At times, English seems so limited, despite its enormous vocabulary. Many languages say in one word what can’t possibly be directly translated into English without extensive explanation.
‘Desafinado’ is a bit of a word puzzle. In Portuguese and Spanish, ‘afinar’ means ‘to sharpen’ so the past tense, ‘afinado’ means ‘sharpened.’ The ‘des’ prefix is the same as ‘dis’ in English; it reverses the meaning. So ‘desafinado’ would literally mean ‘not sharpened.’ But it this context it really means that the musical notes haven’t been sharpened; therefore, ‘not tuned’, ‘discordant’, something along those lines.
Portuguese being a much more romantic language than English, it seems that the discord in the song isn’t merely an inability to carry a tune; there’s a hint that much more is at stake:
Se voce disser que eu desafino, amor, Saiba que isso em mim provoca imensa dor If you say that I sing out of tune, love, Know that this causes me great pain
and later
O que voce nao sabe, nem sequer pressente,
É que os desafinados também tem um coraçao
What you don't know; don't even suspect,
Is that those out of tune still have a heart
“Girl from Ipanema” was sung by the guitarist’s wife Astrud Gilberto, who had no professional experience. The perfect phrasing, the immaculate timing, the instinctive jazz feeling; all combine to make it clear that she had whatever experience was required to record one of the greatest jazz works ever.The singer tries to argue that his apparent discord is natural for the ‘new style’, or ‘bossa nova’, but it’s clear that she’s not buying it.
Getz/Gilberto
When Stan Getz and João Gilberto got together with Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1964 to record some of Jobim’s songs, they felt they were saying goodbye to a genre. Bossa nova had been popular, but was losing out to rock and roll and newer styles of jazz. The recording they made, simply called ‘Getz/Gilberto’ is instead the quintessential collection of Brazilian jazz. Delicate beauties like ‘Corcovado’ and the seminal ‘Girl from Ipanema’ make this required listening if you love jazz (and don’t already own a copy.)