Say aaah

I’ve never been much of a fan of bossa nova, but back in the sixties it was a whole thing. “The Girl from Ipanema” was probably the best known example; at some point it went from a Sinatra cover to elevator music.

It was in something like the latter capacity—music playing in a store—that I was reminded of it last week, and the opening lyrics stuck with me: “Tall and tan and young and lovely.”

Yeah. Back in 1962 when the song was written, she might have looked something like this:

Every man’s dream, right?

But it occurred to me to wonder, if she carried on walking to the sea every day, under the Brazilian sun, what might she look like today, after all those decades at the beach?

Be careful what you wish for.