Waters of March

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"Águas de março"
Song
LanguageBrazilian Portuguese
English title"Waters of March"
Published1972
GenreBossa nova
SongwriterAntônio Carlos Jobim

"Waters of March" (Portuguese: "Águas de março" [ˈaɡwɐz dʒi ˈmaʁsu]) is a Brazilian song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927–1994) in 1972. Jobim wrote both the original Portuguese and the English lyrics.[1] The lyrics 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 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 S.Paulo.[1] It was also voted by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone as the second greatest Brazilian song after "Construção" by Chico Buarque.[2]

The inspiration for "Águas de março" came 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. and following success of Waters of March in 70s, the song was adapted for use in a series of advertisements for Coca-Cola in 80s. These ended with the then current slogan "Coke Is It".[3]

Lyrics

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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), folklore and fauna (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 cascading "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 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.

When writing the English lyrics, Jobim endeavored to avoid words with Latin roots, which resulted in the English version having more verses than the Portuguese. Nevertheless, the English version still contains some words from Latin origin, such as promise, dismay, plan, pain, mountain, distance and mule. 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.

Composer-guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves said that Jobim told him writing in this kind of stream of consciousness was his version of therapy and saved him thousands in psychoanalysis bills.[4]

Certifications

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Certifications for "Águas de março"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[5] Gold 30,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Versions

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  • The first recording of this song (Portuguese version) appeared on an EP released in May, 1972, named O Tom de Antonio Carlos Jobim e o Tal de João Bosco. This EP was released as a bonus included in the Brazilian periodical O Pasquim and was never reissued again.[citation needed]
  • Gloria (2013) has a scene with "Águas de Março" performed by Hugo Moraga and other musicians.[6][7]
  • The Worst Person in the World (2021) includes the Art Garfunkel rendition during the last scene and end credit sequence[8].
  • As part of their An Octave Apart theatre show and studio album, Justin Vivian Bond and Anthony Roth Costanzo covered the song as a duet in 2021[9].
  • London based punk band Fat White Family's 2024 song "Visions of Pain" uses the same vocal melody and list structure as "Waters of March" with altered lyrics and a different instrumental.[10]

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^ a b c Nascimento, Elma Lia. "Calling the Tune". Brazzil, September 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
  2. ^ Rocha, Antonio do Amaral (2009). "As 100 Maiores Músicas Brasileiras - "Águas de Março"". Rolling Stone Brasil (in Portuguese). Spring. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. ^ "1985 Coca-Cola: Waters of March (USA and Brazil with Tom Jobim) commercials" on YouTube
  4. ^ "Águas de Março Archives". Frances Livings. 2015-04-16. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
  5. ^ "Spanish single certifications – Elis Regina / Antonio Carlos Jobim – Águas de março (Waters of March)". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved March 13, 2025.
  6. ^ "Gloria". 10 February 2013.
  7. ^ "'Águas de março' inspira diretor do longa chileno 'Glória'". 25 January 2014.
  8. ^ Cohen, Jonathan (2022-03-09). "In 'The Worst Person in the World,' American Singer-Songwriters Help Tell a Norwegian Love Story". Variety. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
  9. ^ Kumar, Naveen (2021-09-25). "Review: Sounds and Styles Playfully Collide in 'Only an Octave Apart'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
  10. ^ Ferrier, Aimee (2024-04-24). "Fat White Family - 'Forgiveness Is Yours' album review". faroutmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-07-22.

Further reading

  • Charles A. Perrone 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.[1]
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  1. ^ Olsen, Dale A. (1990-11-01). "The Music of BrazilMasters of Contemporary Brazilian Song: MPB 1965-1985". Hispanic American Historical Review. 70 (4): 679–680. doi:10.1215/00182168-70.4.679. ISSN 0018-2168.