Waters of March

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

"Waters of March" (Portuguese: "Águas de Março") is a Brazilian song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim wrote both the English and Portuguese lyrics.^[1] When writing the English lyrics, Jobim endeavoured to avoid words with Latin roots, which resulted 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 referred to 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.^[1]

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...").^[1]

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, 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.

The inspiration for "Águas de Março" 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.

The song was used by Coca-Cola for a jingle in the mid-1980s concurrent with the "Coke is it!" campaign, which ran 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^[2]

Composer-guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves^[3] 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 (Musica Popular Brasiliera -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.

Renditions

The 1970's

• João Gilberto's recording (from his landmark 1973 album João Gilberto) is known for its considerable deviation in rhythm and meter from the original. (See "external links" below.)
• Italian singer Anna Mina Mazzini sings it as "La Pioggia di Marzo" ("The Rain of March") (1973).
• Georges Moustaki recorded his version of the song as "Les Eaux de Mars" on the album Déclaration (1973).
• The definitive, though not first, recording is considered to be the duet sung by Jobim and Elis Regina, from the album Elis & Tom (1974).
• Art Garfunkel, of the singer-songwriter duo Simon & Garfunkel, recorded the song on his solo album Breakaway, 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.
• Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77 recorded this song on the album Vintage 74 (1974) (Bell Records - Catalog #1305).
• Mark Murphy recorded this song on the album Stolen Moments (1978).

The 1980's

• Jobim and Gal Costa recorded a live English version on the album, Rio Revisited (Verve/Polygram, 1989).

The 1990's

• Susannah McCorkle also released a bilingual version on her album From Bessie to Brazil (1993).
• David Byrne and Marisa Monte recorded the song for the benefit compilation album Red Hot + Rio (Polygram Records, 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).
• Basia recorded a version that was later included on the release of Clear Horizon: The Best of Basia (1998).

The 2000's

• John Pizzarelli recorded the song three times, first in a duet with Rosemary Clooney on her album Brazil (2000), then on his album Bossa Nova (2004), and then in a duet with his wife Jessica Molaskey on her album Sitting in Limbo (2007). This version combines the song with Joni Mitchell's "Circle Game".
• Jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow performed an English version with partial Portuguese lyrics on her album Tribute (2001).
• Jazz singer Jane Monheit recorded a critically acclaimed version in English and released it on her album Come Dream with Me (2001).
• 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.
• Cassandra Wilson recorded the English version on her album Belly of the Sun (Blue Note, 2002).
• Jerry Seinfeld's 2002 film Comedian features the Susannah McCorkle version of the song during the closing credits.
• Irish singers Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan recorded their version of "Waters of March" in Portuguese for the movie Goldfish Memory (2003).
• Oscar Castro-Neves also has recorded the English version (Mack Avenue Records, 2003).
• Utah-based singer Melissa Pace-Tanner included it on her release Am I Blue (2004).
• Lisa Ono released the song on the album Best 1997-2001 (2004) as a bonus track. It was recorded live at Bunkamura Orchard Hall, Tokyo, on December 8 & 10, 2001.[1].
• The Jobim/Elis version was performed by Marco and Debbie in an episode of Sealab 2021, this is mostly a pun on Marco's name (Season 4, Episode 44, 2004).
• Spanish actress/singer Victoria Abril recorded this song on the album PutchEros do Brasil (2005).
• Michelle Mailhot[2] recorded the English version on Happy Madness (2006).
• David Campbell released the song on the album The Swing Sessions (2006).
• Filipina bossa nova singer Sitti Navarro recorded her version of "Waters of March" on her album Sitti Live! (2006).
• Another Filipina singer, Agot Isidro recorded her version featuring Mon David,from her first bossa nova album, The Island (2006).
• Holly Cole recorded this song on the album Holly Cole (2007).
• Nachtzuster [3] recorded a Dutch version as "Stortbui in Maart" (2007).
• Brazilian singer Luciana Souza recorded the English version on her album The New Bossa Nova (Universal Records, 2007).
• Robert Lamm of the band Chicago recorded a version on a solo album The Bossa Project (2008).
• American singer Anya Marina released the song on her album Slow and Steady Seduction : Phase II (2008).
• Sergio Mendes released Encanto, produced with will-i-am, with a version featuring Ledisi (2008). The iTunes version of Encanto also contains a French version featuring Zap Mama.
• Award-winning cabaret singer Nancy Lamott included this song in her album Ask Me Again (2008), and performs it on her DVD, I'll Be Here With You (2008).
• The website carlsfinefilms.com [4] released If I made a commercial for Trader Joe's to the tune of this song (2009).

Unknown Dates

• Argentinan pop/rock artist Fito Páez recorded a live version of the song, which can only be found on the Internet.
• Israeli singers Gidi Gov and Mika Karni recorded a Hebrew version of the song titled "Ve Ha-Geshem Yavo" ("And the rain will come").
• Kim Scanlon - Night Songs & Lullabyes.

References

See also

• List of bossa nova standards

External links

• Original hand-written score by Jobim
• Comparison of lyrics in Portuguese and English
• As performed by Elis Regina
• As performed by Elis Regina and Jobim
• As performed by Joao Gilberto
• Radio show featuring many versions of this song (starts at 1:03 into the show)