"Chega de Saudade" (), also known as "No More Blues", is a bossa nova song. It is often considered the first bossa nova song to have been recorded. "Chega de Saudade" and "

The Girl from Ipanema "Garota de Ipanema" (), or "The Girl from Ipanema", is a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz song. It was a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim a ...

" were both composed by

Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered as one of the great exponents of Brazilian ...

with lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes.

Overview

The song was first recorded in 1957 by Brazilian singer

Elizeth Cardoso Elizeth Moreira Cardoso (sometimes listed as Elisete Cardoso) (July 16, 1920 – May 7, 1990), was a singer and actress of great renown in Brazil. Biography Cardoso was born in Rio de Janeiro; her father was a serenader who played guitar, a ...

and released on her 1958 album '' Canção do Amor Demais''. However, her release of the song received little attention. João Gilberto made the second recorded version of the song, also in 1958. Released as a single, Gilberto's version became a hit and consolidated bossa nova as a permanent genre in the Latin music lexicon. In addition to its release as a single, the song also appeared on Gilberto's first album, '' Chega de Saudade''. The title can be translated roughly as "enough longing", though the Portuguese word '' saudade'' carries a more complex meaning than "longing". The word implies an intensity of heartfelt connection that is yearned for passionately, not unlike feeling withdrawal symptoms from a drug that makes one feel good. Another good analogy for ''saudade'' might be an intense homesickness. ''Chega de'', in this case, means "enough of, no more of", and has an implication similar to the colloquial expressions "enough with ..." or "enough already". The song's form is 68 measures long; 32 measures in a minor key are followed by 36 measures in the parallel major key. (Cardoso's recording, for example, begins in D minor and moves to D major.) It has been recorded by jazz and rock performers, with the English language title "No More Blues". English lyrics were written by Jon Hendricks and "Jessie Cavanaugh" (actually a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

for music publisher Howard S. Richmond).

Recognition

In 2000, the João Gilberto version was inducted to the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. A year later, Gilberto's album ''Chega De Saudade'' was inducted to the first Latin Grammy Hall of Fame. The song was voted by the Brazilian edition of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' as the 6th greatest Brazilian song.

Covers and versions

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

recorded a version for his " Big Band Bossa Nova" album in 1962. *The song was recorded by cellist

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for his album '' Obrigado Brazil''. American jazz vibraphonist

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...

also recorded the composition for his 1966 album ''

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'' and his solo album '' Alone at Last'' (Atlantic, 1971). In 1984, under the English-language title "No More Blues", it was the opening track on singer Roseanna Vitro's debut LP, '' Listen Here''. Rosa Passos,

Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

, Toninho Horta,

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day an ...

, The Hi-Lo's,

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretati ...

, and César Camargo Mariano are also among those who have covered the song. *The song was performed by Brazilian metal band Angra at a live acoustic set at the auditorium of the Paris FNAC Forum in 1995. The recording was later featured on their EP "Live Acoustic at FNAC" in 1998. * The

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version of Grand Theft Auto 2 has a

chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...

arrangement of the song as its character selection music, composed by Anthony Paton. * Also recorded by Caroll Vanwelden on ''Portraits of Brazil'' (2016). * Katie Noonan & Karin Schaupp covered the song on their album '' Songs of the Latin Skies'' (2017). * Zule Guerra recorded it for her EP ''Tres de tres: Brazilian''. * A version of the song was recorded by Geoff Knorr for the soundtrack of ''

Civilization V ''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. It is the sequel to Civilization IV, ''Civilization IV'', and was released for Microsoft Windows, Windows in Sep ...

'' as the musical theme for the Brazilian civilization. * Persona 5 Royal's ''No More What Ifs'', composed by Shoji Meguro in 2020, resembles ''Chega de Saudade''. *

Eliane Elias Eliane Elias (born 19 March 1960) is a Brazilian jazz pianist, singer, composer and arranger. Biography Elias was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on 19 March 1960. She started studying piano when she was seven, and at age twelve she was transcribing ...

included the song in her albums '' Fantasia'' (1992), '' The Three Americas'' (1996), and '' Brazilian Classics'' (2003). * Emmet Cohen and his trio performed an arrangement of the song featuring Spanish singer Mar Vilaseca and guitarist Yotam Silberstein. * In 2016, American rapper

Azealia Banks Azealia Amanda Banks ( ; born May 31, 1991) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, she began releasing music through Myspace in 2008 before being signed to XL Recordings at age 18. S ...

released a cover version of the song on her

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

page.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chega De Saudade 1958 songs Bossa nova songs Brazilian songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Real Book Song Songs in Portuguese Songs with lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes Songs with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim