Early life and career
The son of the Rabbi of the Talmud Torah Synagogue (now Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah) in Washington, D.C., Jolson became a popular singer in New York City in 1898, and gradually developed the key elements of his performance: blackface makeup; exuberant gestures; operatic-style singing; whistling and directly addressing his audience.
By 1911, he had parlayed a supporting appearance in the Broadway musical La Belle Paree into a starring role. He began recording and was soon internationally famous for his extraordinary stage presence and personal rapport with audiences. His Broadway career is unmatched for length and popularity, having spanned close to 30 years (1911-1940). Audiences shouted, pleaded, and often would not allow the show to proceed, such was the power of Jolson's presence. At one performance in Boston, the usual staid and conservative audience stopped the show for 45 minutes. He was said to have had an "electric" personality, along with the ability to make each member of the audience believe that he was singing only to them. However, he is best known today for his appearance in one of the first "talkies" The Jazz Singer, the first feature film with sound to enjoy wide commercial success, in 1927. In The Jazz Singer Jolson performed the song "Mammy" in blackface. In truth, Jolson's singing was never jazz, indeed his style remained forever rooted in the vaudeville stage at the turn of 20th century.
Jolson is the first music artist to sell over 10 million records. While no official Billboard magazine chart existed during Jolson's career, their staff archivist Joel Whitburn used a variety of sources such as Talking Machine World's list of top-selling recordings, and Billboard's own sheet music and vaudeville charts to estimate the hits of 1890-1954. By his reckoning, Jolson had the equivalent of 23 No. 1 hits, the 4th-highest total ever, trailing only Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, and Guy Lombardo. Whitburn calculates that Jolson topped one chart or another for 114 weeks.
Among the many songs popularized by Jolson were "You Made Me Love You," "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody," "Swanee" (songwriter George Gershwin's first success), "April Showers," "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye," "California, Here I Come," "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob-Bob-Bobbin' Along," "Sonny Boy" and "Avalon."
Jolson was a political and economic conservative, supporting Calvin Coolidge for president of the United States in 1924 (with the ditty "Keep Cool with Coolidge") unlike most other Jews in the arts, who supported the losing Democratic candidate, John William Davis.
Jolson was married to actress/dancer Ruby Keeler from 1928 to 1940, when they divorced. The couple had adopted a son, Al Jolson Jr., during their marriage, but when he was 14 the boy changed his name to Peter Lowe after his mother's second husband, John Lowe.
After leaving the Broadway stage, Jolson starred on radio. The Al Jolson Show aired 1933-1939, 1942-1943, and 1947-1949, and these shows were typically rated in the top ten. Jolson continued performing until his death in 1950.
The Jolson story
After the success of Warner Bros. film Yankee Doodle Dandy about George M. Cohan, Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky believed that a smiliar film could be made about Al Jolson -- and he knew just where to pitch the project. Harry Cohn may have seemed to a lot of people in Hollywood like a crude, loud vulgarian, but he had one soft spot: he loved the music of Al Jolson.
Skolsky pitched the idea of an Al Jolson biopic and Cohn agreed to it. Directed by Alfred E. Green (best known today for the pre-Code masterpiece Baby Face, The Jolson Story is one of the most entertaining of the musical biopics of that era -- an era that included Yankee Doodle Dandy, Till the Clouds Roll By, Words and Music and Three Little Words. With Jolson providing almost all the vocals, and actor Larry Parks playing Jolson, The Jolson Story was released in 1946, and became one of the biggest hits of the year. Parks received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and the film became one of the highest grossing films of the year.
"The Jolson Story," and its 1949 sequel "Jolson Sings Again," led to a whole new generation who became enthralled with Jolson's voice and charisma. Jolson, who had been a popular guest star on radio since its earliest days, now had his own show, hosting the "Kraft Music Hall" from 1947-1949, with Oscar Levant as a sardonic piano-playing sidekick. Despite such singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como being in their primes, Jolson was voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" in 1948 by a Variety poll. The next year, Jolson was named Personality of the Year by the Variety Clubs of America. When Jolson appeared on Bing Crosby's radio show, he attributed his receiving the award to his being the only singer not to make a record of Mule Train, which had been a widely covered hit of that year (four different versions, one of them by Crosby, had made the top ten on the charts).
Jolson joked that he'd tried to sing the hit song. "I got the clippetys all right, but I can't clop like I used to."
Jolson's legacy is considered by many to be severely neglected today because of his use of stage blackface, at the time a theatrical convention used by many performers (both white and black), but today viewed by many as racially insensitive. Jolson was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," which is how many of the greatest stars (including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Jackie Wilson) referred to him. Charles Chaplin wrote in his Autobiography that he was one of the most electrifying entertainers he had ever seen. A life-long devotion to entertaining American servicemen (he first sang for servicemen of the Spanish-American War as a boy in Washington, D.C.) led Jolson, against the advice of his doctors, to entertain troops in Korea in 1950 when his heart began to fail.
Death
Jolson died on October 23, 1950, in San Francisco at a card game, at the age of 64, apparently of a heart attack, and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California, where a statue of Jolson beckons visitors to his crypt. On the day he died, Broadway turned off its lights for 10 minutes in Jolson's honor.
Al Jolson has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
1. For his contribution to the motion picture industry at 6622 Hollywood Blvd.;
2. For his contribution to the recording industry at 1716 Vine St.;
3. For his contribution to the radio industry at 6750 Hollywood Blvd.
Forty-four years after Jolson's death, the United States Postal Service acknowledged his contribution by issuing a postage stamp in his honor. The 29-cent stamp was unveiled by Erle Jolson Krasna, Jolson's fourth wife, at a ceremony in New York City's Lincoln Center on September 1, 1994. This stamp was one of a series honoring popular American singers, which included Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Ethel Merman, and Ethel Waters. Al Jolson is one of Mr. Burns' (from The Simpsons) favorite actors - he still believes that he is alive.
Jolson's song I'm Sitting on Top of the World was played during the opening montage of 1930's New York City in the 2005 remake of King Kong.
In August of 2006, Al Jolson had a street in New York named after him.
Never Again
Al Jolson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You forgot all the things that we did, all the things that we went through
Baby I still love ya
I love the way you talk down
I love your condescending tone
It makes it easy baby....it makes it damn easy
Never again
Awww never again
I took your promise with a grain of salt
When you brake em' its nobody's fault
How many times did you come through
Same old story me feeling blue
I picked you up when you fell down
But you got up and you left town
That's just your nature baby
Its just your nature baby
Never again
Ya never again
The trouble with you is you gotta hole in the back of your head
You forgot all the things that we did, all the things that we went through
Baby I still love ya
I picked you up when you fell down
But you got up and you left town
And it ain't your nature baby
It makes it damn easy
Never again
Never again
Never again
Baby.....you and i..........never again
The lyrics to Al Jolson's song "Never Again" describe a tumultuous relationship where the singer still loves the other person despite the fact that they have been hurt multiple times. The first verse references the other person forgetting all the good times they shared together and only focusing on the negatives or being condescending. Despite this, the singer still loves the other person.
The chorus repeats the phrase "Never again" which could refer to the singer's resolve to not let the other person hurt them again or their decision to never give up on the relationship. The second verse mentions broken promises and the other person frequently letting the singer down. Though the singer has the habit of picking them up when they fall, the other person eventually leaves town. In the end, the singer acknowledges that it isn't the other person's nature to act this way, but it somehow makes it easier for them.
Overall, the lyrics showcase the complicated feelings one can have in a rocky relationship, where they can simultaneously love and be hurt by the other person.
Line by Line Meaning
The trouble with you is you gotta hole in the back of your head
You have a major flaw in your character that prevents you from properly remembering the things we've experienced together
You forgot all the things that we did, all the things that we went through
You have a tendency to forget about and disregard the valuable memories and experiences that we've shared
Baby I still love ya
Despite our issues, I still have strong feelings of love for you
I love the way you talk down
I have a weird infatuation with the way you speak down to me, even though it may not be healthy
I love your condescending tone
I find myself drawn to and strangely enamored with the way you talk down to me
It makes it easy baby....it makes it damn easy
Your condescending tone and dismissive attitude makes it incredibly easy for me to walk away from this relationship
Never again
I have no intention of going through the same hurtful experiences with you ever again
Awww never again
I really mean it - I'll never put myself through this again
I took your promise with a grain of salt
I didn't fully trust or believe in the promises you made to me
When you brake em' its nobody's fault
Even when you break your promises, you refuse to take responsibility for your actions
How many times did you come through
You've let me down and failed to follow through on your commitments numerous times
Same old story me feeling blue
I'm tired of feeling sad, disappointed, and hurt by your actions - this has become a repetitive and painful cycle
I picked you up when you fell down
I've been there for you and supported you in your time of need
But you got up and you left town
You took my support and then abandoned me when it was no longer convenient for you
That's just your nature baby
Your behavior is an inherent aspect of your personality and unlikely to change
Its just your nature baby
Your tendency to abandon me is just a part of who you are and not something that can be fixed
Never again
I repeat - I won't put myself through this pain and heartache again
Ya never again
Really and truly, I won't make this mistake twice
And it ain't your nature baby
I realize now that it was my mistake to think that your hurtful behavior was something you couldn't help - it was a choice you made
It makes it damn easy
Now that I see that you were capable of choosing differently, it's incredibly easy for me to walk away from you
Baby.....you and i..........never again
I've finally accepted that the two of us are not meant to be and that this toxic cycle needs to end - we're never getting back together
Lyrics © GUS KAHN MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: ALLEN TOUSSAINT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Margaret Thomas
great 1924 Jolie. Jazzy!