Tom Jobim wrote “Águas de Março” (the waters of March) in 1972, and his 1974 duet with Elis Regina, on the album Elis & Tom, is the version Brazilians treasure. In Rio, March brings the heavy rains that close the summer. The song is a long list of things — a stick, a stone, the end of the road, a bird, a promise of life — tumbling past like debris in the rainwater.
Under the list is a quiet idea: endings and beginnings come together, and the March rains carry the promise of new life. The two singers trade lines and laugh as they go, which makes the recording famous.
For learners it's a gift: almost every line is “é + a noun” (it's a…). You'll learn dozens of everyday nouns, one at a time, at an easy pace.