She is the only person to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music awards.
Laine was born in a London suburb to a Jamaican father and English mother who sent her to singing and dancing lessons at an early age. She did not take up singing seriously until her mid-twenties, however. She auditioned successfully for a band led by musician John Dankworth, with which she performed until 1958, when she and Dankworth married.
She then began her career as a singer and actress. She played the lead in a new play at London's famous Royal Court Theatre, home of the new wave of playwrights of the 1950s: Harold Pinter and the like. This led to other stage performances such as the musical Valmouth in 1959, the play A Time to Laugh (with Robert Morley and Ruth Gordon) in 1962, and eventually to her show stopping Julie in the Wendy Toye production of Showboat at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1971.
During this period she had two major recording successes. You'll Answer to Me reached the British Top 10 while Laine was 'prima donna' in the 1961 Edinburgh Festival production of Kurt Weill's opera/ballet The Seven Deadly Sins. In 1964 her Shakespeare and All that Jazz album with Dankworth received widespread critical acclaim, and to this day remains an important milestone in her identification with the more unusual aspects of a singer's repertoire.
1972 marked the start of Laine's international activities, with a successful first tour of Australia. Shortly afterwards, her career in the United States was launched with a concert at New York's Lincoln Center, followed in 1973 by the first of many Carnegie Hall appearances. Coast-to-coast tours of the U.S. and Canada soon followed, and with them a succession of record albums and television appearances. This led, after several nominations, to Cleo's first Grammy award, in recognition of the live recording of her 1983 Carnegie concert.
Laine colaborated with many great classical musicians including James Galway, Nigel Kennedy, Julian Lloyd Webber and John Williams.
Other important recordings during that time were duet albums with Ray Charles (Porgy and Bess) and Mel Tormé (see Nothing Without You), as well as Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire which won Laine a classical Grammy nomination.
Laine's relationship with the musical theatre, started in Britain, continued in the United States with starring performances in Sondheim's A Little Night Music and The Merry Widow (Michigan Opera). In 1985 she originated the role of Princess Puffer in the Broadway hit musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, for which she received a Tony nomination, and in 1989 she received the Los Angeles critics' acclaim for her portrayal of the Witch in Sondheim's Into the Woods.
In the 2006 New Years Honours list, her husband John Dankworth was made a knight bachelor, becoming Sir John Dankworth. As his wife, she is entitled to be known as "Lady Dankworth," however, she uses her own professional name.
Midnight Sun
Cleo Laine Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Warmer than the summer night.
The clouds were like an alabaster palace,
Rising to a snowy height.
Each star its own Aurora Borealis,
Suddenly you held me tight;
I could see the midnight sun.
Or was that a moonlit bay?
The music of the universe around me,
Or was that a Nightingale?
And then your arms miraculously found me,
Suddenly the sky turned pale,
I could see the midnight sun.
Was there such a night?
It's a thrill I still don't quite believe,
But after you were gone,
There was still some stardust on my sleeve.
The flame of it may dwindle to an ember,
And the stars forget to shine.
And when they see the meadow in December,
Icy white and chrystaline.
But oh my darling always I'll remember,
when your lips were close to mine
And we saw the midnight sun.
We saw the midnight sun.
Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice,
Warmer than a summer night.
The clouds were like an alabaster palace,
Rising to a summer light.
Each star its own Aurora Borealis,
Suddenly you held me tight,
And then I could see the midnight sun.
I can't explain the silver rain that found me,
Or was that a moonlit bay?
The music of the universe around me,
Or was that a Nightingale?
And then your arms miraculously found me,
And the sky turned pale,
I could see the midnight sun.
Was there such a night?
It's a thrill I still don't really quite believe.
That lovely midnight sun, but after you were gone,
There was still some stardust on my sleeve,
There was still some stardust on my sleeve.
That flame may dwindle,
And the stars forget to shine.
We'll see the meadow in December,
Icy white and crystalline.
But darling always I'll remember,
when your lips are close to mine
And we saw the midnight sun.
Yes we saw the midnight sun,
We both saw the midnight sun.
Cleo Laine's song "Midnight Sun" is a poetic reflection on one magical, unforgettable night spent with a lover. The opening lines set a romantic scene: "Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice, / Warmer than the summer night." The singer notes the beauty of the surroundings, with clouds like an "alabaster palace" and each star its own "Aurora Borealis." Suddenly, the lover holds the singer tightly and the midnight sun appears, a symbol of the momentousness of the experience.
The second verse is more abstract, describing "silver rain" and the "music of the universe" that surrounds the lovers. There's a sense of magic and mystery to the night, as the singer wonders if they heard a nightingale or stood by a moonlit bay. The lover's arms miraculously find the singer, and the sky turns pale as the midnight sun shines down upon them.
The third verse concludes the song with a sense of both longing and satisfaction. The singer wonders if there really was such a night, but still feels the stardust on their sleeve as a reminder of the experience. The flame may dwindle and the stars may forget to shine, but the memory of that night will always remain. In the final lines, the singer declares that they both saw the midnight sun, and the repetition of the line serves to reinforce the importance of the experience.
Line by Line Meaning
Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice,
Your lips were as captivating and alluring as a ruby chalice, exuding warmth even on a summer night.
Warmer than the summer night.
Your lips were so warm that they surpassed the warmth of a typical summer night.
The clouds were like an alabaster palace,
The clouds were as stunning as a palace made of alabaster, towering into the snowy heights of the sky.
Rising to a snowy height.
The clouds were climbing higher and higher into the sky, just like a tall mountain covered in snow.
Each star its own Aurora Borealis,
Every star was individual and unique, exuding a striking display of colorful lights like an Aurora Borealis.
Suddenly you held me tight;
All of a sudden, you held me tight in your arms, pulling me in closer.
I could see the midnight sun.
As I was held close in your embrace, I saw the beauty of the midnight sun shining before me.
I can't explain the silver rain that found me,
I can't find the right words to describe the mysterious, dreamlike feeling that came over me, like a silver rain falling down from the sky.
Or was that a moonlit bay?
Maybe the feeling was from being in a bay drenched in moonlight, or was it something else entirely?
The music of the universe around me,
The sounds of the universe echoed around me, creating a symphony that I couldn't possibly describe.
Or was that a Nightingale?
Or perhaps it was the sweet sound of a Nightingale singing its melody in the distance?
And then your arms miraculously found me,
Suddenly, your arms wrapped around me, almost like a miracle had happened, bringing us together.
Suddenly the sky turned pale,
As we were embraced in each other's arms, the sky above us lost its color and turned pale.
I could see the midnight sun.
But even with the pale sky, I still saw the beauty of the midnight sun shining above us.
Was there such a night?
It's hard to comprehend if there was truly a night so magical and unforgettable as this one.
It's a thrill I still don't quite believe,
Even now, the excitement and wonder of that night is something I'm not sure I can fully accept or understand.
But after you were gone,
Despite the memories of that night, after you left, reality set in once again.
There was still some stardust on my sleeve.
But even after you were gone, I still felt traces of the stardust and magic that surrounded us that night.
The flame of it may dwindle to an ember,
The intensity of the feelings from that night may lessen over time, but they will still be present like the faint glow of an ember.
And the stars forget to shine.
Even if the stars forget their shine, the memory of that night will continue to shine bright.
And when they see the meadow in December,
When everything seems cold and winter has taken over, memories of that magical night will bring warmth back into my heart.
Icy white and chrystaline.
The meadow will be frozen, cold and clear, like a memory captured in crystal.
But oh my darling always I'll remember,
My love, I will always remember that night, it will forever remain a part of me.
when your lips were close to mine
Especially when you were so close to me and our lips were together.
And we saw the midnight sun.
Together, we saw the beauty of that unforgettable midnight sun.
We saw the midnight sun.
Together, we shared in experiencing the magnificence of the midnight sun and it will remain a treasured memory for eternity.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Johnny Mercer, Lionel Hampton, Sonny Burke
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
John Jagger
on Sunday
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John
on Born on a Friday
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