As a youth, Carter lived in Harlem around the corner from Bubber Miley who was Duke Ellington's star trumpeter. Carter was inspired by Miley and bought a trumpet, but when he found he couldn't play like Miley he traded the trumpet in for a saxophone.
Carter began playing professionally at 15. He first recorded in 1928 and formed his first big band the following year. He played with Fletcher Henderson in 1930 and 1931, then briefly led McKinney's Cotton Pickers before returning to lead his own band in 1932. The few recordings his band made between 1933 and 1934 are considered by most jazz scholars to be milestones in early swing arranging. They were sophisticated and very complex arrangements, and a number of them became swing standards which were performed by other bands ("Blue Lou" is a great example of this.) He also arranged for Henderson and Duke Ellington during these years and wrote two hits, "Blues in My Heart" and "When Lights are Low." By the early 1930s he and Johnny Hodges were considered the leading alto players of the day. Carter also quickly became a leading trumpet soloist, having rediscovered the instrument. He recorded extensively on trumpet in the 1930s. Also, in 1933, Carter took part in an amazing series of sessions that featured the British band leader Spike Hughes, who came to New York specifically to organize a series of recordings featuring the best Black musicians available. These 14 sides were only issued in England at that time, though they are available on CD and worthwhile looking for. (The musicians were mainly made up from member of Carter's band and from Luis Russell's.)
In 1935 he moved to Europe, where he became staff arranger for the British Broadcasting Corporation dance orchestra and made several records. He returned to the United States in 1938 and led a big band and sextet before moving to Los Angeles in 1943 to write for movie studios. Carter continued writing and performing into his 90s. He arranged for Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Sarah Vaughan, among many others.
His biggest hit was "Cow Cow Boogie", a song he co-wrote with Don Raye and Gene DePaul, which was a hit for Ella Mae Morse in 1942.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Carter was one of the first black men to compose music for films. He was an inspiration and a mentor for Quincy Jones when Jones began writing for television and films in the 1960s. Also in the 1940s, Carter's successful legal battles in order to obtain housing in then-exclusive neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area made him a pioneer in an entirely different area.
He also appears uncredited in the 1952 film, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, as a sax player.
Carter was admired for his ability to write saxophone solis, which are sections of music that the entire section plays as one unit in the manner of a solo.
Carter was a member of the music advisory panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He was also a member of the Black Film Makers' Hall of Fame and in 1980 received the Golden Score award of the American Society of Music Arrangers. Carter was also a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1996 and received honorary doctorates from Princeton, Harvard, Rutgers, and the New England Conservatory.
He died, aged 95, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles of what is thought to have been bronchitis.
Didn't we
Benny Carter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Didn't we?
This time we almost made some sense of it
Didn't we?
This time I had the answer, right here in my hand
Then I touched it and it had turned to sand
This time we almost sang our song in tune
This time we almost made it, made it to the moon
Didn't we, love?
This time we almost made our poem rhyme
This time we almost made that long hard climb
Didn't we almost make it?
Didn't we almost make it?
Didn't we almost make it this time?
Benny Carter's "Didn't We" is a lament about a relationship that seemed to have all the potential to work, but somehow ends in disappointment. Carter uses metaphors of fitting pieces, finding answers, sand, singing in tune, reaching the moon, and making a poem rhyme to convey the possibilities that were close, yet slipped away. The repetition of "didn't we?" emphasizes the shared hope and effort between the two parties.
The first verse recalls the feeling of being close to putting together a solution to a problem. The second verse compares the attempt to achieve a near-impossible task to reaching the moon, reflecting the audacious ambition of trying to make a relationship work. The final verse is poignant as the climax of the song, wondering if all the efforts, the long hard climb, were just short of success. The three "didn't we almost make it?" at the end expresses the reluctance to admit defeat and still hold a glimmer of hope.
The song's interpretation can vary based on the listener's perspective, but it's clear that Carter presents a relatable experience - the feeling of coming so close to success only to have it slip through your fingers.
Line by Line Meaning
This time we almost made the pieces fit
We came close to making everything work out smoothly this time
Didn't we?
Did we not?
This time we almost made some sense of it
We almost fully understood what was happening this time
This time I had the answer, right here in my hand
I had a solution readily available to us this time
Then I touched it and it had turned to sand
But something happened and it all fell apart
This time we almost sang our song in tune
We nearly matched each other's expectations and desires this time
Didn't we, love?
Did we not, my love?
This time we almost made it, made it to the moon
We nearly achieved something amazing this time
This time we almost made our poem rhyme
We almost created something beautiful and cohesive this time
This time we almost made that long hard climb
We nearly succeeded despite the difficulties we faced this time
Didn't we almost make it?
Did we not come very close to success?
Didn't we almost make it?
Didn't we come so close to achieving our goals?
Didn't we almost make it this time?
Wasn't this our closest attempt yet?
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JIMMY L WEBB
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind