Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular big bands, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, from the start of the 1930s through to the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Doc Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Chu Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.
Calloway was born to a middle-class family in Rochester, New York, and lived there until 1918. He later lived in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Cabell Calloway II, was a lawyer, and his mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a teacher and church organist. His parents recognised their son's musical talent, and he began private voice lessons in 1922. He continued to study music and voice throughout his formal schooling. Despite his parents' and vocal teachers' disapproval of jazz, Calloway began frequenting and eventually performing in many of Baltimore's jazz clubs, where he was mentored by drummer Chick Webb and pianist Johnny Jones.
After graduating from high school, Calloway joined his older sister, Blanche, in a touring production of the popular black musical revue Plantation Days (Blanche Calloway herself went on to become an accomplished bandleader before her brother did, and he often credited his inspiration to enter show business to her). Calloway attended Lincoln University, Pennsylvania , and left in 1930 without graduating.
When the tour ended in Chicago in the autumn, Cab decided to remain in Chicago with his sister, who had an established career as a jazz singer in that city. His parents had hopes of their son becoming a lawyer like his father, so Calloway enrolled in Crane College. His main interest, however, was in singing and entertaining, and he spent most of his nights at the Dreamland Cafe, the Sunset Cafe, and the Club Berlin, performing as a drummer, singer, and emcee. At the Sunset Cafe he met and performed with Louis Armstrong who taught him to sing in the scat style.
The Cotton Club was the premier jazz venue in the country, and Cab Calloway and his Orchestra (he had taken over a brilliant but failing band called "The Missourians" in 1930) were hired as a replacement for the Duke Ellington Orchestra while they were touring. Calloway quickly proved so popular that his band became the co-house band with Ellington's, and he and his group began touring nationwide when not playing at the Cotton Club. Their popularity was greatly enhanced by the twice-weekly live national radio broadcasts on NBC at the Cotton Club. Calloway also appeared on Walter Winchell's radio program and with Bing Crosby in his show at the Paramount Theatre. As a result of these appearances, Calloway, together with Ellington, broke the major broadcast network colour barrier.
Unlike many other bands of comparable commercial success, Calloway's gave ample soloing space to its lead members, and, through the varied arrangements of Walter 'Foots' Thomas, provided much more in the way of musical interest.
In 1931, he recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". That song, together with "St James Infirmary Blues" and "The Old Man of the Mountain", were performed for the Betty Boop animated shorts Minnie the Moocher, Snow White, and The Old Man of the Mountain respectively. Through rotoscoping, Cab not only gave his voice to these cartoons but his dance steps as well. Cab took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher" he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He also performed in a series of short films for Paramount in the 1930s (Calloway and Ellington were featured on film more than any other Jazz Orchestra of the era). In 1943 he appeared in the high-profile 20th Century Fox musical film, Stormy Weather.
In his later career, Calloway became a popular personality, appearing in a number of films and stage productions that utilised both his acting and singing talents. In 1952, he played the prominent role of Sportin' Life in a production of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. Another notable role was Yeller in The Cincinnati Kid (1965). In 1967 Calloway co-starred as Horace Vandergelder in an all-black revival of Hello, Dolly! (even though the original production was still running) starring Pearl Bailey. This was a major success, and led to a cast recording released by RCA. In 1973-1974 he was featured in an unsuccessful Broadway revival of The Pajama Game.
Calloway attracted renewed interest in 1980 when he appeared as a supporting character in the film The Blues Brothers, performing "Minnie the Moocher", and again when he sang "The Jumpin' Jive" with the Two-Headed Monster on Sesame Street. This was also the year in which the cult film Forbidden Zone was released, which included rearrangements and parodies of Cab Calloway songs written by Danny Elfman, a Calloway fan.
On 18th November 1994 Calloway died, having suffered a major stroke six months earlier. In 1998, The Cab Calloway Orchestra (directed by Cab's grandson C. "CB" Calloway Brooks) was formed to honour Cab Calloway's legacy nationally and internationally.
Stardust
Cab Calloway Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
The song "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael is a poignant and nostalgic piece about romantic love and its hold over the human heart. Cab Calloway's version of the song is a classic that has stood the test of time and is still popular today. The lyrics paint a picture of a person remembering a lost love and the memories that still haunt them. The purple dusk of twilight time symbolizes the melancholic mood of the singer, the stars in the sky always reminding them of their separation. The idea of love as stardust, something intangible and fleeting, adds to the bittersweet nature of the song.
The second verse introduces a sense of longing and yearning, the singer spending lonely nights dreaming of a song that haunts their reverie, an ode to their lost love. They recall the inspiration of their past relationship where each kiss was savored, only to be replaced by the stardust of a song as their consolation in the present. The final verse is a dreamlike sequence of the singer holding their lover close under the bright stars and listening to the nightingale's fairytale of paradise where roses grew, a memory that remains with them as the stardust melody and the memory of love's refrain.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
The dark purple skies that appear at the end of the day remind me of the sadness I feel because we are apart.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
This sadness seeps into my heart and takes over it completely.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
The stars in the sky remind me of you and the love we share.
Always reminding me that we're apart
But at the same time, the stars remind me that we are separated and cannot be together.
You wander down the lane and far away
You have left me and gone off to some distant place.
Leaving me a song that will not die
But you have left behind a song that will always stay with me.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The love we shared is now a distant memory.
The music of the years gone by.
The songs we used to listen to together serve as a reminder of the times gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
I often think about how I spend my time without you.
The lonely nights
The nights without you are the loneliest.
Dreaming of a song
I often dream of that song you left behind.
The melody
It haunts me day and night.
Haunts my reverie
It keeps returning to my thoughts every time I try to daydream.
And I am once again with you
When I listen to the song, I feel as if I am with you once again.
When our love was new
I remember when our love was still fresh and new.
And each kiss an inspiration
Every time we kissed, it felt like a new beginning.
But that was long ago
Unfortunately, those times are far gone.
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
The only thing that comforts me now is the memory of that song you left behind.
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
Every time I'm outside and the stars are shining, I think of you.
You are in my arms
And in my mind, I hold you close to me.
The nightingale
Even the nightingales sing of lost loves and heartaches.
Tells his fairytale
As if telling a story of paradise that seems too good to be true.
Of paradise, where roses grew
Of a place where love was easy and happiness grew like flowers.
Though I dream in vain
But unfortunately, those dreams are just a figment of my imagination.
In my heart it will remain
But the memory of our love will stay in my heart forever.
My stardust melody
That song you left behind will remain my source of comfort and reminder of our love.
The memory of love's refrain.
The sweet, sweet memory of our love will continue to echo in my heart long after you are gone.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
David Wesley
I had a hard time trying to find Stardust by Cab Calloway.😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
A Trip Down Memory Lane
Now you have it. Let me know if you have any requests!