Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) … Read Full Bio ↴Benny Goodman, born Benjamin David Goodman, (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz musician, known as King of Swing, Patriarch of the Clarinet, The Professor, and Swing's Senior Statesman.

Goodman was regarded by some as a demanding taskmaster, by others an arrogant and eccentric martinet. Many musicians spoke of The Ray, Goodman's trademark glare that he bestowed on a musician who failed to perform to his demanding standards. Anita O'Day and Helen Forrest spoke bitterly of their experiences singing with Goodman. "The twenty or so months I spent with Benny felt like twenty years," said Forrest. "When I look back, they seem like a life sentence." He could also be incredibly self-absorbed; it is reported that when eating an egg onto which a ketchup bottle cap had fallen, Goodman simply ate around it. At the same time, there are reports that he privately funded several college educations and was sometimes very generous, though always secretly. When a friend asked him why one time, he reportedly said, "Well, if they knew about it, everyone would come to me with their hand out."

Some suggest that Elvis Presley had the same success with rock and roll that Goodman achieved with jazz and swing. Without Goodman there would not have been a swing era. It is true that many of Goodman's arrangements had been played for years before by Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. While Goodman publicly acknowledged his debt to Henderson, many young white swing fans had never heard Henderson's band. While most consider Goodman a jazz innovator, others maintain his main strength was his perfectionism and drive. Goodman was a non - pariel virtuoso clarinetist and -along with only Artie Shaw, amongst the most technically proficient jazz clarinetists of all time.

Goodman is also responsible for a significant step in racial integration in America. In the early 1930s, black and white jazz musicians could not play together in most clubs or concerts. In the Southern states, racial segregation was enforced by the Jim Crow laws. Benny Goodman broke with tradition by hiring Teddy Wilson to play with him ] in the Autumn of 1936. He then added Lionel Hampton on vibes in December, 1936, and in the early Summer of 1939 he augmented the famous "quartette" with pioneering jazz guitarist Charlie Christian to his band and small ensembles, who played with him until his untimely death from tuberculosis less than three years later. To give an understanding of American history at this time, Goodman's integration of popular music happened ten years before Jackie Robinson entered Major League Baseball. "[Goodman's] popularity was such that he could remain financially viable without touring the South, where he would have been subject to arrest for violating Jim Crow laws." By the mid- Summer of 1941, Benny had hired the incomparably rhythmic and show-man drummer, legendary "Big Sid" Catlett, the (later) famous John Simmons on bass, and still possessed the incomparable Charlie Christian on electric guitar -plus Cootie Williams was in the middle of his one-year contract... This amounted to virtually one-quarter of the orchestra of black heritage, but of course -following Jimmy Munday and Fletcher Henderson (who also joined the band as pianist for 6 months in July, 1939) it was really an orchestrated white extension of black big band jazz -only, curiously -better.

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Benny Goodman Lyrics

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My mistake was to love you, girl
Love you, girl
My mistake was to give you all
Tell the world

First I had you
In the palm of my hand
But I let you slip through

Like rain to sand
At the beginning
When I didn't care
Like my own reflection
You were always there

My mistake was to love you, girl
Love you, girl
My mistake was to give you all
Tell the world

You were sweeter
Then my very own skin
But what did I do for you
Not a thing
In front of my friends
You broke me down
Since then darling

It's hard to track you down

My mistake was to love you, boy
Love you, boy
My mistake was to give my all
Tell the world

Many a smile
You put om ny face
But I paid dearly
With the tears I taste

My tenderness
Made you cold, not sweet
'Cause if a girl loves you
You only call her weak

My mistake was to love you, boy
Love you, boy
My mistake was to give my all
Tell the world

My mistake was to love you, girl
Love you, girl

My mistake was to give you all
Tell the world

Overall Meaning

The song I Can't Give You Anything But Love Baby, by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra, is a lament by a lover who regrets putting all of their love and trust into their partner, only to be betrayed and left alone. The lyrics are divided into two stanzas, one sung by a male vocalist and the other sung by a female vocalist. The two stanzas tell the same story from two different points of view, but both express the same sense of loss and regret.

The first stanza, sung by the male vocalist, relates how he had the woman "in the palm of [his] hand" but let her slip away. He remembers when he "didn't care" and she was "always there" like his own reflection. He admits that his mistake was to love her and to give her everything, and he knows that everyone else knows it too.

The second stanza, sung by the female vocalist, tells the same story from her point of view. She remembers how sweet he was to her and how he made her smile, but he broke her down in front of his friends. She regrets giving her all to him, and she knows that everyone else knows it too.

The lyrics express a universal feeling of regret for investing too much in a relationship that turned out to be not worth it. The song's simple melody and catchy chorus have made it a classic in the jazz and swing genres.

Line by Line Meaning

My mistake was to love you, girl
I regret loving you, girl

Love you, girl
I loved you, girl

My mistake was to give you all
My mistake was giving you everything

Tell the world
Let it be known

First I had you
At first, you were mine

In the palm of my hand
Right where I wanted you

But I let you slip through
I lost you

Like rain to sand
Just like grains of sand slipping through my fingers

At the beginning
In the early days

When I didn't care
When I was indifferent

Like my own reflection
You were always around