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.

You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart
Benny Goodman Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You took the words right out of my heart
And it was like a bolt from the blue
You took the words right out of my heart
When you said I love you.
When you said I love you
I stood in a daze for a while
For I felt that way too
The moment I saw you smile

I had the words and you in my heart
There wasn't room for the two

You took the words right out of my heart
And left only room for you

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Benny Goodman's song "You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart" describe the feeling of falling in love for the first time. The singer's heart is so full of love and emotion that he cannot find the words to express how he feels. When his lover says "I love you," it is like a bolt from the blue, taking his breath away and leaving him in a daze. The singer was already feeling the same way, but he could not put it into words until his lover said it first.

The final lines of the song, "I had the words and you in my heart, there wasn't room for the two, you took the words right out of my heart and left only room for you," highlight how falling in love can be all-consuming. The singer's heart was so full of love that there was no room for anything else, but when he heard his lover say "I love you," it was like the words were lifted out of his heart and replaced with thoughts of his lover.

Overall, "You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart" is a romantic song about the power of love to leave us speechless and fill our hearts with emotion.

You Took the Words Right Out of My HeartBenny Goodman Lyrics

You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart
Benny Goodman Lyrics