First recorded by João Gilberto (1958).
Hit versions by Ella Fitzgerald (US #102/UK #38 1962), Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd (US #15/MOR #4/UK #11 1962).
Also recorded by Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan (1963).
From the wiki: “‘Desafinado’ (a Portuguese word usually rendered into English as ‘out of tune’ or ‘off-key’) is a bossa nova song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim with lyrics (in Portuguese) by Newton Mendonça as a response to critics who claimed that bossa nova was a new genre for singers who can’t sing. First recorded in late 1958 by João Gilberto, it was released in Brazil in February 1959 as a double-sided shellac 78 rpm and soon after, in May 1959, as one of twelve songs on Gilberto’s debut long-play album, Chega de saudade, the first collection of bossa nova songs ever released.
“English-language lyrics were later written, in 1962, by Jon Hendricks and ‘Jessie Cavanaugh’ (a pseudonym used by Howie Richmond of the Richmond Organization [TRO] music publishing conglomerate), and were first recorded in 1962 by Ella Fitzgerald whose promotional single “bubbled under” the Hot 100 in the US but charted Top 40 on the UK Singles chart. Lambert, (Jon) Hendricks & Bavan would release their own English-language arrangement in 1963.
“The 1962 recording by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd (from the album Jazz Samba) would become the definitive version of ‘Desafinado’, becoming a major Pop hit in 1962 in both the US and the UK. The song was voted by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone magazine as the 14th greatest Brazilian song. ‘Desafinado’ was also inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.”
Ella Fitzgerald, “Desafinado” (1962):
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd, “Desafinado” (1962):
Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan, “Slightly Out of Tune (Desafinado)” (1963):