Hi friends,
I am glad that I am now able to understand quite a bit of portuguese, because the lyrics of most brazilian songs are as interesting and meaningful as the music itself. From this point of view, it looks like the whole concept behind a song like "The girl from Ipanema" is the power of beauty and harmony, that can arouse a feeling like love in human beings. Here are the final lyrics, with a rather free english translation (done by me):

"Ah, se ela soubesse
Que quando ela passa
O mundo sorrindo se enche de graça
E fica mais lindo
Por causa do amor"

"Oh, if she only could know
That when she walks by
The world smiles full of grace
And becomes a more beautiful place
Thanks to the power of love"

The name of the girl was Heloisa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto but, after her wedding with a rich engineer named Fernando Abel Mendes Pinheiro, she was known simply as Hele Pinheiro. The first time Tom Jobim saw her walking and swaying on her way to the Ipanema beach she was only 15 and is described like a blossoming adolescent of stunning beauty, yet very unsecure about herself and her looks. When she got married Tom Jobim and his first wife Thereza witnessed the wedding. During the seventies and the eighties she was a protagonist of the social life in Rio and now, at 56, she stars for the second time on "Playboy", together with her daughter ("I did it to help her overcome her shyness", she said).
Of course one can only think with a hint of sadness how easily symbols fade away and lose their original power.