Why “The Lady from Ipanema” Is a Richer & Weirder Track Than You Realized

Say what you need about YouTube’s neg­a­tive results (finish­much less soy faces, influ­encers, its devi­ous and fas­cist-lean­ing algo­rithms) nevertheless it has supplied to cre­ators an area by which to indulge. And that’s one of many rea­sons I’ve been a fan of Adam Neely’s work. A jazz musi­cian and a for­mer stu­dent at each the Berklee Col­lege of Music and the Man­hat­tan College of Music, his YouTube chan­nel is a should for these with an inter­est within the how and why of music the­o­ry. If not for Neely’s tal­ent and YouTube’s plat­kind we wouldn’t have the above: a 30 minute (!) explo­ration of the bossa nova stan­dard, “The Lady from Ipane­ma.” And it’s value each sin­gle minute. (Even the com­pos­er Anto­nio Automotive­los Jobim him­self couldn’t have con­vinced tra­di­tion­al tele­vi­sion execs to offer him that lengthy an indul­gence.)

See­ing we haven’t fea­tured Neely on Open Cul­ture earlier than, let this be a terrific intro­duc­tion, as a result of that is one among his guess­ter movies. It additionally helps that the sub­ject mat­ter simply hap­pens to be some of the cov­ered stan­dards in pop his­to­ry.

Its lega­cy is one among lounge lizards and kitsch. Neely reveals it getting used as a punch­line in The Blues Broth­ers and as temper music in V for Vendet­ta. I remem­ber it being hummed by two pep­per­pots (Gra­ham Chap­man and John Cleese) in a Mon­ty Python skit. And Neely provides us the “tl;dw” (“too lengthy, did­n’t watch”) sum­ma­ry up entrance: the music’s his­to­ry con­cerns blues music, Amer­i­can cul­tur­al hege­mo­ny, and the influ­ence of the Berklee School’s “The Actual E-book.” There’s additionally a great deal of music the­o­ry thrown in too, so it helps to know only a lit­tle getting in.

Neely first peels again a long time of ele­va­tor music cov­ers to get to the delivery of the music, and its mul­ti­ple par­ents: the Afro-Brazil­ian music known as Sam­ba, the hip evening­golf equipment of Rio de Janeiro dur­ing the Nineteen Fifties, the hit movie Black Orpheus which introduced each sam­ba and bossa nova (the “new wave”) to an inter­na­tion­al audi­ence, Jobim and oth­er musi­cians’ inter­est in Amer­i­can blues and jazz chords, and Amer­i­can inter­est from musi­cians like Stan Getz. All it is a forwards and backwards cir­cuit of influ­ences that outcomes on this music, which bor­rows its struc­ture from Tin Pan Alley com­posers like Cole Porter and Irv­ing Berlin, and inserts a tragic, self-pity­ing B‑part after two A‑part lyrics a couple of younger lady go­ing by on a seashore (lyrics by Vini­cius de Moraes, who additionally wrote the display screen­play to Black Orpheus).

The important thing by which you play the music additionally reveals the cul­tur­al divide. Play it in F and you’re tak­ing sides with the Amer­i­cans; play it in Db and you’re maintain­ing it actual, Brazil­ian type. Neely breaks aside the melody and the chord sequences, level­ing out its rep­e­ti­tion (which makes it so catchy) but in addition its ambi­gu­i­ty, which explains finish­much less YouTube movies of musi­cians get­ting the chord sequence fallacious. And, what precise­ly *is* the true chord sequence? And the way is it a riff on, of all issues, Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Practice”? Neely additionally reveals the professional­gres­sion of var­i­ous cov­ers of the music, and what’s been added and what’s been delet­ed. Leav­ing issues out, as he illus­trates with a clip from Leonard Bernstein’s 1973 Har­vard lec­tures, is what provides artwork its magazine­ic.

There’s a lot extra to this 30 minute clip, however you actual­ly ought to watch the entire thing (after which hit sub­scribe to his chan­nel). This essay is precise­ly what YouTube does greatest, and Neely is the perfect of educate­ers, a sensible, self-dep­re­cat­ing man who combine­es intel­lect with humor. Plus, you’ll be hum­ming the music for the remainder of the day, only a bit extra conscious of the rea­son behind the ear worm.

Word: An ear­li­er ver­sion of this publish appeared on our web site in 2020.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

“The Lady from Ipane­ma” Turns 50; Hear Its Bossa Nova Sound Cov­ered by Sina­tra, Krall, Methe­ny & Oth­ers

Remem­ber­ing the “Father of Bossa Nova” João Gilber­to (RIP) with 4 Clas­sic Reside Per­for­mances: “The Lady From Ipane­ma,” “Cor­co­v­a­do” & Extra

Getz and Gilber­to Per­kind ‘The Lady from Ipane­ma’ (and the Girl Who Impressed the Track)

Ted Mills is a free­lance author on the humanities who cur­lease­ly hosts the Notes from the Shed pod­forged and is the professional­duc­er of KCR­W’s Curi­ous Coast. You may as well fol­low him on Twit­ter at @tedmills, and/or watch his movies right here.