Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz… Read Full Bio ↴Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognised as such by other jazz musicians who called him King.

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.

I'll Never Smile Again
Benny Carter Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'll never smile again
Until I smile at you
I'll never laugh again
What good would it do?
For tears would fill my eyes
My heart would realize
That our romance is through

I'll never love again
I'm so in love with you
I'll never thrill again
To somebody new
Within my heart
I know I will never start

To smile again
Until I smile at you

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Benny Carter's classic tune "I'll Never Smile Again" tells a bittersweet story of a love that has reached its end. The song is about a person who has lost their significant other and is struggling to deal with the feelings of loss and heartache. They know that they'll never smile, laugh or love again until they reunite with their partner. Through the lyrics, the singer expresses a sense of hopelessness and despair, as they realize that their heartbreak has left them empty and unable to find happiness without their love.

The lyrics convey a sense of deep emotional pain and heartache, which is accentuated by the melody and the way in which the lyrics are sung. The verses create a melancholic vibe that is heightened by the chorus. The repetition of the lines "I'll never smile again until I smile at you" and "I'll never love again, I'm so in love with you" encapsulates the singer's feelings of loneliness and love for their significant other. Despite the sadness and sorrow expressed in the song, there's an underlying sense of hope and optimism, as the singer remains hopeful that they'll be reunited with their love someday.

Line by Line Meaning

I'll never smile again
When you left, happiness and joy went away from my life. And since then, I have not smiled.

Until I smile at you
The only way I can ever experience happiness again is if you come back and bring joy to my life.

I'll never laugh again
There is no point in laughing when you are not here to share it with me, I would only feel emptiness.

What good would it do?
Laughing alone would not bring any satisfaction or joy, especially in the absence of the one I love.

For tears would fill my eyes
Any attempt to laugh or find happiness would be in vain, as the thought of your absence would only bring tears to my eyes.

My heart would realize
My heart would come to the realization that our love has ended and that you are no longer with me.

That our romance is through
The love and affection that we shared has ended, and we can never go back to what we used to be.

I'll never love again
Loving someone other than you is impossible for me since my love for you is so deeply rooted.

I'm so in love with you
My love for you is so strong that even the idea of loving someone else is unfathomable.

I'll never thrill again
The excitement and happiness that I felt when I was with you cannot be experienced with anyone else.

To somebody new
No one can replace you, and attempting to find someone else to love or be excited about would be pointless.

Within my heart
Deep down in my heart, I know that the love we had was real and cannot be replaced.

I know I will never start
I am certain that I can never feel the same way about anyone else as I felt about you.

To smile again
The only way I can ever feel happy or smile again is if you come back to me, and we can be together once again.

Until I smile at you
My happiness is linked to yours, and the only way I can ever smile again is if I am with you once more.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: GLENN OSSER, RUTH LOWE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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