He was born in Glasgow, Kentucky, where his father was a barber who loved music and inspired Billy to teach himself to play the mandolin at age 3, while suffering a case of the measles. He went on to learn a number of other instruments.
In 1941, Vaughn joined the United States National Guard for what had been planned as a one-year assignment, but when World War II broke out, he was sent abroad till the war ended in 1945. He decided to make music a career when he was discharged from the army at the end of the war, and attended Western Kentucky State College, now known as Western Kentucky University, majoring in music composition. He had apparently learned barbering from his father, because he did some while studying at Western Kentucky to support himself financially, when he was not able to get jobs playing the piano at local night clubs and lounges. While he was a student there, three other students, Jimmy Sacca, Donald McGuire and Seymour Spiegelman, who had formed a vocal trio, The Hilltoppers, recruited Vaughn to play the piano with them. He soon added his voice to theirs, converting the trio to a quartet. As a member of the group, he also wrote their first hit song, Trying, which charted in 1952.
In 1954 he left the group to join Dot Records in Gallatin, Tennessee as music director. He subsequently formed his own orchestra, which had a big hit in that same year with Melody of Love. He went on to have many more hits over the next decade and a half, and based purely on chart successes, was the most successful orchestra leader of all time.
Isle of Capri
Billy Vaughn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree
Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming round her
Where we met on the Isle of Capri
She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning
But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me
And though I sailed with the tide in the morning
Summertime was nearly over
Blue Italian sky above
I said "Lady, I'm a rover,
Can you spare a sweet word of love?"
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
She wore a lovely meatball on her finger
't was goodbye at the villa Capri
Summertime was nearly over
Blue Italian sky above
I said "Lady, I'm a rover,
Can you spare a fine word of love?"
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
She wore a plain golden ring on her finger
't was goodbye on the Isle of Capri
't was goodbye on the Isle of Capri
't was goodbye on the Isle of Capri
The lyrics of Billy Vaughn's song "Isle of Capri" tells the story of a man who found a woman on the Isle of Capri with whom he fell in love. The verse "She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning/But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me" conveys that the romance was short-lived and was not meant to be. The singer describes the beauty of Capri with the line "Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming round her/Where we met on the Isle of Capri," and the imagery continues with "Summertime was nearly over/Blue Italian sky above." In spite of the apparent mismatch due to different personalities and life circumstances, their time spent on the Isle of Capri remained etched in his memory, and he cannot help but wish for more.
Towards the end, the woman tells the singer that "It's best not to linger" and reveals that she has a "lovely meatball" (meant to be a diamond) on her finger, indicating that she belongs to someone else. The final lines "She wore a plain golden ring on her finger/'t was goodbye on the Isle of Capri" bring the story to a poignant conclusion, as the song ends on a note of resignation and reflects on the vagaries of fate.
Line by Line Meaning
't was on the Isle of Capri that I found her
I met her on the Isle of Capri
Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree
We met under a tree
Oh, I can still see the flowers blooming round her
I remember the flowers around her
Where we met on the Isle of Capri
We met on the Isle of Capri
She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning
She was very sweet
But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me
But we were not meant to be together
And though I sailed with the tide in the morning
And even though I left in the morning
Still my heart's on the Isle of Capri
I still think about the Isle of Capri
Summertime was nearly over
The summer was coming to an end
Blue Italian sky above
The sky was blue
I said "Lady, I'm a rover, Can you spare a sweet word of love?"
I asked her for love
She whispered softly "It's best not to linger"
She told me to leave
And then as I kissed her hand I could see
As I kissed her hand, I noticed
She wore a lovely meatball on her finger
She was already taken
't was goodbye at the villa Capri
We said goodbye at the villa Capri
't was goodbye on the Isle of Capri
We said goodbye on the Isle of Capri
't was goodbye on the Isle of Capri
We said goodbye on the Isle of Capri
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JIMMY KENNEDY, WILL GROSZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind