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.
Farewell Blues
Benny Carter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've come to say goodbye,
Altho' I go, I've got those farewell blues.
Those farewell blues make me yearn,
That parting kiss seems to burn.
Farewell, dearie, Someday I will return.
Dreaming of you is sweet,
Someday again we'll meet.
Benny Carter's Farewell Blues is a poignant farewell song. The lyrics express the sadness of leaving a loved one behind with a final goodbye. The very first line, "Sadness just makes me sigh," sets the tone for the rest of the song. The lead character knows that he has to say goodbye, but he doesn't want to. The next line, "I've come to say goodbye," highlights the melancholy character of the singer that he has no other option but to bid farewell.
The chorus of the song captures the essence of the farewell blues. "Those farewell blues make me yearn, that parting kiss seems to burn" conveys the pain of separation. The singer knows that it is time to leave, but he can't help but feel the pain of parting. However, the last line, "Dreaming of you is sweet, Someday again, we'll meet," provides hope to the listener that there will someday be a reunion.
Line by Line Meaning
Sadness just makes me sigh,
The feeling of sadness only produces a sigh from me, indicating the depths of my sadness.
I've come to say goodbye,
I am here to inform you of my departure.
Altho' I go, I've got those farewell blues.
Despite leaving, I am still overwhelmed with the melancholic blues of bidding farewell.
Those farewell blues make me yearn,
The farewell blues provoke me to long for what I am leaving behind.
That parting kiss seems to burn.
The final kiss before parting painfully lingers and still feels like it is fresh.
Farewell, dearie, Someday I will return.
My dear one, I bid you farewell, but I promise to return in the future.
Dreaming of you is sweet,
Reminiscing about you in my dreams is a delightful experience.
Someday again we'll meet.
We will have an opportunity to meet again at some point in the future.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Paul Mares, Leon Rappolo, Elmer Schoebel
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind