo "Breakaway" album released in 1975. His recording has a striking similarity to the composer's inflection, rhythm, and evocation of the song recorded on the 1973 album, "Jobim", MCA Records MCA-350.
• Jazz singer Jane Monheit recorded a critically acclaimed version in English.
• Basia recorded a version for Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia.
• Japanese female singer Akiko recorded an English-language version as a duet with jazz-pop act Swing Out Sister in 2002, and released it as a single.

Elis Regina Carvalho Costa (March 17, 1945 – January 19, 1982). ... Elis & Tom is an album released in 1974 by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina. ... João Gilberto (born João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira on June 10, 1931 in the town of Juazeiro, Bahia) is a Brazilian musician and considered one of the co-creators, with Tom Jobim, of bossa nova. ... David Byrne can refer to: David Byrne, Irish politician and former European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne, musician and former Talking Heads frontman This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Marisa Monte is a Brazilian popular singer, and one the biggest stars of contemporary MPB. She was born on July 1, 1967 in Rio de Janeiro. ... Red Hot Organization (RHO) is an international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture. ... Susannah McCorkle Susannah McCorkle (1 January 1946 – 19 May 2001) was an American jazz singer much admired for her direct, unadorned singing style and quiet intensity. ... Art Garfunkel in Bad Timing (1980) Arthur Ira Garfunkel is an American singer and actor, best known as half of the folk duo Simon and Garfunkel. ... Bridge Over Troubled Water was Simon and Garfunkels last album; the title track was their only number one hit in the United Kingdom. ... Jane Monheit (born November 3, 1977) is considered by some to be one of the most promising American jazz vocalists of her generation. ... Basia (Barbara) Trzetrzelewska (pronounced: Basha Che-che-lev-ska), Polish singer, songwriter and producer, born September 30, 1954, in Jaworzno, made a successful world career recording characteristically Latin-flavored jazz-pop crossover during the late 1980s and early 90s. ... Swing Out Sister is a Soul-Jazz-pop musical group best known worldwide for their 1987 song Breakout, their only song to reach the US top 10. ...

External links

• Original hand-written score by Jobim
• Lyrics in Portuguese and English