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.
Here
Benny Carter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Funny, but here's that rainy day
Here's that rainy day they told me about
And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way
Where is that worn out wish that I threw aside
After it brought my lover near
It's funny how love becomes a cold rainy day
Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day
Funny, that rainy day is here
Benny Carter's song Here is a melancholic tune that portrays the emotions felt during the arrival of a 'rainy day,' which is used as a metaphor for difficult and sad times. The lyrics begin with a reflective tone as the singer admits regret for not 'saving those left-over dreams' which implies missed opportunities. The rainy day mentioned in the song is a personification of a sad time or event coming up that the singer was warned about earlier. The singer laughs it off but ironically, the rainy day does arrive, and he is left to ponder where his 'worn-out wish' is that brought his lover near. The second verse continues the reflection on love, which started in the first verse, by associating it with the 'cold rainy day.' It reveals that the promising and encouraging feeling of love has turned into one of sadness and that the rainy day is a poetic metaphor that symbolizes the lover's absence.
The song's composition coherently reinforces the lyrics' melancholic mood, with Carter's virtuoso on the saxophone and Bill Evans' piano playing providing the appropriate accompaniment. Here was first recorded in 1961. Further recordings followed, including Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra's renditions in 1959, all of which became hits.
Line by Line Meaning
Maybe I should have saved those left over dreams
I regret not keeping those unfulfilled desires for a later time.
Funny, but here's that rainy day
Ironically, the very day I was warned about has arrived.
Here's that rainy day they told me about
This is the day I was cautioned to prepare for.
And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way
I disregarded the warning, thinking it wouldn't happen to me.
Where is that worn out wish that I threw aside
I wonder where that desire that I gave up on is now.
After it brought my lover near
It was that wish that led to me finding my significant other.
It's funny how love becomes a cold rainy day
It's ironic how love can turn from something warm and comforting into something dreary and depressing.
Funny, that rainy day is here
Once again, the day I was warned about and didn't take seriously has arrived and I am feeling the consequences.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind