Because Sometimes You Need a Little Mental Vacation
posted by Deven Desai
As a way to get ready for the Brazil Olympics and as a little throw back for hipsters and neo-hipsters, enjoy:
The Girl From Ipanema – Stan Getz
I urge folks to discover or re-discover, Jobim, Getz, and Gilberto. Great stuff to get into another world of jazz and far away lands while staying right where you are.
For those into pop culture history, the song has tended to be an elevator music favorite. That version loses the magic of the original. That being said, The Blues Brothers juxtaposed the elevator version, which played as the heroes went up to pay off the tax debt, with complete mayhem descending on Chicago city government in great way. Mr. and Mrs. Smith riffed on this scene as those heroes also heard the song in an elevator before a final standoff. That standoff is an ode of sorts to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid right down to a small shack for cover against horrible odds. One was made recently; one in the 1970s. Guess which one has the more poignant ending?
October 13, 2009 at 6:53 am
Posted in: Just for Fun
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Responses (4)
Guest - October 13, 2009 at 7:32 am
Ewww!
A.J. Sutter - October 13, 2009 at 8:56 am
You can hear this song, and many others by Jobim, probably in more countries of the world than almost any other music, Beatles included (qualification: Hotel California is #1 East Asian bar band song). Bossa nova is ubiquitous in Japan, even in Chinese or Italian restaurants, and I’ve heard it in hotels in Jakarta and Malaysian Borneo as well, to say nothing of Taiwan, China, Vietnam, all over Europe, etc.
But in Brazil, Antonio Carlos Jobim isn’t exactly considered as pop culture, more like a major composer (and rightly so, IMHO: his oeuvre is much more impressive than George Gershwin’s, and leaves guys like Aaron Copeland in the dust). The airport in Rio de Janeiro was re-named after him when passed away in 1994. The guy who wrote the lyrics, Vinicius de Moraes, was a diplomat and one of the country’s major 20th Century poets. « Musica popular brasileira », the broad category that includes bossa nova, has a very different status from pop music in most countries (including from the Brazilian version of that genre); it attracts the best artists and intellectuals in the country. E.g., one of the “hippies” who led the Tropicalia rebellion against bossa nova in the 1960s was Lula’s first Minister of Culture, a leader in developing countries’ pushback against TRIPS, and a huge supporter of Creative Commons (as well being one of the best live acts I’ve ever seen). Don’t call it pop!
Deven - October 13, 2009 at 9:58 am
Just to clarify the incorrect inference: I was not calling Jobim pop culture. Rather, I was noting that work has been appropriated into pop culture via the elevator music and film connection. Don’t read so fast.
A.J. Sutter - October 13, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Thanks for the clarification. BTW, which one does have the more poignant ending? (and was Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head playing during or right after it?)
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