"Surfboard" is an instrumental song by

Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered as one of the great exponents of Brazilian ...

. The song was composed by Jobim on

Ipanema Ipanema () is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone (Rio de Janeiro), South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the populari ...

beach after buying a surfboard for his son. Initially released on his US album ''

The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'' in 1965,Cancioneiro Jobim: Antonio Carlos Jobim : biografia - Page 82 2002 and "Surfboard", the latter a delightful, evocative orchestral tour de force inspired by an actual surfboard Jobim had bought for " the song was re-recorded by Jobim for the albums '' A Certain Mr. Jobim'' (1967) with

Claus Ogerman Claus Ogerman (born Klaus Ogermann; 29 April 1930 – 8 March 2016) was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall. ...

and 1995's '' Antonio Brasileiro''. The song had been performed by many artists on their albums but did not appear as a single until 1969 when it was recorded by Brazilian keyboardist Walter Wanderley for the album '' When It Was Done''. The song was also recorded by

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz Flute, flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet ...

in 1996. Being an instrumental composition, Surfboard has no lyrics but was recorded vocally in a

scat singing Originating in vocal jazz, scat singing or scatting is vocal Musical improvisation, improvisation with Non-lexical vocables in music, wordless vocables, Pseudoword#Nonsense syllables, nonsense syllables or without words at all. In scat singing, t ...

version by

the Swingle Singers The Swingles are an a cappella vocal group. The Swingle Singers were originally formed in 1962 in Paris under the leadership of Ward Swingle. In 1973, Swingle disbanded the French group, and formed an English group known initially as Swingle I ...

on ''Mood Swings'' 2003.

References

1965 songs Songs with music by Antônio Carlos Jobim {{1960s-song-stub