He was born in New York City (but grew up in New Haven, Connecticut) and began learning the saxophone when he was 15 and by age 16, had begun to tour with a band. He reached Hollywood the first time, as a sideman with Irving Aaronson's band in 1931, performing at the famous Orange Blossom Room (site of the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929). Returning to New York City in1932, he became a highly in-demand session musician, working for example as one of just a handful of accompanists to Bing Crosby's first signature radio show for William S. Paley's already powerful and influential CBS radio network. Ultimately, Artie (who was known strictly as "Art" Shaw until his fortuitous Summer, 1938 contract with RCA Victor records' Bluebird label commenced) organized and led five, full-time touring orchestras that were all extremely popular -save the last, from 1949, with its be-bop oriented book. Ironically, that final Shaw-led big band (populated with players like Al Cohn), is considered by most jazz critics to have been Artie's best. With time out to lead a Navy service band (in the Pacific combat theater) during WWII, Shaw's actual big band- leading career lasted less than a decade overall -yet, it was a remarkably productive one, populated with some fourteen "Gold" records. These included such mega-hits as "Begin the Beguine", "Stardust", "Frenesi", "Moonglow", "Temptation", "Dancing In The Dark" and "Summit Ridge Drive" -the latter by his famous quintet billed as the Gramercy 5.
Shaw was known for being an innovator in the big band idiom, pioneering strings with jazz and using unusual instrumentations. His Summer, 1935 piece "Interlude in B-flat" was one of the earliest examples of what would be later dubbed "third stream". In 1938 he convinced Billie Holiday to be his band's vocalist, becoming the first white bandleader to hire a full-time black female singer. This 1938-1939 orchestra became phenomenonally successful and appeared in the movie "Dancing Co-ed" which also featured one of his future wives, Lana Turner, in the cast. Artie's clarinet playing, had by now reached a level that was arguably the greatest in jazz, easily rivaling that of Benny Goodman. Longtime Duke Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard, himself a highly talented musician -cited Shaw (in 1940) as his "favorite" clarinet player. Literally abandoning his famous 1938-1939 band at the absolute peak of its' fame and earning power (Artie, just himself alone pulling down more than $10K per week) in late November, 1939, Shaw "abdicated" to Acapulco, Mexico. Returning to the U.S. he organized an entirely new orchestra, with full string section in the Summer of 1940. A truly stellar aggregation, it lasted until mid-1941, featuring stars Billy Butterfield, Johnny Guarneiri, Nick Fatool and Ray Conniff as principal arranger. This outfit can be prominently seen in the RKO film "Second Chorus" starring Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard. The final pre-war Shaw band, started in late, 1941, had Davey Tough and Hot Lips Page and big hits on St. James Infirmary Blues and Blues In The NIght. Artie broke this outstanding unit up shortly after Pearl Harbor so he could "enlist" in the Navy -refusing an offered commission. Back from the Navy, Shaw put together a new band that featured Roy Eldridge and an ambitious library stocked with arrangements by Eddie Sauter, Buster Harding, Ray Conniff and others. Hit records for this band included "Little Jazz" and "S'Wonderful" and by now Artie was married to Ava Gardner. His final public performances (as a clarinetist) took place in 1954, including with a sublime quartet in an extended Las Vegas booking. Apparently, he last picked up and played his fabled clarinet in about 1960 at his beach house in Spain (as recounted in final wife actress Evelyn Keyes' autobiography) and resisted all lucrative offers to return to the stage until finally fielding a "ghost" band under the highly capable aegis of outstanding clarinetist Dick Johnson in 1985. For about the first year, Artie often appeared on stage with this very fine orchestra at certain, prestigious bookings, but soon tired of the "grind" -and not to Dick Johnson's dismay. This now true "ghost" band is still appearing during Summer seasons (with much of the original Shaw "books"), principally in the New England area (Johnson lives in Boston) and is well worth seeing. Although he had more wives (8) than bands, Artie fell one wife short of Charlie Barnet's record (for a famous bandleadrer) of nine.
You're Mine You
Artie Shaw Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And when you smiled at me,
In my heart I felt a thrill you see,
That it was love at sight and
I was right to love you as I do.
Still I never dreamed that you could love me too.
Your eyes of blue, your kisses too,
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
You're telling ev'ry one I know
I'm on your mind each place we go
They can't believe that you're in love with me.
I have always placed you far above me.
I just can't imagine that you love me.
And after all is said and done,
To think that I'm the lucky one.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
Skies are gray. I'm blue each day
When you are not around.
Ev'ry thing goes wrong, my dear I've found
But when you're by my side I fill with pride
For I'm so proud of you
It all seems too good to me to all be true
Your eyes of blue, your kisses too,
I never knew what they could do.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
You're telling ev'ry one I know
I'm on your mind each place we go
They can't believe that you're in love with me.
I have always placed you far above me.
I just can't imagine that you love me.
And after all is said and done,
To think that I'm the lucky one.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
The lyrics in Artie Shaw's song "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" describe the feeling of being overwhelmed by love and disbelief that someone can love another person as deeply as they feel for them. The singer describes how they fell in love at first sight, never imagining that the person they loved could feel the same way towards them. The chorus repeats the disbelief that the person is in love with them, and how others around them can't understand it either.
The second verse of the song goes on to describe how the singer feels when their love isn't around. Everything becomes gray and they feel blue, and nothing seems to go right. However, when their love is with them, they feel proud and lucky to be loved by them. The chorus repeats once again, emphasizing the singer's amazement that their love is real.
The song captures the feeling of being swept away by love and the disbelief that someone so special could truly love you in return. The lyrics express feelings of surprise, gratitude, and wonder at the intensity of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Yesterday you came my way,
When you came into my life, it changed everything.
And when you smiled at me,
Your smile made my heart skip a beat.
In my heart I felt a thrill you see,
I felt a rush of excitement and joy in my heart.
That it was love at sight and
I knew that I loved you at first sight.
I was right to love you as I do.
I knew from the start that my love for you was real and true.
Still I never dreamed that you could love me too.
But I never imagined that you could feel the same way about me.
Your eyes of blue, your kisses too,
Your eyes and your kisses have a profound effect on me.
I never knew what they could do.
I never realized how much your eyes and kisses could move me.
You're telling ev'ry one I know
You're sharing with everyone that you love me.
I'm on your mind each place we go
I'm always on your mind no matter where we are.
They can't believe that you're in love with me.
Others find it hard to believe that you love me so deeply.
I have always placed you far above me.
I have always thought that you were too good for me.
I just can't imagine that you love me.
I still can't believe that you could love me the way you do.
And after all is said and done,
Despite everything that has happened between us,
To think that I'm the lucky one.
I feel incredibly lucky to have you in my life.
Skies are gray. I'm blue each day
Without you, my life feels dull and colorless.
When you are not around.
I miss you terribly when you're not with me.
Ev'ry thing goes wrong, my dear I've found
Without you, everything in my life seems to go wrong.
But when you're by my side I fill with pride
When you're with me, I feel proud and happy to be with you.
For I'm so proud of you
I feel incredibly proud of all that you are and all that you do.
It all seems too good to me to all be true
Sometimes I can hardly believe that I have you in my life.
I can't believe that you're in love with me.
But above all, I still can't quite believe that you love me as much as you do.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Spirit Music Group, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CLARENCE GASKILL, JIMMY MC HUGH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind