Many years ago my cousin Bob (Brazilian and World Music Maven, Rocket Scientist and Master musician) introduced me to Elis Regina, and I was smitten. It also led me to listening (and learning to play what I could) to a host of other singers and musicians from Brazil and South America...all assisted by Bob's generous gift to me of dozens of CD's with his copious historical and musical notes and analyses. Thanks again Bob!


The album above is the one of a kind classic recording and I just came across a video online and can’t wipe the smile off my face. The song Aguas de Marco is famous (in Brazil, it was voted-in a public poll--the greatest song 'of all time') and though I've heard it all my life, I've grown to appreciate it more and more over the years.

I think it’s one of the best definitions of the expression: “…Greater than the sum of it’s parts.” The music alone is pretty and pleasing, but clearly repetitive-- the lyrics alone are clever and poetic but can seem (in reading) somewhat random and obscure --but put them together and the blending of the two creates something else entirely.

And I discovered an amazing thing just now...Jobim wrote the English translation!

That's stunning! Write a great melody, write a great lyric, then write the lyric in a second language (a poet in two languages?!) that not only captures all the beauty of the original, but fits perfectly and seamlessly into the rhythm and flow of the music. I'm in awe. English Lyrics are posted below.

It's a unique song structure with no distinct verse or chorus separation but rather two subtly different progressions that alternate back and forth and not always symmetrically. Whenever I play it I always get confused about when to make the change--even though I've played it a hundred times. And that's part of the beauty of it--it's like a river with two currents flowing side by side, and as you drift downstream you're never quite sure which current is carrying you...but it also doesn't really matter. And I can only assume that that is pretty much what Jobim was after considering the title and the lyrical content.

Call me Mr. Softee, but the sight of Tom himself singing along with an almost girlishly giddy and joyful Elis is both heartwarming and heartbreakingly beautiful to me. And knowing her body of work and the story of her life and sad early death…well that all factors into it too.

Jonathan Schwartz once introduced it on his radio show by saying: “Here’s a song that’s about….everything.”

First version is the charmer with Tom and Elis, DAMN...they won't let me embed it. This has happened before, and I can only hope it's those deserving (like Tom or Elis' family and relations--and not just a record company) who are the beneficiaries of this protective tactic. Okay, all is not lost, you can use the link and see it on YouTube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qle1OrunKnE&feature=related

But I want to post something here, so here's a poignant Elis singing it alone with english subtitles...(which are not Jobim's and as a result are not nearly as good or musically apt) and there's nothing wrong with your computer (or other device) it's a choppy video but the audio is pretty clean. Hope you enjoy.






Aguas de Marco
The Waters of March
Antonio Carlos Jobim (Tom, to his friends)

A stick, a stone, it's the end of the road
It's the rest of a stump, it's a little alone

It's a sliver of glass, it is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death, it's a trap, it's a gun

The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush
The knot in the wood, the song of a thrush

The wood of the wind, a cliff, a fall
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all

It's the wind blowing free, it's the end of the slope
It's a beam, it's a void, it's a hunch, it's a hope

And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the end of the strain, It's the joy in your heart

The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone
The beat of the road, a slingshot's stone

A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light
A shot of a gun in the dead of the night

A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump,
It's a girl, it's a rhyme, it's a cold, it's the mumps
.
The plan of the house, the body in bed
And the car that got stuck, it's the mud, it's the mud

A float, a drift, a flight, a wing
A hawk, a quail, oh, the promise of spring

And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart (repeat)

A point, a grain, a bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night

A pin, a needle, a sting, a pain
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain

A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Joe
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow

The bed of the well, the end of the line
The dismay on the face, it's a loss, it's a find

A spear, a spike, a point, a nail
A drip, drip, drip, drop, the end of the day

And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life in your heart, in your heart (repeat)

,the end of the road,a little alone

A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A knife, a death, the end of the run

And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart

And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart

The waters of March,

And the river bank talks of the waters of March
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart