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.
My Funny Valentine
Cleo Laine Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable, un-photographable
Yet, you're my favorite work of art
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
But, don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine, stay
Each day is Valentine's Day
Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?
But, don't change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine, stay
Each day is Valentine's Day
In "My Funny Valentine," Cleo Laine sings about a relationship that is out of the ordinary, and not necessarily picture-perfect, but still deeply meaningful to her. The title itself implies a sense of humor and whimsy, which is reflected in the opening lines of the song. Laine sings "My funny valentine, sweet comic valentine/you make me smile with my heart." This suggests that her valentine, although perhaps not conventionally attractive, has a quality of comic timing that brings joy to her life. The line "your looks are laughable, unphotographable/yet you're my favorite work of art" underscores the idea that she sees her valentine as something unique and special, even if others might not be able to appreciate it in the same way she does.
Later in the song, Laine poses a series of questions to her valentine about their appearance and intelligence, but the underlying message is that these attributes are not what matter most to her. She sings "But don't change a hair for me/not if you care for me/stay little valentine, stay/each day is Valentine's Day." Here, she emphasizes the importance of authenticity and suggests that her valentine's quirks and imperfections are what make them special.
Overall, "My Funny Valentine" is a love song that celebrates the unconventional and the imperfect. Rather than striving for perfection or conventionality, Laine suggests that true love values authenticity and the unique qualities that make a person who they are.
Line by Line Meaning
My funny valentine, sweet comic valentine
You, my love, are not just any valentine but a humorous, charming one.
You make me smile with my heart
Your presence brings true happiness to my soul.
Your looks are laughable, un-photographable
Your appearance cannot be capture and is not the standard of beauty but that does not lessen my love for you.
Yet, you're my favorite work of art
To me, you are the most beautiful and captivating thing that exists.
Is your figure less than Greek?
Does your body not conform to the ideal image of physical beauty (from ancient Greece)?
Is your mouth a little weak?
Is your voice not as powerful or confident as society would expect?
When you open it to speak, are you smart?
However, intelligence is not always tied to the way one speaks, and your words alone cannot define your intelligence.
But, don't change a hair for me
Please do not alter any part of yourself for my sake or approval.
Not if you care for me
If your love for me is genuine, then you should not feel the need to change who you are.
Stay little valentine, stay
My dear, please do not leave or change, and remain the same beautiful person I fell in love with.
Each day is Valentine's Day
Every day together with you is like a special Valentine's Day, filled with love and joy.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
John Jagger
on Sunday
Those lyrics above bear no relation to the song ‘Sunday’ on the album ‘Born on a Friday’
John
on Born on a Friday
No lyrics for the song Born on a Friday? These lyrics are very hard to find. It would be nice to see because of a British expression that's used in the song that I'm not sure what the meaning is.