As a youth, he was recognized as an extraordinary talent and formed a traveling duo with Danny Polo, a musical prodigy on the clarinet and trumpet from nearby Clinton, Indiana. As a student at Garfield High School in Terre Haute, he played with several theater bands.
Thornhill entered the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at age 16. That same year he and clarinetist Artie Shaw started their careers at the Golden Pheasant in Cleveland, Ohio with the Austin Wiley Orchestra. Thornhill and Shaw went to New York together in 1931.
Claude went to the West Coast in the late 1930s with the Bob Hope Radio Show, and arranged for Judy Garland in Babes in Arms.
In 1935, he played on sessions for Glenn Miller's first recordings under his own name, as Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. He played on Glenn Miller's composition "Solo Hop," which was released on Columbia Records.
After playing for Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, Glenn Miller, and Billie Holiday, and arranging "Loch Lomond" and "Annie Laurie" for Maxine Sullivan, in 1939 he founded his Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Danny Polo was his lead clarinet player. Although the Thornhill band was originally a sophisticated dance band, it became known for its many superior jazz musicians and for Thornhill's and Gil Evans' innovative arrangements; its "Portrait of a Guinea Farm" has become a classic jazz recording.
The band played without vibrato so that the timbres of the instruments could be better appreciated, and Thornhill encouraged the musicians to develop cool-sounding tones. The band was popular with both musicians and the public; the Miles Davis Nonet was modeled in part on Thornhill's cool sound and use of unconventional instrumentation. The band's most successful records were "Snowfall," "A Sunday Kind of Love" and "Love for Love."
His most famous recording, "Snowfall," was released in 1941 as Columbia 36268. He released the song also as a V-Disc recording, as V-Disc 271A1.
Playing at the Paramount Theater in New York for $10,000 a week in 1942, Thornhill dropped everything to enlist in the US Navy to support the war effort. As chief musician, he played shows across the Pacific Theater with Jackie Cooper as his drummer and Dennis Day as his vocalist.
In 1946, he was discharged from the Navy. Then in April, he reformed his ensemble. He kept his same stylistic lines, but added some Bop lines to it. He got his old members of Danny Polo, Gerry Mulligan, and Barry Galbraith back together, but also added new members like Red Rodney, Lee Konitz, Joe Shulman and Bill Barber. Barber was a tuba player, who was considered as a "soft brass" player rather than a bass as to not interfere with (Joe) Shulman on the bass. Their creative and immaculately clean and delicate interpretation of Evans’s arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s fast bop theme "Anthropology" (1947) provides a particularly noteworthy example of Thornhill’s style, which influenced Miles Davis’s recordings in 1949 for Capitol and many musicians who followed .
In the mid 1950s, Thornhill was briefly Tony Bennett's musical director.
He offered his big band library to Gerry Mulligan when Gerry formed the Concert Jazz Band, but Gerry regretfully declined the gift, since his instrumentation was different. A large portion of his extensive library of music is currently held by Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.
After his discharge from the Navy he continued to perform with his orchestra until his death of a heart attack at 1:30 a.m., July 2, 1965, at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey. Claude was booked at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the time, the engagement was kept in his honor with his music director in his place. He was survived by his wife, actress Ruth Thornhill, and his mother, Maude Thornhill (81 at the time), of Terre Haute, Indiana, still active at the time conducting choirs.
Claude Thornhill's compositions included the standard "Snowfall", "I Wish I Had You", recorded by Billie Holiday and Fats Waller, "Let's Go", "Shore Road", "Portrait Of A Guinea Farm", "Lodge Podge", "Rustle Of Spring", "It's Time For Us To Part", "It Was A Lover And His Lass", "The Little Red Man", "Memory Of An Island", and "Where Has My Little Dog Gone?"
In 1984, Claude Thornhill was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
I Many Be Wrong
Claude Thornhill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I may be wrong but I think you're swell
I like your style say, I think it's marvelous
I'm always wrong so how can I tell
Deuces to me are all aces
Life is to me just a bore
Faces are all open spaces
You came along say I think you're wonderful
I think you're grand but I may be wrong
I may be wrong but I think you're wonderful
I may be wrong but I think you're swell
I like your style say, I really think it's marvelous
I'm always wrong so how can I tell
Deuces to me are all aces
Life is to me just a bore
Faces are all open spaces
You might be John Barrymore
You came along say I think you're wonderful
I think you're grand but I may be wrong
You said that Edison would never make that light
You laughed at Mr. Franklin with his key and kite
The point of the song is I'm always wrong
But with you baby I'm oh so right.
"I May Be Wrong" by Claude Thornhill is a song that celebrates the uncertainty of love. The singer admits that he may be wrong about many things, but when it comes to his love interest, he thinks she's entirely wonderful and marvelous, even if he can't quite put his finger on why. He compares her favorably to John Barrymore, a popular stage and screen actor from the early 20th century, who was known for his intense personality and highly emotive performances.
The chorus of the song, "Deuces to me are all aces, life is to me just a bore, faces are all open spaces," suggests that the singer is prone to exaggerating and embellishing his experiences, but that his love interest has brought color and joy to his life. He even references historical figures like Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin, who were celebrated for their inventions and discoveries, but who were likely doubted and ridiculed during their lifetimes. The point of the song, therefore, is not only to praise the singer's love interest, but also to suggest that the truly great things in life are often the ones we least expect.
Overall, "I May Be Wrong" is a lighthearted and witty love song that celebrates the unexpected twists and turns of life, and the people who make it all worth living.
Line by Line Meaning
I may be wrong but I think you're wonderful
Although I am not always correct, I believe you are fantastic.
I may be wrong but I think you're swell
I might not always be right, but I find you lovely.
I like your style say, I think it's marvelous
Your way of being is amazing, I must say.
I'm always wrong so how can I tell
Since I am usually mistaken, how do I accurately judge anything?
Deuces to me are all aces
Card games do not make sense to me because I always lose.
Life is to me just a bore
I find existence to be unexciting.
Faces are all open spaces
People's expressions are difficult for me to read and interpret.
You might be John Barrymore
You could be an actor like John Barrymore.
You came along say I think you're wonderful
Since you arrived, to me, you are amazing.
I think you're grand but I may be wrong
In my eyes, you are magnificent, but I could be mistaken.
You said that Edison would never make that light
You thought Edison would not be able to innovate the light bulb.
You laughed at Mr. Franklin with his key and kite
You found humor in Mr. Franklin's experiment with the key and kite.
The point of the song is I'm always wrong
The message of the tune is that I am frequently incorrect.
But with you baby I'm oh so right.
When with you, my judgments are more accurate, my dear.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RUSKIN HARRY, HENRY SULLIVAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind