This little feature about the history of this famous and favourite bossa nova tune zipped by me today—courtesy the Wall Street Journal. I’m sure you’ll agree the narration could use a little more, well, zip (attention WSJ: this silken-voiced-when-she-needs-to-be Specs Howard grad is available), it’s an interesting run of tidbits. Featuring everyone from Frank Sinatra to Mike Tyson singing the very-alluring tune, it’s worth the two minutes.
UPDATE: Sigh. Per usual, iframe videos are not embeddable in WordPress, so you’ll have to click the link. I’m sorry! “The Girl From Ipanema” turns 50
By the way, according to Wikipedia, the song was inspired by Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, a pretty 5’8″ brunette, seventeen years old at the time, who would indeed stroll to the sea and around Ipanema, a neighborhood in southern Rio de Janeiro. As a result of the song’s popularity, Heloisa became a celebrity in her own right.
Has your appetite been whetted? Here’s the entire song, from 1964 (you can read about the recording here).
Have a delightful weekend!
Victory Rolls and V8s 
Great Story Jen, love that B&W Video. It really is still in good condition, I’ve watched some that are rather deteriated. Funny, I see young girls wearing that hair-do now, what goes around comes around.