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.
The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else
Al Jolson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And all my daydreams have gone astray
I think about the one and only
Who's bound to find me some golden day
The one I love is coming along some day
And I'll have none except the one I love
He/She may be near or ever so far away
And though our meeting is left to chance
Until our meeting
I still will have my dream romance
And through the night I pray to the moon above
To please be kind and find the one I love
The lyrics to Al Jolson's song "My Love Belongs To Somebody Else" describe the experience of longing for someone who is not yet present in one's life. The singer expresses that he or she is lonely and struggling to find happiness, but remains hopeful that they will find the love they seek. The lyrics suggest that the singer is waiting for the arrival of the "one" they love, who will ultimately make them whole.
The phrase "My Love Belongs To Somebody Else" implies that the singer is already in love with someone, but that person is not available. The lyrics indicate that the singer is committed to waiting for the one they love, even though it may be a long and difficult journey. The use of the verb "bound" in the lyric "Who's bound to find me some golden day" suggests a sense of inevitability, as if the meeting with the one they love is fated to happen.
Overall, the lyrics suggest a sense of optimism and faith in the power of love. Even though the singer is struggling with loneliness and heartache in the present, they are confident that they will find happiness in the future.
Line by Line Meaning
When days are long and nights are lonely
During the difficult moments, when the days feel endless and the nights are isolating
And all my daydreams have gone astray
When my hopes for the future have not come to fruition
I think about the one and only
I reminisce about the person who holds a unique and significant place in my heart
Who's bound to find me some golden day
Who is certain to arrive and bring me happiness in the future
The one I love is coming along some day
I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the one I love
And I'll have none except the one I love
I am committed to waiting for and only being with this person
He/She may be near or ever so far away
The person I love might be geographically close or distant
But I'll have none except the one I love
Regardless of the distance or uncertainty of the future, I will only be with this person
And though our meeting is left to chance
Even though it is unclear when and how we will meet
Until our meeting
Until the moment when we come together
I still will have my dream romance
I will continue to dream and hope for a romance with this person
And through the night I pray to the moon above
During the lonely nights, I turn to a higher power and plead for help to bring us together
To please be kind and find the one I love
I ask for assistance in being reunited with the person I love
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Bronislaw Kaper, Gus Kahn, Walter Jurmann
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mark Deutrom
This is my new favorite song. Jolson's phrasing is wonderful. Thanks for posting this.
Gary Mazzeo
Lovely song
Michael Chapman
A Legend named Jolson... An autographed LP album narrated by Walter Winchell was given to my dad upon interviewing Walter Winchell at his West Hollywood Ca residence many decades ago 'Collectors Edition' I still have this album celebrating Jolson & NYC Broadway & 42nd Street Jolson era & All the Vaudville Theatres & Entertainers, like Eddie Cantor, Georgie Jessel, Sophie Tucker, Ruby Keeler, etc.. working alongside Al Jolson
Michael Chapman
'High 5' Cats Pajamas1 !! Interviewing Walter Winchell was a Special Occasion for my dad, as my dad grew up in Hollywood & worked as an apprentice actor in Stage Plays at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre during the 40s for yrs & worked with the likes of Cyd Charisse, Hugh O'Brian & others & was a longtime fan of Jolson & Winchell & that autographed Winchell/Jolson album Winchell as a gift was frosting on the Cake if you will
El Zuero
Friendzone since 1924. Great song by the way..
ItchyBarney34
Who the hell could dislike this?!
Edward Sharp
The Jones/Kahn hit machine had a half dozen hit songs in 1924 while working in Chicago. It Had to be You and I'll See You in My Dreams were more successful and now better remembered but as on January, 2020 they all are now in the public domain. Actually there were many hit songs created in Chicago in 1924 including the first boogie-woogie song, Chicago Stomps, and the first song promoted into a national hit by radio, It Ain't Gona Rain No Mo'. For more information, read Chicago's Music Industry.
Kyra Universal
I'm glad I'll be able to cover this song now.
Fermin Guerra Tello
Anguish Song , Excellent Masterpiece By Kahn - Jones
Charles Goold
i love the verse