A&M Cover Versions 1965-70: "Wave"

Which cover version is your favourite?

  • Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66

    Votes: 9 56.3%
  • The Sandpipers

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Bossa Rio

    Votes: 1 6.3%
  • Julius Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band

    Votes: 6 37.5%

  • Total voters
    16
I kinda feel bad for the Sandpipers with zero votes.... they're the Rodney Dangerfields of A&M! (They don't get no respect)
 
The only Nara CD I have is a new-ish Japanese pressing of "Dez anos depois."

Edit: It also looks like I have a self-titled CD of hers. Also Japanese. And a Gal + Caetano Veloso CD, "Domingo." All Japanese, and all from 2016.
Looks like I do have all nine of her '60s studio releases (I confirmed against her website).

I purchased these about 20 years ago at San Francisco-Amoeba.

nara.jpg
 
Haven't played this in a while. Very rare 12" single by Willie Bobo, "Always There." First heard on a 70s Ronnie Laws album.



Thankfully I found this track on the following CD, as I'd never pay a huge chunk for the record (which would probably be worn).

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It was a 2-CD set. Out of print for a while, but found it for $17-ish. Plenty of good tunes on there. "Jazz Carnival" by the Brazilian fusion group Azymuth also makes an appearance. Our local jazz station WJZZ would have played this one.

 
I kinda feel bad for the Sandpipers with zero votes.... they're the Rodney Dangerfields of A&M! (They don't get no respect)
The Sandpipers and Chris Montez seem to routinely finish last in these multiple-artist shootouts. We'll have to stage a special two-way shootout just between them...just to see how the A&M Corner gang aligns. Of course, I'll also include an "abstain" option for those of us who would perfer to exercise the purgatory option.
 
The first song I ever heard by The Sandpipers was Let Go. It got a lot of airplay and I liked it. Then I heard Come Saturday Morning and it also got a lot of airplay as well. Guantanamera was one I never heard until much later on. I have that album as I found it in a thrift store. These days, the latter two get AM airplay in my area. I had their Foursider album but it may have gotten lost as I am not sure where it is.
 
Come Saturday Morning
The Sandpipers own this. 100% breezy Southern California sunshine pop. It always makes me think of my childhood...driving along US-101 between Ventura and Santa Barbara looking out the window toward the Pacific.
 
My grandmother had purchased the Greatest Hits and had us listen to it when we visited later that week, so that's where I first heard it.
 
Nancy Wilson was a great pop/jazz singer. Remember how in the 1960s NBC Television used to boast before their programs that they were "brought to you in living color on NBC" with their peacock proudly spreading its wings? Well, I have a DVD entitled "Perry Como's Music Hall" in living color on NBC from 1967 with Nancy Wilson as guest star along with George Carlin. A delightful show. The DVD is still available from various vendors. If only they had Perry's Xmas special from November 1967 on DVD with Brasil 66.

Rudy had a reference to Willie Bobo above. The late great Bob Matthews of Brasil 66 after he left the group had a stint as bassist with the Willie Bobo band.

Henry Mancini said that "Wave" was his favorite pop song of all time.
 
Nancy Wilson was a great pop/jazz singer
Nancy is my all-time favourite 1960s singer. Like Sammy Davis (my #2) she can sing a song (to borrow an adequate phrase) over under sideways down.

Her approx. 30 LPs released from 1969-71 prove that the great ones can record high volumes of LPs with little-to-no compromise to creativity.

Henry Mancini said that "Wave" was his favorite pop song of all time.
Nice endorsement! I've never constructed a top-song list, but Wave would easily make my all-time top-100.
 
That translation is more complimentary to the melody. Has anyone ever tired to sing the translation?

Ever seen the translation for A Banda? A brief reprieve of momentary joy is enveloped within eternal despair. When you hear the American lyric re-write it makes you want to literally break the record (to this day, I'm at a loss as to how Astrud could have recorded such a ridiculous set of lyrics given she clearly knew the significance of the original!) In any event, American culture just doesn't lend itself to such content in popular music...

Portuguese Lyric

Estava à toa na vida
O meu amor me chamou
Pra ver a banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor

A minha gente sofrida
Despediu-se da dor
Pra ver a banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor

O homem sério que contava dinheiro parou
O faroleiro que contava vantagem parou
A namorada que contava as estrelas parou
Para ver, ouvir e dar passagem

A moça triste que vivia calada sorriu
A rosa triste que vivia fechada se abriu
E a meninada toda se assanhou
Pra ver a banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor

Estava à toa na vida
O meu amor me chamou
Pra ver a banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor

A minha gente sofrida
Despediu-se da dor
Pra ver a banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor

O velho fraco se esqueceu do cansaço e pensou
Que ainda era moço pra sair no terraço e dançou
A moça feia debruçou na janela
Pensando que a banda tocava pra ela

A marcha alegre se espalhou na avenida e insistiu
A lua cheia que vivia escondida surgiu
Minha cidade toda se enfeitou
Pra ver a banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor

Mas para meu desencanto
O que era doce acabou
Tudo tomou seu lugar
Depois que a banda passou

E cada qual no seu canto
E em cada canto uma dor
Depois da banda passar
Cantando coisas de amor


English Translation (with notable translation oddities)

I was for nothing in life
my love called me
to see the band pass
singing things of love

my people suffered
said goodbye to the pain
to see the band pass
singing things of love

The serious man counting money stopped
The lighthouse keeper who had the advantage stopped
The girlfriend who counted the stars stopped
To see, hear and pass through

The sad girl who lived silently smiled
The sad rose that used to be closed has opened
And all the kids got mad
to see the band pass
singing things of love

I was for nothing in life
my love called me
to see the band pass
singing things of love

my people suffered
said goodbye to the pain
to see the band pass
singing things of love

The weak old man forgot his fatigue and thought
Who was still young to go out on the terrace and dance
The ugly girl leans out of the window
Thinking the band played for her

The joyful march spread on the avenue and insisted
The full moon that used to be hidden emerged
My whole city got decorated
to see the band pass
singing things of love

But to my disenchantment
what was sweet is over
everything took its place
after the band passed

And each one in his corner
And in every corner a pain
after the band passes
singing things of love


I've said it for years: the Brazilian songwriters of the '60s were the apex of pop songwriting: Valle, Lobo, Nascimento, Gil, et al. As for Nara, I have nearly all of her entire '60s output; I could probably fill volumes discussing the aspects of her recordings...
JOv2--Thanks so much for the English translation of A Banda. Who would have known that this song with such a simple and happy melody would have such serious lyrics? Many have said that Chico Buarque--born in 1944-- was the most important of the composers born after the Jobim generation, and that he was a composer, poet, and playwright without peer. His 1971 composition "Construcao" has been acclaimed by some as the most important Brazilian song of the 20th century. I agree--the Brazilian songwriters of the 1960s you referred to were the summit of pop songwriting--and they were all born in the 1940s.

I've posted a historic 1966 concert with Chico and Nara Leao singing A Banda--which won 1st prize for that year's song competition. As icing on the cake, at the very end you will see a color video clip of Chico and Nara together again watching the old 1966 concert. Herb Alpert wisely recorded A Banda and the TJB version made it to No. 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart.

 
Here is Frank Sinatra singing "Wave" arranged by the great Brazilian Eumir Deodato. In the book "Sinatra 101" it says: "Sinatra rarely listens to his own work. He enjoys classical music. When he does listen to popular artists, he prefers Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, and Sarah Vaughan to his own recordings. An exception was "Wave." During his retirement in the early 1970s, Sinatra played the track over and over again at his compound in Palm Springs, California. A friend asked him why. He told her that he loved listening to the way he hit the bass notes."

 
Here is an artist from South Korea who does the best job of reconciling those low notes I've heard to date.

 
Coolest thing about this song is it’s title. Jobim could’ve easily called it “Catch the Wave” or “Dream Together” and it wouldn’t have been near as cool.
 
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