Michael Emile Telford Miller (16 October 1937 – 11 April 2016), known profe… Read Full Bio ↴Michael Emile Telford Miller (16 October 1937 – 11 April 2016), known professionally as Emile Ford, was a musician and singer born in Saint Lucia. He was popular in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s as the leader of Emile Ford & the Checkmates, who had a number one hit in late 1959 with "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?". He was also a pioneering sound engineer.

Emile Ford was born in Castries, Saint Lucia, in the West Indies. He was the son of Barbadian politician, Frederick Edward Miller, and Madge Murray, a singer and musical theatre director whose father had founded and conducted the St. Lucia Philharmonic Band. His mother married again, taking the name of Sweetnam; some sources erroneously give Emile Ford's birth name as Sweetnam or Sweetman.

He was educated at St Mary’s College, Castries. He moved to London with his mother and family in the mid-1950s, partly motivated by his desire to explore improved sound reproduction technology, and studied at the Paddington Technical College in London.[4] It was during this time that he taught himself to play a number of musical instruments, including guitar, piano, violin, bass guitar and drums. Using an abbreviated form of his name, as Emile Ford, he first entered show business at the age of 20, and made his first public performance at the Buttery, Kensington. His first appearance with a backing group was at the Athenaeum Ballroom in Muswell Hill. His TV appearances in 1958 included outings on The Music Shop, the Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson Show, Oh, Boy!, and Six-Five Special.

He teamed up in January 1959 with his half-brother, bassist George Sweetnam-Ford (born 1 January 1941), electric guitarist Ken Street (born 1943) and drummer John Cuffley to form Emile Ford & the Checkmates. The band appeared on the TV programme Sunday Serenade, which ran for six weeks. They won the Soho Fair talent contest in July 1959, but turned down a recording contract with EMI because the company would not allow Ford to produce their records, and instead agreed to a deal with Pye Records. Their first self-produced recording, "What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?", a song originally recorded by Ada Jones and Billy Murray in 1917, went to number one in the UK Singles Chart at the end of 1959 and stayed there for six weeks. Ford was the first black British artist to sell one million copies of a single.

In January 1960, Ford signed a two-year employment management contract with Leslie Grade. He had several more hits in the UK, and also scored a number one EP in 1960. The readers of the British music magazine New Musical Express voted Emile Ford and the Checkmates as the "Best New Act" in 1960. Ford's debut album was made up of covers. He made several albums, but his last studio recordings were in 1963. His half-brothers George and Dave Sweetnam-Ford were later members of the Ferris Wheel.

As a sound engineer, Ford was responsible for creating a backing track system for stage shows, first used in 1960, which provided a basis for what became known as karaoke. In 1969, he set up a recording studio in Barbados with the help of his father, before moving to Sweden.[6] While there, he further developed a new open-air playback system for stage shows, patented as the Liveoteque Sound Frequency Feedback Injection System.

Counting Teardrops, an anthology including all of Ford's recordings with Pye Records, was released in 2001.

Emile Ford died in London on 11 April 2016.

Red Sails In the Sunset
Emile Ford & The Checkmates Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

{Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea}
Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me
{She sailed at the dawning, all day I've been blue}
Red sails in the sunset, I'm trusting in you

Swift wings you must borrow
Make straight for the shore
We marry tomorrow

And she goes sailing no more

{Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea}
Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me

Swift wings you must borrow
Make straight for the shore
We marry tomorrow
And she goes sailing no more

{Red sails in the sunset}
Way out on the sea (ooh-wee-ooh, wee-ooh)
Oh, carry my loved one
{Home safely to me}

{bracketed words are sung by Nat in unison with background singers}
(words in parentheses are sung by background singers only)

Overall Meaning

The song "Red Sails in the Sunset" by Emile Ford and the Checkmates is a powerful, melancholic plea for the safe return of a loved one who has set out to sea. The lyrics convey a sense of longing and yearning for the return of the singer's beloved, who has sailed into the sunset on a ship with red sails. The opening lines of the song point to the desperation and sadness of the singer, who is unable to see their loved one but trusts that the red sails will bring them home safely. The use of color symbolism throughout the song adds to its emotional intensity, as the red sails represent a beacon of hope in an uncertain and dangerous ocean.

The second verse of the song features a call to action for the winds and the waves to carry the singer's love safely back to them. The urgency of the situation is revealed as the singer notes that they are getting married the next day, and that their beloved will sail no more. The final verse repeats the central theme of the song, with the red sails appearing once again as a source of comfort and hope for the singer.

Overall, "Red Sails in the Sunset" is a moving and emotional song that captures the complexity of human relationships and the depths of emotion that can be explored through music. Its use of color symbolism, urgent lyrics, and melancholic melody make it a timeless classic that continues to resonate with listeners today.

Line by Line Meaning

Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
The red sails are visible in the distance as the ship carrying my loved one sails across the ocean

Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me
I hope the ship and its crew will safely bring my loved one back to me

She sailed at the dawning, all day I've been blue
My loved one departed early in the morning, and I've been feeling down all day since then

Red sails in the sunset, I'm trusting in you
I have faith in those red sails that they will guide my loved one home

Swift wings you must borrow
The wind must blow strongly to help the ship move faster

Make straight for the shore
Sail directly towards land to bring my loved one home sooner

We marry tomorrow
We are getting married tomorrow, and I want my loved one to be there with me

And she goes sailing no more
Once my loved one is safely home, she won't have to go out to sea anymore

Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea
The red sails are still visible as the ship moves further away from the shore

Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me
I repeat my request to those red sails to bring my loved one back home safely

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Wilhelm Grosz, Jimmy Kennedy

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS