Blame It on the Bossa Nova” is a song written by Cynthia Weil (lyrics) and Barry Mann which was a 1963 hit single for Eydie Gorme, reaching number 7 on the Hot 100 in March 1963. “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” was an international hit for Gormé, reaching No. 1 in Australia, South Africa and Sweden and No. 2 in Norway. In the UK the single reached No. 32. Rendered in Spanish by Gormé as “Cúlpale a la bossa nova”, the track sold 250,000 units in Spain and Latin America and 100,000 units in Italy.
Produced by Al Kasha who had been responsible for the No. 1 hit “GO Away Little Girl” by Gormé’s husband Steve Lawrence, “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” featured backing vocals by The Cookies. “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” merges the Brill Building Sound with the Latin music which Gormé had previously specialised in. The song describes a romantic relationship of a couple dancing to the bossa nova, “the dance of love.” The bossa nova was a Brazilian music style especially in vogue in the United States in the late 1950s through mid-1960s. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé told SiriusXM Radio DJ Lou Simon that when Eydie was first pitched this song, she despised it and did not want to record it, but her label forced her to record the song. She claims she deliberately recorded a mediocre vocal performance, going as far as singing an off-pitch note towards the end of the song with the hope that her label would think her performance was so bad that they would never consider releasing her recording as a single. She was wrong. Her recording reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and was her biggest, and last, solo hit.
The song has appeared from time to time in television programs, commercials, and films, often for comic effect. For example, in the TV show The West Wing, Ainsley Hayes (played by Emily Proctor) is dancing joyfully to a recording of the song by Annette Funicello, wearing a bathrobe, and drinking a cocktail to celebrate a successful television appearance when she is shocked to see President Jed Barlet enter her office to meet her for the first time. Movie soundtrack appearances for “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” include The Big Picture (1989), Mermaids (1990) and Doubt (2008).
“Blame It on the Bossa Nova” was also recorded by Annette Funicello for her 1964 album Annette at Bikini Beach, by Edmundo Ros for his 1965 album Latin Melodies Old and New, and by Cliff Richard for his 1966 album Kinda Latin. Nancy Boyd remade “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” for her 1987 album of classic hit songs entitled Let’s Hang On (credited to Nancy Boyd & the Cappello’s), with the track issued as the B-side of the single “Maybe I Know” which charted at No. 56 in the Netherlands.
A recording by Anna-Lena Lofgen, with lyrics in Swedish as “Det finns ingenting att hämta” written by Stig Andersson, was at Svensktoppen for 11 weeks during the period 14 May – 23 July 1967, peaking at No. 3. Another recording of the Swedish language version by Lotta Engbergs in 1997 appeared on the album “Tolv i topp”, and as B-side of the 2000 single “En liten stund på Jorden”.British singer Jane McDonald released her version as a single in 2005 and was taken from her album “You Belong To Me” that reached No.21 in the UK album charts.
