Waters of March...

[Brasil6699]

Quick question...

In "Water's of March" there is one line that puzzles me:

"In the distance, the shelves rode three shadows of blue"

What does it mean? Does anyone have any ideas?

by the way... Happy New Year to all!

 

[A&Mguyfromwayback]

I always thought it was "in the distance, the shells grow three shadows of blue", which, come to think of it, doesn't make any sense either...

I read an interview with Jobim where he actually said he wished he had let someone else other than himself write the English lyric, because his English wasn't really that great and all the free association he did in that lyric, which he thought was so cool, he wasn't so crazy about in retrospect (he was probably in his apartment looking at shelves while the sun was setting or something...!).

It sings nicely, though - and it's sure better than all that 'my little grasshopper plane' stuff.

JTCW

 

[seashorepiano]

According to one of the authorized piano versions of the song I own, from Antonio Carlos Jobim Anthology published by Hal Leonard (ISBN 0793516773), the words "in the distance the shelves rode three shadows of blue" are indeed correct, however peculiar.

 

[Dave]

A Stick, A Stone, It's The End Of The Road... The car that got stuck, it's the muck, it's the mud... A cock, a quail, the promise of spring....
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March...

I thought the song consisted of words, just thrown together, but it does make sense... I wish I knew more than that; ie "the REAL meaning", too...

I have Art Garfunkel doing it on his Breakaway album, and that is the closest to a definitive version, outside the Antonio Carlos Jobim/Brasilian Music-sphere anyone could hope for...


Dave

 

[seashorepiano]

It's funny; most of the song made some sense aside from these lines... but I guess we'll never know. He could have referred to mountains or hills with the word "shelves," I guess.

 

[JMK]

I always took shelves to be a metaphor for plateaus on a mountain, but maybe that's just me.

 

[Stevenj]

I also interpret that as a refernce to mountains. Perhaps the lyric should be wore instead of rode?
Stevenj

 

[Brasil_Nut]

I take the line to mean a row of (possibly) moonlit shadows passing down a mountainside. It's been said that "Waters Of March" is one of the few Portuguese-to-English songs which can be translated literally from one language to another. That said, I believe it's pretty much open to interpretation.

Either way, I've always liked Aquas de Marco for its simplicity and upbeat arrangement. One of Tom's best!!

Jon

 

[aymnostalgico]

Hey guys , don't sweat it to much with this lyric. I really think it was written rather quickly . Dave's example is very close what he's singing in Portuguese. I can follow along the translation to spanish as well. This is a song that practically doesn't make too much sense at times , but it is rather nice to listen. I enjoy it very much. In fact , I have this song in my repertoire when I play guitar. I really, really believe Jobim was translating with an english/portuguese dictionary. Here is a good article about this song: http://www.brazzil.com/p08sep01.htm

 

[HiFiEER]

Post Deleted

 

[Chris Martin]

Personally, I love being non-plussed by poetry and/or music. I also find fun in the analysis of it, though...