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.
Sometimes I'm Happy
Claude Thornhill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sweetheart, when you are not near
All that you claim must be true
For I'm just the same as you
[Chorus]
Sometimes I'm happy, sometimes I'm blue
My disposition depends on you
If I can find the sun in your eyes
Sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you
But when I hate you, it's 'cause I love you
That's how I am, so what can I do?
I'm happy when I'm with you
Stars are smiling at me from your eyes
Sunbeams now there will be in the skies
Tell me that you will be true
That will all depend on you
[Chorus]
The song "Sometimes I'm Happy" by Claude Thornhill is a romantic ballad that describes the complex emotions and perceptions that make up a relationship. The singer begins by lamenting how empty life feels when their lover is away, expressing the sense of time dragged out to what feels like an unbearable length. However, they acknowledge that their lover's words must be true, as they feel the same way: the deep emotional investment they share seems to transcend physical presence.
The chorus gives the song its title and serves as both a summary of the singer's feelings as well as a refrain for the listener to remember. The line "My disposition depends on you" is particularly striking, summarizing how deeply intertwined the singer's mood is with the fluctuating state of the relationship. They then describe how even simple pleasures such as sunshine and rainfall seem to be tied up with their lover's presence - raindrops are bearable if they can see sunshine in their lover's eyes.
The last verse describes the hope and uncertainty that is inherent in any relationship, with the singer asking their lover to promise them something that they acknowledge is entirely in their lover's control. The song ultimately seems to suggest that, even with all the turbulence and unpredictability of love, the connection between these two people remains the most important thing in the singer's life.
Line by Line Meaning
Every day seems like a year
Without you, time moves slowly, and every day feels like a never-ending year.
Sweetheart, when you are not near
When you're not around, my heart aches with a longing for you - my Sweetheart.
All that you claim must be true
Your words and promises have proven true in the past, so I trust you without hesitation.
For I'm just the same as you
I have the same feelings toward you as you do toward me - a deep, abiding love.
Sometimes I'm happy, sometimes I'm blue
My emotional state depends entirely on you - my joy is in your happiness and my sorrow in your sadness.
My disposition depends on you
You hold the keys to my happiness and my mood - my disposition is solely dependent on you.
I never mind the rain from the skies
Any hardship or obstacle becomes negligible if I can see the reflection of your love in your beautiful eyes.
If I can find the sun in your eyes
You are the light of my life, and your eyes hold the power to dispel darkness in my life.
Sometimes I love you, sometimes I hate you
My feelings for you fluctuate between love and hate, but my love is so intense that it can result in temporary feelings of hatred.
But when I hate you, it's 'cause I love you
Even my hatred for you is borne out of the intensity of my love for you - I feel deeply and passionately about you.
That's how I am, so what can I do?
My emotions are beyond my control - I feel what I feel, and there's nothing I can do about it.
I'm happy when I'm with you
Being with you is the source of my joy and happiness - you complete me, and my heart is filled with happiness when you're around.
Stars are smiling at me from your eyes
The twinkle of your eyes shines like the light of the stars, and I can't help but bask in the beauty of your soul.
Sunbeams now there will be in the skies
Your love has the power to dispel darkness and bring warmth and light into my life - I see it reflected in the sunbeams that radiate from your spirit.
Tell me that you will be true
I need your constant reassurance that your love for me is steadfast and that you always stay true to me.
That will all depend on you
Our future and the foundation of our love depend on you - you hold the key to our happiness and our love story.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: CLIFFORD GREY, IRVING CAESAR, VINCENT YOUMANS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind