Pois É is a Brazilian song written by Antonio Carlos Jobim with lyrics by Chico Buarque in 1970. It is best known from Elis Regina’s 1974 recording with Jobim on the album Elis & Tom, though it has also appeared on Chico Buarque’s 1970 album Chico Buarque de Hollanda n. 4, Jobim’s 1981 release Um homem de Aquarius, and Eliane Elias’s 1998 Sings Jobim. The tune is a short bossa nova style piece, about 1 minute 43 seconds, packed into 34 measures with a four part form and a chromatic, shifting harmony that moves upward in fourths and ends on an unresolved Eb sus9. The lyric voice sings of a relationship that has fallen apart, with the refrain Pois é translating to so be it, capturing the resignation at the heart of the song. It is admired for how Jobim’s melody and harmony mirror the emotional arc of the words in a compact musical journey.
