One Note Samba

"One Note Samba" ("Samba de Uma Nota Só") is a 1960 bossa nova by Antônio Carlos Jobim, with Portuguese lyrics by Newton Mendonça. This page has the One Note Samba chords and a backing track you can slow down, speed up and transpose for a singer or a guitarist.

Who wrote "One Note Samba"

Antônio Carlos Jobim wrote the music and Newton Mendonça the Portuguese words; Jobim wrote the English lyrics himself. The song has words in both languages, and they describe the song itself: a melody built on a single note, while the harmony moves underneath. João Gilberto recorded it in 1960 on his album O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor, and Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd brought it to the United States in 1962.

Recordings that made it a standard

• João Gilberto, O Amor, o Sorriso e a Flor (1960) — the Brazilian original.

• Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba (1962) — the instrumental album that started the bossa nova craze in America.

• Frank Sinatra and Antônio Carlos Jobim, Sinatra & Company (1971) — a vocal version with Jobim.