Multiple artists: a jazz pianist and a jazz bassist.

1. Billy Taylor… Read Full Bio ↴Multiple artists: a jazz pianist and a jazz bassist.

1. Billy Taylor was born in Greenville, North Carolina on July 24, 1921. Dr. Taylor, one of jazz's most influential pianists, composers, and educators, is currently the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

Taylor graduated from Virginia State College with a B.S. in Music in 1942, and has been playing piano professionally since 1944, starting with Ben Webster's Quartet on New York's 52nd Street. He later became the house pianist at Birdland, where he performed with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.

In 1958, he was the Musical Director of NBC's The Subject Is Jazz, the first ever television series on the subject of jazz.

He has received two Peabody Awards, an Emmy, a Grammy and twenty three honorary doctoral degress. He earned his combined Masters and Doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts in 1975.

Among his most notable works is "I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel to Be Free)", composed in 1954, and subsequently achieving more popularity with Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Nina Simone covered the song in her 1967 album Silk and Soul. It is widely known in the UK as a piano instrumental version, used for BBC1's Film programme, hosted by Barry Norman and subsequently Jonathan Ross. Derek Trucks, The Lighthouse Family and Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra have also recorded versions.

His daughter, Kim Taylor-Thompson, is Professor of Clinical Law at New York University. His son, Duane Taylor, was an artist who died in 1988.

Dr. Taylor passed away on December 28, 2010.

2. A New York jazz bassist best known for his stints with Duke Ellington. He also recorded with his own ensemble for Keynote Records in the 40s.

In A Sentimental Mood
Billy Taylor Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

In A Sentimental Mood
I can see the stars come thru my room
While your loving attitude
Is like a flame that lights the gloom
On the wings of ev'ry kiss
Drift a melody so strange and sweet
In this sentimental bliss you make my
Paradise complete

Rose pearls seem to fall
It's all like a dream to call you mine
My heart's lighter thing
Since you made me this night a thing divine
In A Sentimental Mood
I'm within a world so heavenly
For I never dreamt
That you'd be loving sentimental me
In A Sentimental Mood
I can see the stars come thru my room
While your loving attitude
Is like a flame that lights the gloom
On the wings of ev'ry kiss
Drift a melody so strange and sweet
In this sentimental bliss you make my
Paradise complete
Rose pearls seem to fall
It's all like a dream to call you mine
My heart's lighter thing
Since you made me this night a thing divine
In A Sentimental Mood
I'm within a world so heavenly

For I never dreamt
That you'd be loving sentimental me

Overall Meaning

In Billy Taylor's "In A Sentimental Mood," the singer expresses a sense of gratitude and wonder towards their partner. They describe their partner's love as a light that dispels darkness and brings sweetness and melody to their life. The singer highlights the strange and sweet melody that their kisses bring and compares their feelings to being in a state of bliss. They acknowledge that they feel a sense of disbelief that they are loved in such a sentimental and intense way - this could be because they previously did not think they deserved such a love or perhaps because they didn't think it was possible for someone to love them so deeply.

The singer's sense of disbelief is also captured in their description of the stars that they can see through their room while they are in a state of such sentimental bliss. The stars represent a kind of wonder and awe that the singer is experiencing - the singer may feel that their love is so great that it touches even the stars in the sky. By the end of the song, the singer's heart feels lighter and they describe being in a "world so heavenly." Overall, the song seems to be a celebration of the healing and transformative power of love - that it can bring light to darkness and make even the most mundane moments feel like a paradise.

Line by Line Meaning

I can see the stars come thru my room
I feel so serene and peaceful that I can see the stars penetrating through the window in my room.

While your loving attitude is like a flame that lights the gloom
Your affectionate and caring behavior can brighten up even the darkest moments of my life.

On the wings of ev'ry kiss drift a melody so strange and sweet
As we kiss, I hear a musical tune that is peculiar and delightful, carrying us to a world of our own.

In this sentimental bliss you make my paradise complete
Your presence in my life is fulfilling and overwhelming, and it completes my notion of paradise.

Rose pearls seem to fall, it's all like a dream to call you mine
As if from a fairy tale, gentle rose-colored pearls cascade, and it's surreal to think of you as mine.

My heart's lighter thing, since you made me this night a thing divine
My heart feels light and relieved because you made this evening divine and special for me.

I'm within a world so heavenly, for I never dreamt that you'd be loving sentimental me
I'm in a world that is so beautiful and divine because I never imagined that you would be caring for a sentimental person like me.

In a sentimental mood I can see the stars come thru my room, while your loving attitude is like a flame that lights the gloom, on the wings of ev'ry kiss drift a melody so strange and sweet, in this sentimental bliss you make my paradise complete, rose pearls seem to fall, it's all like a dream to call you mine, my heart's lighter thing, since you made me this night a thing divine, I'm within a world so heavenly, for I never dreamt that you'd be loving sentimental me
Repeating the previous set of lines, I am submerged in an atmosphere of sentimentality where every kiss carries a strange melody, and you radiate light in even the darkest moments, making my world perfect and divine, and overwhelmed with gratitude that you, who is not often sentimental, would love and care for me nonetheless.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Tratore, Capitol CMG Publishing, Integrity Music, Songtrust Ave, Cloud9
Written by: Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Manny Kurtz

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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