Shaw first gained critical acclaim with his "Interlude in B-flat" at a swing concert at the Imperial Theater in New York in 1935. During the Swing Era, Shaw's big band was popular with hits like "Begin the Beguine" (1938), "Stardust" (with a legendary trumpet solo by Billy Butterfield), "Back Bay Shuffle", "Moonglow", "Rosalie" and "Frenesi." He was an innovator in the big band idiom, using unusual instrumentation; "Interlude in B-flat", where he was backed with only a rhythm section and a string quartet, was one of the earliest examples of what would be later dubbed third stream.
In addition to hiring Buddy Rich, he signed Billie Holiday as his band's vocalist in 1938, becoming the first white bandleader to hire a full-time black female singer. However, after recording "Any Old Time" she left the band due to hostility from audiences in the South, as well as from music company executives who wanted a more mainstream singer. His band became enormously successful, and his playing was eventually recognized as equal to that of Benny Goodman: Longtime Duke Ellington clarinetist Barney Bigard cited Shaw as his favorite clarinet player. In response to Goodman's nickname, the "King of Swing", Shaw's fans dubbed him the "King of the Clarinet." Shaw, however, felt the titles were reversed. "Benny Goodman played clarinet. I played music," he said.
Artie Shaw and his band playing "Everything's Jumping" from Second Chorus (1940)Shaw did in fact prize innovation and exploration in music more highly than popular success and formulaic dance music, despite a string of hits which sold more than 100 million records. He fused jazz with classical music by adding strings to his arrangements, experimented with bebop, and formed "chamber jazz" groups that utilized such novel sounds as harpsichords or Afro-Cuban music.
The long series of musical groups Shaw formed included such talents as vocalists Billie Holiday, Helen Forrest and, Mel Tormé; drummers Buddy Rich and Dave Tough, guitarists Barney Kessel, Jimmy Raney, and Tal Farlow and trombonist-arranger Ray Conniff, among countless others. He composed the morose "Nightmare", with its Hassidic nuances, for his personal theme, rather than more approachable songs. In a televised interview of the 1970s, Shaw derided the often "asinine" songs that bands were compelled to play night after night even though he did write the anthem for Rav Meir Kahane's' JDL . In 1994, he told Frank Prial (The New York Times), "I thought that because I was Artie Shaw I could do what I wanted, but all they wanted was 'Begin the Beguine.'
Love of My Life
Artie Shaw and His Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now that you've left me
How can I live through another day?
Watching my dreams turn into ashes
And all my hopes into bits of clay
Once I could see, once I could feel
Now I am numb, I've become unreal
Stripped of my heart, my soul
What now my love?
Now that it's over
I feel the world closing in on me
Here come the stars, tumbling around me
There's the sky where the sea should be
What now my love?
Now that you're gone
I'd be a fool to go on and on
No one would care, no one would cry
If I should live or die
What now my love?
Now there is nothing
Only my last goodbye
The lyrics of Artie Shaw and His Orchestra's "Love of My Life" express the intense pain and despair felt by someone whose lover has left them. The singer asks "What now my love?" and expresses a feeling of confusion and desperation in the face of this loss. They describe the way that their dreams and hopes have been shattered and they've become numb and unreal. The imagery of stars tumbling around the singer and the sky where the sea should be suggest that the world has lost its coherence and order.
The singer seems to be wandering aimlessly through the night, feeling as though their heart and soul have been stripped away. They wonder if there is anything left for them now that their love is gone, and express a sense of hopelessness and futility. The final line of the song, "Only my last goodbye," suggests that the singer has given up on life altogether.
Overall, the lyrics of "Love of My Life" paint a vivid picture of the pain and despair that can come with heartbreak. The song captures a sense of hopelessness and confusion, as well as the feeling that the world has lost its meaning and coherence without the presence of the person you love.
Line by Line Meaning
What now my love?
What should I do now that you're gone?
Now that you've left me
Now that you've departed, I feel lost.
How can I live through another day?
How do I make it through the day without you?
Watching my dreams turn into ashes
My hopes and aspirations now seem to be crumbling before my eyes.
And all my hopes into bits of clay
My once viable dreams have now become impossible to achieve.
Once I could see, once I could feel
I was once full of life and passion.
Now I am numb, I've become unreal
But now everything feels empty and surreal.
I walk the night without a goal
I wander through the darkness without direction.
Stripped of my heart, my soul
I feel as if I have lost my essence as a person.
Now that it's over
Now that our relationship has ended,
I feel the world closing in on me
I feel claustrophobic and trapped by the world around me.
Here come the stars, tumbling around me
Everything is now swirling and out of control.
There's the sky where the sea should be
The world has been turned upside down, nothing makes sense.
Now that you're gone
Now that you've left me,
I'd be a fool to go on and on
It would be foolish to continue as if nothing happened.
No one would care, no one would cry
No one would mourn or notice if I were to cease existing.
If I should live or die
Whether I live or die is irrelevant.
Now there is nothing
My life has lost all meaning and purpose.
Only my last goodbye
All that remains is my farewell to you.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Carl Sigman, Gilbert Becaud, Pierre Delanoe
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Michael Wortmann
Written by Mercer and Shaw. Recorded in Los Angeles. Vocal by Anita Boyer. DerKlariNette