Structurally, the English lyrics contain more verses than the Portuguese version–Wikipedia attributes this feature to Jobim’s wanting to avoid words with Latin roots. Jobim’s English lyrics, while eliminating some Brazil-specific references, also includes some language for a North American audience (e.g., “the promise of Spring”). In Brazil, March is the rainiest month and marks the end of summer and the beginning of the cold season–the Portuguese lyrics have the effect of rain cascading down, as time inevitably carries our debris-filled lives into winter.

Jobim wrote both the Portuguese and the English lyrics to the song, and the lyrics differ in several important ways. The song was written in 1972 by Antonio Carlos Jobim, who was a co-parent (along with Joao Gilberto) of Bossa nova music in the late 1950s, fusing it forever with jazz in the early 1960s. The final song of my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist this week (a playlist specially curated to my listening “tastes,” according to Spotify’s algorithms) was a version of the Bossa nova classic, Águas de Março ( Waters of March), that I had not heard before, performed by Susannah McCorkle.

And so, before March of 2021 escapes us, I wanted to pay tribute to its 31 dependable (I’m looking at you, February), stalwart days, doing yeoman’s work in holding up its particular segment of the calendar–and doing so year-after-year, without the benefit of Sinatra’s singing its praises. Meanwhile, what exactly is March’s walk-on (or walk-off) music? The March of the Valkyries doesn’t count. Example: April gets Sinatra crooning April in Paris. If you’re a calendar month, life can be unfair.

Sisyphus lyrics