The Girl from Ipanema

The song was composed for a musical comedy titled Dirigível ("Airship"), then a work in progress of Vinicius de Moraes. The original title was "Menina que Passa" ("The Girl Who Passes By"); the first verse was different. Jobim composed the melody on his piano in his new house in Rua Barão da Torre, in Ipanema. Moraes wrote the lyrics in Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, as he had done with "Chega de Saudade" ("No More Blues") six years earlier. While firmly rooted in bossa nova, "The Girl from Ipanema" includes influences from blues and Tin Pan Alley.{{cite AV media|last=Neely|first=Adam|author-link=Adam Neely|date=July 15, 2020|title=The Girl from Ipanema is a far weirder song than you thought|medium=video|publisher=CuriosityStream|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFWCbGzxofU|access-date=October 16, 2020}}

During a recording session in New York with João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim and Stan Getz, the idea of cutting an English-language version came up. Norman Gimbel wrote the English lyrics. João's wife, Astrud Gilberto, was the only one of the Brazilians who could speak English well, and was chosen to sing. Her voice, without any of the mannerisms of trained singers, proved a perfect fit for the song.{{cite journal |url=http://performingsongwriter.com/girl-from-ipanema/ |title=The Story Behind "The Girl From Ipanema" |journal=Performing Songwriter |first=Bill |last=DeMain |issue=98 |date=December 2006 |access-date=16 October 2011 |archive-date=28 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028210542/http://performingsongwriter.com/girl-from-ipanema/ |url-status=live }} However, she was never credited or received any royalties, and received only $120 for her part.{{cite news |title='He made sure that she got nothing': The sad story of Astrud Gilberto, the face of bossa nova|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/made-sure-she-got-nothing-063354140.html |last=Chilton |first=Martin |date=February 15, 2022 |work=The Independent |access-date=June 7, 2023}}

The key the song is played in has varied depending upon the origin of the recording. While the original Ribeiro version was in the key of G, most Brazilian performances use D♭ and most American versions use F.

Astrud Gilberto and Getz appear as themselves and perform the song in the 1964 film Get Yourself a College Girl.

Frank Sinatra recorded the song with Jobim in 1967 for their album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antônio Carlos Jobim.{{cite news|title=Revisiting A Masterpiece: When Frank Sinatra Collaborated With Antonio Carlos Jobim|last=Chinen|first=Nate|date=April 7, 2017|work=Jazz Night in America|publisher=WBGO/NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/04/07/523022157/revisiting-a-masterpiece-when-frank-sinatra-collaborated-with-antonio-carlos-job|access-date=October 16, 2020|archive-date=16 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201016164417/https://www.npr.org/2017/04/07/523022157/revisiting-a-masterpiece-when-frank-sinatra-collaborated-with-antonio-carlos-job|url-status=live}} Ella Fitzgerald recorded it for her two-disc set of Brazilian music Ella Abraça Jobim, released by Pablo Today in 1981.

Ethel Ennis and Nat King Cole have also both recorded the song. A version by Gary Criss titled "The Girl From Ipanema / Brazilian Nights" from his album "Rio De Janeiro" reached number 19 in the Canadian RPM dance charts in August 1978.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4637.pdf|title=RPM Top 30 Dance - August 5, 1978|access-date=21 March 2022|archive-date=13 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140813133339/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4637.pdf|url-status=live}} Eliane Elias included the song in her albums Eliane Elias Sings Jobim (1998) and Brazilian Classics (2003).

Ipanema is a fashionable neighborhood located in the southern region of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Image:Helo Pinheiro.jpg, the inspiration for the song, in 2006.|alt=]]

The song was inspired by Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto (now known as Helô Pinheiro), a seventeen-year-old girl living on Montenegro Street in Ipanema.{{cite journal|url=http://www.jobim.com.br/cgi-bin/clubedotom/musicas3.cgi?cmd=musica&ling=eng&song=ipanema |title=Garota de Ipanema |journal=All of Tom's Music |first=Tom |last=Jobim |access-date=11 August 2012 |year=1962 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001337/http://www.jobim.com.br/cgi-bin/clubedotom/musicas3.cgi?cmd=musica&ling=eng&song=ipanema |archive-date=2013-12-31 }} Daily, she would stroll past the Veloso bar-café, not just to the beach ("each day when she walks to the sea"), but in the everyday course of her life. She would sometimes enter the bar to buy cigarettes for her mother and leave to the sound of wolf whistles.{{cite book |title=Bossa Nova: The Story of the Brazilian Music That Seduced the World |first=Ruy |last=Castro |publisher=A Cappella |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-55652-409-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bossanovastoryo00cast/page/239 239–240] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bossanovastoryo00cast/page/239 }} In the winter of 1962, the composers saw the girl pass by the bar. She has become famous since the song was released.

In Revelação: a verdadeira Garôta de Ipanema ("Revealed: The Real Girl from Ipanema") Moraes wrote that she was "the paradigm of the young Carioca: a golden teenage girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of light and grace, the sight of whom is also sad, in that she carries with her, on her route to the sea, the feeling of youth that fades, of the beauty that is not ours alone—it is a gift of life in its beautiful and melancholic constant ebb and flow."

The legacy of "The Girl from Ipanema" was acknowledged by multiple aspects of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics held in Rio de Janeiro: the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were respectively named Vinicius and Tom after the song's co-writers by a public vote,{{cite web|title=Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic mascots named Vinicius and Tom by public vote |url=https://www.rio2016.com/en/news/rio-2016-olympic-and-paralympic-mascots-named-vinicius-and-tom-by-public-vote |website=Rio 2016 |access-date=8 August 2016 |date=14 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808020617/https://www.rio2016.com/en/news/rio-2016-olympic-and-paralympic-mascots-named-vinicius-and-tom-by-public-vote |archive-date=8 August 2016 }} while the Olympics' opening ceremony featured a segment themed around the song and the architecture of Oscar Niemeyer. Jobim's grandson Daniel Jobim performed the song during the segment, which also featured an appearance by Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen.{{cite magazine | url=http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/05/gisele-bundchen-olympics-opening-ceremony-rio | title=Gisele Bündchen dazzles at the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Rio | first=Breanne L. | last=Heldman | magazine=Entertainment Weekly | access-date=5 August 2016 | archive-date=7 August 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807175018/http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/05/gisele-bundchen-olympics-opening-ceremony-rio | url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/models/news/a16703/gisele-bundchen-rio-olympics-2016/|title=Gisele Bündchen to Walk the 2016 Olympics Opening Ceremony|date=18 July 2016|access-date=18 August 2016|archive-date=12 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812082452/http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/models/news/a16703/gisele-bundchen-rio-olympics-2016/|url-status=live}} Spotify reported that the song had been streamed on its service 40,000 times per day in the days following the ceremony (a 1200% increase), while in the U.S., the song reached #5 on Billboard{{'}}s World Digital Songs chart the following week.{{cite magazine|title='Girl From Ipanema' Makes Olympic Comeback|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7476144/girl-from-ipanema-olympics-rio|magazine=Billboard|date=17 August 2016|access-date=18 August 2016|archive-date=18 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818200637/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7476144/girl-from-ipanema-olympics-rio|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title='Ipanema' song jumps 1,200 percent after Olympics ceremony|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/ct-girl-from-ipanema-olympics-20160808-story.html|website=Chicago Tribune|date=8 August 2016 |access-date=22 August 2016|archive-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826035935/http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/ct-girl-from-ipanema-olympics-20160808-story.html|url-status=live}}

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|title=The Girl from Ipanema|artist=Joao Gilberto|type=single|award=Gold|relyear=1964|certyear=2023|access-date= September 29, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|relyear=2024|certyear=2024|title=The Girl from Ipanema|artist=Stan Getz|type=single|award=Silver|id=20531-6990-1|access-date=18 November 2024}}

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In 2001, the song's copyright owners (the heirs of their composer fathers) sued Pinheiro for using the title of the song as the name of her boutique (Garota de Ipanema). In their complaint, they stated that her status as The Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema) did not entitle her to use a name that legally belonged to them.{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3D8133FF932A2575BC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|title=Ipanema Journal; Still Tall and Tan, a Muse Fights for a Title|newspaper=The New York Times|first=Larry|last=Rohter|date=11 August 2001}}{{cite news |url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/pensata/ult515u19.shtml |title=Herdeiros de Ipanema querem destruir a poesia |publisher=Folha Online |first=Marcio |last=Aith |date=13 August 2001 |language=pt |access-date=26 April 2007 |archive-date=18 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118215103/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/pensata/ult515u19.shtml |url-status=live }} Public support was strongly in favor of Pinheiro. A press release by Jobim and Moraes, the composers, in which they had named Pinheiro as the real Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema) was used as evidence that they had intended to bestow this title on her. The court ruled in favor of Pinheiro.{{cite web|url=http://stan-shepkowski.net/girlfromipanema.htm |title=The Girl From Ipanema |publisher=Stan-Shepkowski.Net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516170258/http://www.stan-shepkowski.net/girlfromipanema.htm |archive-date=2007-05-16 }}

In a separate legal dispute, Astrud Gilberto sued Frito-Lay for trademark infringement for using the song in a TV advertisement for its baked potato chips. Gilberto argued that:

[A]s the result of the huge success of the 1964 recording, and her frequent subsequent performances of "Ipanema," she has become known as The Girl from Ipanema and is identified by the public with the 1964 recording. She claims as a result to have earned trademark rights in the 1964 recording, which she contends the public recognizes as a mark designating her as a singer. She contends, therefore, that Frito-Lay could not lawfully use the 1964 recording in an advertisement for its chips without her permission.[http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/251/56/539915/ Oliveira v. Frito-Lay Inc.], 251 F.3d 56 (2nd Cir. 2001).

{{About|the song|the 2010 South Korean film|The Boy from Ipanema (film)|section=yes}}

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When sung by female artists the song has often been rendered as "The Boy from Ipanema". Such artists have included Julie London (1964 single), Peggy Lee (1964), Ella Fitzgerald and The Supremes (1965), Shirley Bassey (1966) and Eartha Kitt (1974). Petula Clark sang it in 1977 on The Muppet Show. Crystal Waters recorded her version in 1996 for the various artists Red Hot + Rio compilation and was later included on her 1998 greatest hits set. Diana Krall recorded another version on her 2009 album Quiet Nights.

The reason for "The Boy from Ipanema" version is partially caused by an awkward translation occurring when female vocalists sing: "But each time when she walks to the sea, she looks straight ahead not at he." Some singers have corrected this by singing: "But each time when she goes for a swim, she looks straight ahead not at him."{{cn|date=June 2023}}

A parody of the song, with different lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim, is entitled The Boy From....

Another parody is "The Girl With Emphysema" by comedian Bob Rivers.

The phrase "Boy from Ipanema" — but nothing from the song — appears in Norwegian recording artist Annie's "Anthonio". Likewise, the phrase "Girl from Ipanema" appears in The B-52's' 1985 single "Girl from Ipanema Goes to Greenland," again without any musical reference to the original song.

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• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1964 (U.S.)

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• {{cite news |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2008101224_trbrazilcruise10.html |title=A cruise to meet the muse of "Girl From Ipanema" |newspaper=The Seattle Times|first=Scott |last=Vogel |date=10 August 2008}}
• {{cite AV media|last1=Neely|first1=Adam|author-link1=Adam Neely|first2=Martina|last2=da Silva|date=July 15, 2020|title=The Girl from Ipanema is a far weirder song than you thought|medium=video|series=Analysis|publisher=CuriosityStream|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFWCbGzxofU|access-date=October 16, 2020}}
• {{youtube|zIdYg3wy9kI|Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema}}

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Category:1962 songs

Category:1964 singles

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Category:Bossa nova jazz standards

Category:Songs about Rio de Janeiro (city)

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Category:Grammy Award for Record of the Year

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Songs with lyrics by Norman Gimbel

Category:Songs with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim

Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings

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Category:Jazz compositions in F major

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