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.
Clouds
Benny Goodman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Clouds are feathers from a lady's fan
Do you remember how we watched them drifting by
Long ago when love began
Clouds floating thru the night
While the silver stars above
Lend their tender light
While I wonder why my love ever said goodbye
The night was young
The breeze was warm and tender
A fool was I but how was I to know
I gladly gave my heart in sweet surrender
To learn that love was meant to come and go
Like snowhite clouds floating through the night
Speaking of a love that was heavenly
A love that could never be mine
Once we were together and now we're apart
Did you find it easy to forget?
I keep on dreaming while the years go drifting by
Calling you my "Sweet Regret"
Clouds floating thru the night
While the silver stars above
Lend their tender light
Clouds drifting thru the sky
While I wonder why my love ever said goodbye
The night was young
The breeze was warm and tender
A fool was I but how was I to know
I gladly gave my heart in sweet surrender
To learn that love was meant to come and go
Like snowhite Clouds Floating thru the night
Speaking of a love that was heavenly
A love that could never be mine
In "Clouds," Benny Goodman describes how clouds, which appear to be temporary and fleeting, are much like love. He compares clouds to dewdrops that kissed a rose, representing how love, like the dewdrops, can be momentarily beautiful but ultimately vanish. Additionally, Goodman compares clouds to feathers from a lady's fan, symbolizing how love, like the fan, can provide temporary comfort and relief from the heat of life's struggles.
Goodman recalls a time when he and his love watched clouds drift by, reflecting on the early days of their relationship when love was fresh and new. However, now that they have gone their separate ways, Goodman is left to wonder why his love said goodbye. He remembers the warmth of the night and the tender breeze, and regrets surrendering his heart to love, only to discover that it was fleeting.
Throughout the song, Goodman emphasizes the transience of both love and clouds, capturing the impermanence of life's joys and sorrows. The metaphorical comparison of love to clouds is a common theme in literature and music alike, representing the beauty and pain of relationships that are ultimately fleeting.
Line by Line Meaning
Clouds are only dewdrops that once kissed a rose
Clouds are fleeting and impermanent like dewdrops that only exist briefly after touching a rose
Clouds are feathers from a lady's fan
Clouds are delicate and light, like the feathers of a fan that a lady would carry
Do you remember how we watched them drifting by
Long ago when love began
Remembering a time when love was new and watching the clouds float by together
Clouds floating thru the night
While the silver stars above
Lend their tender light
Watching clouds at night with the gentle light of stars shining down
Clouds drifting thru the sky
While I wonder why my love ever said goodbye
Watching clouds and contemplating why love was lost
The night was young
The breeze was warm and tender
A fool was I but how was I to know
I gladly gave my heart in sweet surrender
To learn that love was meant to come and go
Recalling a younger, more naive self who made the mistake of giving their heart too readily, only to learn that love can be fleeting
Like snowhite clouds floating through the night
Speaking of a love that was heavenly
A love that could never be mine
Seeing the clouds as a symbol of a lost love that was beautiful and unobtainable
Once we were together and now we're apart
Did you find it easy to forget?
I keep on dreaming while the years go drifting by
Calling you my "Sweet Regret"
Asking if the other person found it easier to move on and being haunted by thoughts of what could have been, even as time passes
Lyrics © DistroKid, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: WALTER DONALDSON, GUS KAHN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Henri de Lagardère
As 'Bones' already mentioned, listening to the fledgling King of Swing can be an unexpectedly awkward experience. Where, for instance, did BG dig up such a tepid tenor? Fortunately this seems to be their only recording, an act of mercy we would be denied a decade later, when Art Lund came in. I guess Gene Krupa himself was not pleased too much either, judging by the way he puts the lid on a recording that may be a par or three below, let's say, the charming version by the QHCF, the one that introduced me to this evocatively wafting Donaldson creation and which is still my favorite. That was in the summer of 1935, though, we're still in that year's wintery tracks here, raring to go. And if you are in doubt whether they're up to the task, just flip this literally atmospheric disc and be caressed by Helen Ward and the Night Wind. Observing the evolution of one of the greatest big bands can be a beautiful experience in its own right.
Trombonology Erstwhile
This early side from Goodman's first touring band is so unrepresentative of how we think of the King of Swing -- and yet, it's a favorite of mine in its own way, full of the atmosphere of the composition itself. The Swing Era had yet to be officially launched at this point, and even the torrid young Goodman was playing it cautiously until the public indicated its overwhelming approval of a hotter approach.
Henri de Lagardère
Nephophiles who want to get straight to the fully-fledged Goodman sound, listen to liltin' Miss Tilton building A Home in the Clouds in 1939, a minor song compared to Clouds, but an arrangement that reminds me of the joke about the gorgeous songbird in the store window and the decrepit parrot in the backroom.
Trombonology Erstwhile
@Henri de Lagardère Nephophile and Liltophile that I am, I listened first, I well recall, to "A Home ..." -- rather than the much more obvious "And The Angels Sing" -- after hearing of Martha's passing some years ago. I've always adored that obscure side, even if the band's nostalgia-laced arrangement might evoke to some ears the decrepit parrot whose heyday was a few seasons earlier. Benny Heller's buoyant rhythm is positively celestial!
Henri de Lagardère
A man walks by a pet shop and hears a beautiful canary warbling in the window. He instantly wants to buy it and is dumbfounded to learn that it's only ten bucks. "How's that possible?", he asks the proprietor. "Well, you see, they are sold as a pair, you know, not available separately", the owner explains while leading him to the back of the shop, where a plucked parrot, barely clutching to his peg, is revealed as the other half of the melodious couple. "You can get them together for only 1010 dollars!" "Ten for the canary but a thousand bucks for that poor wretch?? What good is he for?" "He's writing the arrangements."
Trombonology Erstwhile
@Henri de Lagardère Ahhhh! ... Well, here's to Fletcher and Horace Henderson; Sy Oliver; Eddie Durham; Buster Harding; Paul Weston; Bill Finegan ... and all those other poor wretches, who had to toil over quite a substantial number of charts to rack up a thousand bucks!