Carinhoso is a landmark Brazilian tune composed by Pixinguinha around 1916-1917, originally written as a slow polka that later came to be associated with choro and samba-canção. The first recording, in 1928, was instrumental and performed by the Pixinguinha-Donga orchestra for Parlophon. Lyrics were added by João de Barro (Braguinha), and the best known vocal version was recorded in 1937 by Orlando Silva with Braguinha’s words. In 1950 an English version titled Love Is Like This was written for the film Romance Carioca. The tune also gained fame in the 1970s as the theme of TV Globo’s telenovela Carinhoso. It is widely regarded as one of Brazil’s most important songs, and it remains among the most re recorded; Rolling Stone Brasil ranked it third among Brazilian songs in 2009, and Ecad counted over 400 registered recordings by 2021.
