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.
I Thought About You
Benny Goodman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That out of sight is out of mind
Maybe that so but I tried to go
And leave you behind, what did I find?
I took a trip on the train and I thought about you
I passed a shadowy lane and I thought about you
Two or three cars parked under the stars
Moon shining down on some little town
And with each beam, same old dream
At every stop that we made, oh, I thought about you
But when I pulled down the shade, then I really felt blue
I peeked through the crack and looked at the track
The one going back to you, and what did I do?
I'll leave it to you, oh what did I do?
I thought about you
In "I Thought About You," Benny Goodman & his Orchestra feat. Mildred Bailey express the conflict of wanting to forget someone but being unable to. The first verse begins with the common phrase, "out of sight, out of mind." However, the singer reveals they tried to put the person out of their mind but failed. They took a trip on a train, maybe trying to distance themselves from the person, but their thoughts continue to consume them.
In the chorus, the singer explains how every little thing reminds them of the person they are trying to forget. They see a shadowy lane, cars parked under the stars, and a moon shining down on a town, and they still can't shake their thoughts. Each stop on the train only reinforces their feelings; they can't escape the memories, so they think about the person they've left behind.
The final verse finds the singer peeking through a crack in the train, looking at the tracks, and realizing they are heading back to the person they tried to forget. The last line ("I'll leave it to you, oh what did I do?") suggests the wrongdoing on the singer's part. Perhaps they ended the relationship and regret it. Overall, the lyrics convey the pain of unrequited love and the difficulty in moving on.
Line by Line Meaning
Seems that I read, or somebody said
It appears that I either read or heard from someone
That out of sight is out of mind
That when something is not present, it can easily be forgotten
Maybe that so but I tried to go
Perhaps this is true, but I attempted to move on
And leave you behind, what did I find?
And leave you in my past, what did I discover?
I took a trip on the train and I thought about you
I went on a train ride and my thoughts were consumed by you
I passed a shadowy lane and I thought about you
As I journeyed, I glimpsed a dimly-lit street and I couldn't help but think of you
Two or three cars parked under the stars
A couple of vehicles parked beneath the night sky
A winding stream
A serpentine body of water
Moon shining down on some little town
The moon illuminating a small town
And with each beam, same old dream
And with each ray of moonlight, the same dream repeatedly resurfaced
At every stop that we made, oh, I thought about you
At each stop along the journey, my mind lingered on thoughts of you
But when I pulled down the shade, then I really felt blue
But whilst I drew the window curtain closed, I truly grew despondent
I peeked through the crack and looked at the track
I briefly gazed through the narrow opening and surveyed the railway
The one going back to you, and what did I do?
The trail that led me back to you, and what did I enact?
I'll leave it to you, oh what did I do?
I'll leave it for you to discern, oh what did I do?
I thought about you
I was fixated on thoughts of you
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: JAMES VAN HEUSEN, JIMMY VAN HEUSEN, JOHNNY MERCER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind