“Song for My Father” | Listener Picks, April 21

“Song for My Father” is the title track in Horace Silver’s 1965 album, inspired by Silver’s Brazilian travels. Silver dedicated the song to his father,John Tavares Silva, whose photograph is featured on the album cover.

Silver’s father was of Portuguese origin, born on the island of Maio, one of the Cape Verde Islands. Song For My Father is also known by its Portuguese title: Cantiga Para Meu Pai.

“Song for My Father,” a bossa nova in F-minor with an AAB head, greatly influenced pop music. Steely Dan borrowed the opening bass piano notes for their song “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” Stevie Wonder used the opening horn riff for his song “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” and Earth Wind & Fire incorporated the opening bass notes into their song “Clover.”

This song has been covered by a wide variety of musicians including George Benson, Leon Thomas, hip-hop producer Madlib, pianist David Beniot, bassist Victor Wooten and guitarist Rob Ickes.

“Song for My Father” album was identified by Scott Yanow in his Allmusic essay “Hard Bop” as one of the 17 Essential Hard Bop Recordings. There are more than 225 recorded versions of this song