Once in a while a musician comes along with impecca… Read Full Bio ↴Beegie Adair Bio
Once in a while a musician comes along with impeccable technique, deep understanding of the jazz repertoire, an innate tendency to swing and the rare ability to communicate the heart and soul of a tune to listeners. That musician is Beegie Adair.
About her music Adair says, “Falling in love with jazz is like falling in love with a person, except with jazz you never get over it.” About Beegie (say B-G) Adair, what do others say?
Jazz great Helen Merrill salutes her “inventive jazz sense, her wonderful sense of time and improvised melody.”
Christopher Louden of Jazz Times magazine says Adair is “an accomplished artist with a delicate touch.”
The Los Angeles Times calls her music “Elegant.”
Entertainment News writes, “Beegie Adair is one of the finest piano players in the world.”
Intrigued? So are thousands of jazz fans, who agree with critics about Adair’s sophisticated and listenable jazz performances, and who have made her recordings among the biggest sellers in the jazz world.
Citing George Shearing, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Erroll Garner among her influences, Adair has recorded 24 CDs, ranging from Cole Porter standards to Frank Sinatra classics to romantic World War II ballads. Her 6-CD Centennial Composers Collection of tunes by Rodgers, Gershwin, Kern, Ellington, Carmichael and Berlin became an instant collectible classic when it was released in 2002.
Kentucky born and raised, Adair lives and records in Nashville – something of a surprise to people who associate the city solely with country music. In fact Nashville lives up to its “Music City” nickname by hosting a vibrant jazz scene, in which she has been a leading light for decades. A sought-after studio musician in her early days there, Adair accompanied such legendary performers as Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash – and also worked with Lucille Ball, Dinah Shore, Mama Cass Elliott and Peggy Lee.
Her guests on Improvised Thoughts, Beegie’s radio talk/music show on the local NPR affiliate, included such greats as Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Marian McPartland, Benny Golson and Helen Merrill. She has guested on McPartland’s Piano Jazz show and has performed with Nat Adderley, Bill Watrous, Lew Tabackin, Terry Clarke, Urbie Green and Jim Ferguson, among many others.
When she’s not in the studio or appearing in clubs and concert halls around the country, Adair wears a variety of hats, from adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University to teacher and mentor at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Recently she co-wrote and scored an innovative theatrical production, Betsy, which in April 2006 premiered off-Broadway in New York.
She has recorded eight projects for Village Square Records in Nashville; her most recent CDs are Sentimental Journey, a popular collection of World War II-era songs, and a solo piano recording, Quiet Romance.
She performs solo and with the Beegie Adair Trio, whose members include drummer Chris Brown, a veteran of the Maynard Ferguson ensemble, and bassist Roger Spencer, who has played with the Les Brown Band, Ray Conniff, the Page Cavanaugh Trio and Pete Jolly. They are, she says, “my main guys. They’re so tuned into the way I visualize music that it’s effortless to play with them.”
In clubs and concert venues from Los Angeles to New York, Beegie and her “main guys” win kudos from audiences and critics alike who appreciate her unique take on classic jazz. She fell in love with the music a long time ago, and indeed she’s never gotten over it -- a love affair the jazz world is much the better for.
Long Ago And Far Away
Beegie Adair Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I dreamed a dream one day
And now that dream is here beside me
Long the skies were overcast
But now the clouds have passed
You're here at last
Aladdin's lamp is mine
The dream I dreamed was not denied me
Just one look and then I knew
That all I longed for long ago was you
Long ago and far away
I dreamed a dream one day
And now that dream is here beside me
Long the skies were overcast
But now the clouds have passed
You're here at last
Chills run up and down my spine
Aladdin's lamp is mine
The dream I dreamed was not denied me
Just one look and then I knew
That all I longed for long ago was you
Just one look and then I knew
That all I longed for long ago
Was you
The song "Long Ago And Far Away" by Beegie Adair is a beautiful love song that speaks to the longing for a love that was once just a dream. The opening line, "Long ago and far away, I dreamed a dream one day," sets the tone for the entire song. The singer is recalling a time when they were dreaming of finding love but had yet to find it. They go on to say that now that dream is beside them, indicating that they have finally found the love they have been searching for.
The next set of lyrics, "Long the skies were overcast, but now the clouds have passed, you're here at last," speaks to the idea that the singer has been waiting for quite some time for this love to come into their life. The metaphor of the skies being overcast and the clouds passing suggests that the singer has been through a lot of difficult times before finding this love. But now that this love is finally here, they feel as though all of their waiting and searching has been worth it.
The final set of lyrics, "Chills run up and down my spine, Aladdin's lamp is mine, the dream I dreamed was not denied me," speaks to the pure joy and excitement that the singer feels about this love. They feel as though they have been given a priceless gift, like Aladdin's lamp, and that the dream they once thought was unattainable has finally come true. The song ends with the singer saying that they knew all along that this love was what they had been longing for.
Overall, "Long Ago And Far Away" is a beautiful love song that speaks to the power of dreaming and the joy that comes from finding true love.
Line by Line Meaning
Long ago and far away
In the distant past and in a far-off place
I dreamed a dream one day
I had a dream once
And now that dream is here beside me
And now that dream has become reality
Long the skies were overcast
The skies were gloomy for a long time
But now the clouds have passed
But now the clouds have gone away
You're here at last
Finally, you have arrived
Chills run up and down my spine
I feel strong emotions that make me shiver
Aladdin's lamp is mine
I feel like I have a magical genie's lamp that can grant my wishes
The dream I dreamed was not denied me
The dream I had was not impossible to achieve
Just one look and then I knew
Just by looking at you, I knew
That all I longed for long ago was you
That you were all that I ever wanted a long time ago
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IRA GERSHWIN, JEROME KERN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind