Meditation is a Bossa standard from the 1960 album Gilberto and Jobim (Antonio Carlos Jobim).

Monday evening jazz with Chris and Forrest. Thanks so much for playing this wonderful Bossa! Now, here's the story of this song from allmusic.com:
" Meditation (Meditação) Review by Bill Janovitz
First released on Gilberto and Jobim (1960) Antonio Carlos Jobim teamed up early in his career with a childhood friend and nightclub pianist, Newton Mendonca, and lyricist Norman Gimbel for the gracefully beautiful "Meditacao (Meditation)." Joao Gilberto and Jobim more or less invented bossa nova together. An amalgam of the Brazilian samba and American (particularly West Coast) jazz influences, bossa nova became extremely popular in the United States after Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd unleashed their 1962 version of Jobim's "Desafinado." Pop vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra started to take on Jobim's material, in the process making many of his song's standards, alternative repertoire to the Broadway show tunes and Tin Pan Alley fare that had made up most of the Great American Songbook. Gilberto's Chet Baker-like, laid-back voice serves as the perfect vessel for Jobim's tune. Meant to celebrate the simple beauty of life, the Zen essence, Jobim's music and lyrics were full of sharp, natural images intended to speak directly to the soul. Gilberto's whispery vocals and gentle classical guitar playing evoke the softness of night, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the waves on the beach, even before one translates Jobim's and Norman Gimbel's (English adaptation) lyrics, which, when translated literally, read like a Buddhist aphorism: "Whoever in the heart/Abrigou a tristeza de ver (Sheltered sadness of seeing)/Tudo isto se perder (Everything lost)/E na solidão (And in the solitude)/Procuro um caminho e seguiu (Obtained a road and followed)/Já descrente de um dia feliz (Now unbelieving of a happy day)/Quem chorou, chorou (Whoever cried, cried)/E tanto que seu pranto já secou (And such that your weeping at once dried up)/Quem depois voltou (Whoever then returned)/Ao amor, ao sorriso, e a flor (To the love, to the smile, and the flower)/Então tudo encontrou (Then found the reason for everything)/Pois a própria dor (As the pain itself)/Revelou o caminho do amor (Revealed the road of love)/E a tristeza acabou (And the sadness ended)." (Translation by Jason Brazile at the bossa nova home page.) On the 1967 album Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gimbel's adaptation of the same last couple of verses goes more like this: "Though you're far away/I have only to close my eyes and you are back to stay/I just close my eyes/And the sadness of missing you brings/Soon is gone and this heart of mine sings/Yes, I love you so/And that for me is all I need to know/I will wait for you/Till the sun falls out of the sky/For what else can I do/I will wait for you/Meditating how sweet life will be/When you come back to me." Obviously this is a different sentiment, indeed a different song altogether, even if Jobim himself plays along, as he literally did, on guitar on the album. These lyrics are trite clichés that just happened to fit a rhyme scheme and the rhythm of Jobim's melody. While Sinatra has the right feel for the relaxed tune, and the production -- by Sonny Burke -- is sympathetic to the original, the adapted lyrics do the listener a disservice by paving over lovely poetry with bland lyrical rehashes. One of the best versions of "Meditacao" comes from the live Getz/Gilberto #2, a 1964 recording from Joao Gilberto with Stan Getz from Carnegie Hall. Gilberto, alone with his guitar, sings so quietly that you can hear the audience shifting in their seats, coughing, and so on. But his rich, velvety vocals rest easily with the lilting melody. One realizes that the naturally musical Portuguese adds so much to the song, no matter what the translation. Jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd offers a deeply moving instrumental reading of the tune on Bossa Nova Pelos Passaros (1962). His arrangement includes a small string section that buttresses his guitar playing from the second verse on. Byrd plays a bluesy solo that links the samba with jazz and classical guitar. "

[@gailengland7333]

Perfect way to start my day!

[@VinceNewton]

@@gailengland7333 thanks for your kind words, Gail!

[@ForrestYoung]

Perfect!

[@VinceNewton]

@@ForrestYoung I’m very glad we could have you for this gem!

[@maxbelz8995]

Nice, dudes. Keep up the good work.

[@VinceNewton]

Thanks for your kind words, Max!

[@dalivador3527]

Excellent !!!🤙🏼❤️

[@VinceNewton]

@@dalivador3527 thanks for listening!

[@4231jerome]

Sounds like something you might hear in an elevator or while you’re on hold . . Still, it’s a tasty jam! Sounds great live.

[@VinceNewton]

@@4231jerome 🥰. Thanks for listening, Jerome!