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 Surrender
Benny Carter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sworn enemy of love
Kept my lips from saying
Things I was thinking of.
But now my pride you've humbled,
I've cast it to the winds,
Broken, beaten, sick at heart
My confession begins.
We've played the game of stay away
But it cost more that I can pay.
Without you I can't make my way,
I surrender, dear.
I may seem proud, I may act gay,
It's just a pose, I'm not that way,
'Cause deep down in my heart I say
I surrender, dear.
Little mean things we were doing
Must have been part of the game,
Lending a spice to the wooing,
But I don't care who's to blame.
When stars appear and shadows fall,
Why then you'll hear My poor heart call,
To you my love, my life, my all
I surrender, dear.
We've played the game of stay away
But it cost more that I can pay.
Without you I can't make my way,
I surrender, dear.
I may seem proud, I may act gay,
It's just a pose, I'm not that way,
'Cause deep down in my heart I say
I surrender, dear.
Little mean things we were doing
Must have been part of the game,
Lending a spice to the wooing,
But I don't care who's to blame.
When stars appear And shadows fall,
Why then you'll hear My poor heart call,
To you my love, my life, my all
The lyrics of "Surrender Dear" by Benny Carter and His Orchestra describe a speaker who is struggling with their pride and the impact it has had on their romantic relationship. Throughout the song, the singer admits that their pride has kept them from expressing their true thoughts and feelings to their lover. However, now that their pride has been shattered, they are able to confess their love and surrender to their lover.
The first stanza of the song sets up this struggle with pride. The singer refers to their pride as a "sad, splendid liar" and an "enemy of love." They admit to keeping their true emotions hidden because of their pride. However, in the second stanza, the singer reveals that they cannot continue to play this game of stay away. They need their lover and cannot make it without them. The third stanza implies that the couple has engaged in some negative behavior towards each other in the past, but the singer is now willing to move beyond it and surrender their heart completely.
The overall message of "Surrender Dear" is one of humility and vulnerability in love. The singer is acknowledging that their pride has prevented them from being truly happy in their relationship and that they need to let it go in order to surrender to their love. The powerful confession in the final stanza shows the depth of the singer's emotions and their willingness to be open and honest in their love.
Line by Line Meaning
Pride, sad, splendid liar,
My pride has been a liar, appearing splendid but causing sadness within me.
Sworn enemy of love
My pride has been an enemy of love, preventing me from expressing my thoughts and feelings.
Kept my lips from saying things I was thinking of.
Due to my pride, I have been unable to express the thoughts that have been on my mind.
But now my pride you've humbled, I've cast it to the winds, Broken, beaten, sick at heart My confession begins.
With my pride now stripped away, I can no longer keep my feelings bottled up and now begin to confess my true emotions.
We've played the game of stay away But it cost more that I can pay. Without you I can't make my way, I surrender, dear.
Our game of trying to stay away from each other has become too costly for me, and I cannot go on without you. I surrender to my feelings for you.
I may seem proud, I may act gay, It's just a pose, I'm not that way, 'Cause deep down in my heart I say I surrender, dear.
Although I may appear proud and carefree, it is just a front because deep down, I am surrendering to my love for you.
Little mean things we were doing Must have been part of the game, Lending a spice to the wooing, But I don't care who's to blame.
The petty disagreements and actions between us may have been part of our game of pursuing each other, but I no longer care for playing that game or assigning blame.
When stars appear and shadows fall, Why then you'll hear My poor heart call, To you my love, my life, my all I surrender, dear.
In the quiet moments of night, my heart calls out to you, and I give myself over to you completely. I surrender to the love that I feel within me.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Integrity Music
Written by: GORDON CLIFFORD, HARRY BARRIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind