Who Did It Better? Waters Of March

Who Did It Better?

 Waters Of March

I couldn't think of a more appropriate song for the month of March. 

Yes, we're going a little 'uptown' with this one!

This classic has been recorded in many languages, including Portuguese, English, Italian and French. For today's Who Did It Better post, we will only be looking at those recorded in the mid-seventies, the time period during which it became so beloved. 

Waters of March or Águas de Março is a Brazilian song composed in 1972 by Antônio Carlos Jobim. The lyrics were originally written in Portuguese.

From Wikipedia: 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, thus 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."

Composer-guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves once shared that Jobim told him writing in this kind of stream of consciousness was Jobim's version of therapy, which saved him thousands in psychoanalysis bills.

Jobim, himself, translated the song into English. He sought to avoid words with Latin roots, so the English version has additional verses. Also, he switched the perspective; in Brazil, the rains in March signify the end of their summer. For the English version, Jobim approached the song from a Northern hemisphere view and the awakening of spring.

The song was first released as part of a newspaper giveaway in Brazil. Recorded by Jobim, copies of the original recording are very rare. He would re-record the song in 1973 and include it on an album. That is one of the versions we will be listening to, today.

What many reviewers consider to be the definitive recording of the song is the duet sung by Jobim and Elis Regina on the 1974 album, Elis & Tom.

 

In 1974 Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77 recorded this song on the album Vintage 74, with Jobim, himself, playing guitar. (Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '88 would revisit the song for the album Brasil '88.)

Art Garfunkel recorded the song on his 1975 solo album, Breakaway. Produced by Richard Perry (Leo Sayer, Pointer Sisters, Carly Simon.) Garfunkel's version shares a number of similarities with Jobim's 1973 recording of the song, such as inflection, rhythm, and evocation.

Stan Getz and João Gilberto recorded a version on their joint album, The Best of Two Worlds (1976). This version, also a duet, features lyrics sung in both Portuguese and English.

In 2001, Águas de Março was named 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 and voted by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone magazine as the second greatest Brazilian song.

 
And that's the whole story.

Now? On to the competition.

The Song: Waters of March or Águas de Março

The Competitors: Jobim (1973) vs. Jobim/Regina vs.. Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77 vs. Garfunkel vs Getz/Gilberto

Águas de Março - Tom Jobim

(1973)

Águas de Março - Elis Regina and Tom Jobim

(1974)

Waters Of March - Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77

(1974)

Waters Of March - Art Garfunkel

(1975)

Águas de Março - Stan Getz and João Gilberto

(1976)

Tom Jobim (1973)

Acoustic guitar opening. His voice is merely okay. I'm not getting a sense of a great deal of color. His tone is merely serviceable. Once the full combo kicks in, it just hums along. The random piano key strikes? Interesting, if a bit severe. I love the swell of that cello.

I have to keep in mind that he is singing from the perspective of summer dying. In fact, it has been said that the entire song is a metaphor for death. It's also a study of aural contrasts, the melody is a bit of a drone, as is the list of mundane items, occurrences and events, while that cascading backdrop, for me, holds a lot of joy and a bit of hope. The melody also as a 'tick-toc' cadence to it, evoking the passage of time.

I adore the cello. Such an interesting texture. And then what? A woodwind of some sort, followed by the oddest piano - it's lovely, forlorn and foreboding. Oh, and then a magical string quartet, flutes, a clarinet - very Disney. 

The vocals? Annoying? Mundane. But then he's simply listing things, marking time passing, so it's theatrically, effective. It's all the magic happening with this arrangement that's got me enthralled. 

The instrumental break feels like elevator music, but also serves as a reprieve, a bit of ear candy. It's like whistling, but I can't picture the instrument. Love the strings here, as well; the swell of the cello met by the cascading violins.  

As we turn the corner, all the previous elements return. The seesaw of the clarinet in the background is enchanting - almost siren like. And the orchestration gets darker in tone, like a grey cloud moving overhead. All the color in this piece comes from the odd instrumentation. I adore this arrangement. It's inspired; constructed like architecture. The strings, the flute, the piano... all chiming in; just lovely. With the contrast of the bossa nova rhythm section in the background, I can hear why this is one of Brazil's favorite songs. 

It's like we're being pulled down into a drain, along with all the rest of the debris. And, I have to say, normally? I do not care for flutes, but it works marvelously here. There's something so raw in the way it is played. 

Capped by a raindrop send-off. 

Perfection. I would have preferred a more interesting vocalist, but maybe such a thing would have skewed the study in contrasts. 

Oh, and I love that painting that serves as the album's cover. 

Elis Regina and Tom Jobim (1974)

More of a bounce with the opening. Again, the struck piano. I already like the tempo better than the 1973 version. Once the whole rhythm section enters the picture? 

Okay, I confess, this is is more complicated than I can comprehend. Those meters do not, to my ears, line up, but then I am a very basic player. Don't laugh, but unless I can boil it down to either 4/4 or 3/4 time, I am a bit lost, unless I can find and feel the groove.

This is very jazz-oriented, which can sometimes stretch one's appreciation or wear the listener out. It really depends on your exposure to jazz and one's ability to delve deeper. So, while Elis Regina sounds amazing, I am not understanding her feel or timing... yet. It strikes me as incredibly sophisticated. The more I listen to it, the more interesting I find her methods. She's really not any different than the odd piano key being struck. It's fascinating. She sort of lures you in...

His voice is a nice contrast to hers. It gives her a great base from which to pop and dodge. 

This is so intricate. Take that moment the trap set zooms into focus and Regina hits the notes on the beat, only to recede to the former state of sort of zig zagging in and out. So far the piano and strings have been very cocktail lounge tame. Which is fine, since my ears are kept on their toes trying to keep up with Regina. 

It takes a lot of confidence to do what she's doing. And I like that she never overplays a moment. It's all very catch and release. What it creates between the two of them is a kind of musical intimacy that is one the hallmarks of great jazz. 

Listening to this... particularly the piano and strings over the bossa nova rhythm section, I can imagine Donald Fagen and Walter Becker studying this arrangement, because many of these elements can be found throughout the work of Steely Dan, especially the deeper cuts. 

I like this instrumental passage much better. It's more organic. The whistle is still there, but entwined with the piano, so it doesn't feel quite so presentational. 

The vocalists enter back onto the scene with a big 'pow' moment. Love it. Underplayed. Very effective. After we go down the drain, the interplay between the two becomes rather comical. You can't help but share their glee. 

Wow. I started thinking I was not going to like this one at all. Instead, I found it totally charming. The contrast between the two voices brought a entirely different musical esthetic into play. Regina is a subtle firecracker with a dynamite sense of timing, intonation and dynamics.

Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '77 (1974)

Mendes begins with the instrumental break, so that's kind of a head's up on how he views this song. He's going full pop. Those lovely android-like female vocals, all that sugary instrumentation. This absolutely pops. Keep in mind that 1974 was the year of bubblegum pop in the US. Billy Don't Be A Hero was a huge hit. And so far, that's what this makes me think of. 

Listen to those lyrics. I could NEVER memorize this. What a nightmare this must be to learn.

The overall sound here is much warmer than the two previous versions, but that's not necessarily a good thing. All that gloss comes at a cost, negating the original composition's musical intent. But then again, I have to keep in mind, that we have switched perspectives. This is now about the rebirth of nature and the coming of spring - which flies in the face of that whole undercurrent, where the song is about death. 

Complicated? Oh, hell yeah!

But, if I didn't know any of that - not the song's origins, not the other versions... then this comes off as really chipper elevator music. Pleasant. Energetic. Lots of bright, intense yellow and orange sounds on display. 

The vocalists are clipping and enunciating the hell out of every single word, which is something you have to do when you're one of two voices, both singing melody. You want to come off as a single musical entity. They are also very enthusiastic, as is the musical arrangement. Maybe it strikes some as a bit cloying, but, so far, Mendes is being very cautious, not overplaying any of the musical tricks he has up his sleeve - piano keys, harp swipes, string stings, etc. It's a little like watching an episode of Bewitched - one where Endora is throwing her magic around, each spell accompanied with a an orchestral gimmick. 

The instrumental break is kept in place and is merely a repeat of the intro.

And once we resume our musical listicle, Mendes starts throwing more stuff out there. Hear those flutes? Yeah, those are the ones I hate. But once they subside, I do love the swell of the string section. This just got fun... my kind of fun. But then the flutes are back and ugh...

And then, once the vocalists take a quick breather, an electric keyboard takes focus, sounding like Morse Code.  Well, those were the times. 

And I have no idea what the vocalists are singing at the end... it sounds vaguely Native American... but not. (Way-ut-ut-ut-ut...?)

Done with this. Pleasant, but sugar-coated. Clever, but also a bit cloying. 

Art Garfunkel (1975)

I like the acoustic guitar. We're back to the original tempo, which is a bit of a downer, but then... it's Art Garfunkel. 

Now, it may be the fact that I am listening to this on my laptop, but this sounds rather thin and flat. Also, I've come to realize that Garfunkel is more of an album artist than a singles artist. Taken out of context and listening to this cut as a stand alone? I'm trying to justify it's existence a bit. As part the album Breakaway, which is a total gem from start to finish, it sounded like it belonged and was a bit of a welcome change of pace. But as a stand-alone? Hmm...

Garfunkel's voice can't be faulted. I think he's an amazing singer, if a bit nasal. His pitch is perfect, as is his overall tone. 

Perry has jettisoned all of the more colorful, organic instrumental accents found in the original, only bringing in a couple of odd sounding synths to move beneath the gentle cascade. On occasion, you can hear Garfunkel discovering the dark humor of the piece. That's nice to hear.

The instrumental break - more synths, fat and tubular. It's whimsical. Fits with the overall interpretation. Perry's sound, in this case, feels a bit over-homogenized. It rather cools things, removing some of the human element the song demands. Even the bossa nova rhythm section is muted with all it's edges rounded off so it never really cuts through. Quite frankly, I miss the occasional musical surprises found in the other versions. 

And it just goes on.... like a straight line. In the second half, Garfunkel seems to purposefully stress each item in the same monotone. I suspect his spring will be a rather colorless one. 

Perry continues to employ his two tricks, albeit in various fashions, but those synths move around Garfunkel's vocals, never affecting the singer at all. And a bubbler synth takes us to the fade... 

Huh. 

Stan Getz and João Gilberto (1976)

That guitar is mixed too low. 

This is a take on the Regina/Jobim version, but Getz has added a kind of shuffle beat in the back ground and Gilbert seems to be poking his fingers into the mix, adding all sorts of off-kilter phrases; a case of meters at odds. He's got to be quick, for the tempo is up again. Let's see if Gilbert can weave the same magic Regina brought to this song. 

The female singer is Gilberto's then-wife, Miúcha. She's alright. A bit flatfooted. She keeps elongating her vowel sounds when, based on the rather complex rhythms at play, she would do best to adopt Gilberto's vocal attack - as if stabbing, rather than singing. 

Things get a bit messy. I end up feeling like Miúcha is lagging just behind where she needs to be. She keeps landing when she needs to flit. 

And the rhythm section doesn't seem to be doing any of them any favors. That trap set is behaving like an annoying click track, leaving the guitar to actually serve up the only bossa nova flavor to be had. 

Wow. The instrumental break is very unique. I love the very live sound of that sax and Getz is a master. Messy? Yes. It's risky stuff, at times fighting against one another and, at times, almost untuneful. But at least the rhythm section is fully engaged. That sax is very raw.

Interesting. So many different textures at play. The brief appearance by the piano was very welcome. I wish it had played a bigger part. I liked the ending, and it actually seemed to click into place after the main sax solo. 

The Verdict

Well, this didn't go as I thought it would at all. 

I assumed Garfunkel, whom I love (I adore his Breakaway album,) would take this merely because that was the version I was most familiar with. 

But no. 

I think all those experts are right. Elis Regina and Tom Jobim and that incredible arrangement bring out all sorts of marvelous colors and tones. Yes, it was off-putting initially, but I really got into it by the end and theirs is the version I want to hear again. 

The 1973 Jobim version is fine. A bit dull, perhaps. His voice, on it's own? Not much to write home about. Great arrangement, though.

Mendes' version is fun, in a campy, flower-pop, elevator music kind of way. His arrangement is a bit heavy-handed, as is the smiley-face sheen he burdens the song with. 

Garfunkel is fine, too. Pleasant, but bland. I don't think Richard Perry and those synths do the song any favors. 

And Getz and company? Messy. And, yes, jazz gets to be that way, but I heard way too much fighting which did not serve the song at all. All involved sounded as if they were trying to wrestle the thing into submission. Only João Gilberto comes out unscathed.

Regina and Jobim? What I initially thought was a jazz disaster turned out to be a total joy. It pops and surprises. The two vocalists compliment one another and by the end? Well, I'm full of mirth, too. So they take this for me. 

--- ---

And that's enough of me.

Man, did I feel out of my element today. Well, it's good to stretch, right? Confront our blind spots? Our lack of knowledge? Work a bit harder.

Okay. Your turn. Leave your choice and thoughts in the comments section. I always love to hear what you're thinking.

That's all for now.

Thanks for reading... and listening!

Waters Of March - Basia