Thomas Wright Waller was the youngest of four children, born in New York to Adeline Locket Waller and Reverend Edward Martin Waller. He started playing the piano when he was six and graduated to the organ of his father's church four years later. At the age of fourteen he was playing the organ at Harlem's Lincoln Theater and within twelve months he had composed his first rag. Waller's first piano solos ("Muscle Shoals Blues" and "Birmingham Blues") were recorded in October 1922 when he was 18 years old.
He was the prize pupil, and later friend and colleague, of stride pianist James P. Johnson. Fats Waller was the son of a preacher and learned to play the organ in church with his mother. Overcoming opposition from his clergyman father, Waller became a professional pianist at 15, working in cabarets and theaters. In 1918 he won a talent contest playing Johnson's "Carolina Shout", a song he learned from watching a player piano play it.
Waller was one of the most popular performers of his era, finding critical and commercial success in his homeland and in Europe. He was also a prolific songwriter and many songs he wrote or co-wrote are still popular, such as "Honeysuckle Rose", "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Squeeze Me". Fellow pianist and composer Oscar Levant dubbed Waller "the black Horowitz". Waller composed many novelty tunes in the 1920s and 1930s and sold them for relatively small sums. When the compositions became hits, other songwriters claimed them as their own. Many standards are alternatively and sometimes controversially attributed to Waller. Waller's son Maurice wrote in his 1977 biography of his father, that once he was playing "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby" when he heard his father complaining from upstairs and came down and admonished him never to play that song in his hearing, saying that he had to sell that song when he needed some money. He even made a recording of it in 1938 with Adelaide Hall who, coincidentally, had introduced the song to the world (at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in 1928), in which he played the tune but made fun of the lyrics. Likewise, Maurice noted his father's objections whenever he heard "On the Sunny Side of the Street" played on the radio.
The anonymous sleeve notes on the 1960 RCA (UK) album Handful of Keys state that Waller copyrighted over 400 new songs, many of which co-written with his closest collaborator Andy Razaf. Razaf described his partner as "the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy".[citation needed] Gene Sedric, a clarinetist who played with Waller on some of his 1930s recordings, is quoted in these same sleeve notes recalling Waller's recording technique with considerable admiration: "Fats was the most relaxed man I ever saw in a studio, and so he made everybody else relaxed. After a balance had been taken, we'd just need one take to make a side, unless it was a kind of difficult number."
Waller played with many performers, from Nat Shilkret (on Victor 21298-A) and Gene Austin to Erskine Tate to Adelaide Hall, but his greatest success came with his own five- or six-piece combo, "Fats Waller and his Rhythm".
His playing once put him at risk of injury. Waller was kidnapped in Chicago leaving a performance in 1926. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by Al Capone. Waller was ordered inside the building, and found a party in full swing. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. A terrified Waller realized he was the "surprise guest" at Capone's birthday party, and took comfort that the gangsters did not intend to kill him. According to rumor, Waller played for three days. When he left the Hawthorne Inn, he was very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.
In 1926, Waller began his recording association with Victor Records, his principal record company for the rest of his life, with the organ solos "St. Louis Blues" and his own composition, "Lenox Avenue Blues". Although he recorded with various groups, including Morris's Hot Babes (1927), Fats Waller's Buddies (1929) (one of the earliest interracial groups to record), and McKinney's Cotton Pickers (1929), his most important contribution to the Harlem stride piano tradition was a series of solo recordings of his own compositions: "Handful of Keys", "Smashing Thirds", "Numb Fumblin'", and "Valentine Stomp" (1929). After sessions with Ted Lewis (1931), Jack Teagarden (1931), and Billy Banks's Rhythmakers (1932), he began in May 1934 the voluminous series of recordings with a small band known as Fats Waller and his Rhythm. This six-piece group usually included Herman Autrey (sometimes replaced by Bill Coleman or John "Bugs" Hamilton), Gene Sedric or Rudy Powell, and Al Casey.
Waller wrote "Squeeze Me" (1919), "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now", "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929), "Blue Turning Grey Over You", "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling" (1929), "Honeysuckle Rose" (1929), and "Jitterbug Waltz" (1942). He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf. He composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys", "Valentine Stomp" and "Viper's Drag".[citation needed]
He enjoyed success touring the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1930s. He appeared in one of the first BBC broadcasts. While in Britain, Waller also recorded a number of songs for EMI on their Compton Theatre organ located in their Abbey Road Studios in St John's Wood. He appeared in several feature films and short subject films, most notably "Stormy Weather" in 1943, which was released July 21, just months before his death. For the hit Broadway show, "Hot Chocolates", he and Razaf wrote "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" (1929), which became a hit for Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong.
Waller performed Bach organ pieces for small groups on occasion. Waller influenced many pre-bop jazz pianists; Count Basie and Erroll Garner have both reanimated his hit songs (notably, "Ain't Misbehavin'"). In addition to his playing, Waller was known for his many quips during his performances.
Between 1926 and the end of 1927, Waller recorded a series of pipe organ solo records. These represent the first time syncopated jazz compositions were performed on a full sized church organ.
Waller contracted pneumonia and died on a cross country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri on December 15, 1943, after making a final recording session with an interracial group in Detroit that included white trumpeter Don Hirleman. He was on his way back to Hollywood for more film work, after the smash success of "Stormy Weather". Coincidentally, as the train with the body of Waller stopped in Kansas City, so stopped a train with his dear friend Louis Armstrong on board.
Revival and awards
2008 Gennett Records Walk of Fame
2005 Jazz at Lincoln Center: Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame
1993 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1989 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1970 Songwriters Hall of Fame
Recordings of Fats Waller were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honour recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance".
Fats Waller: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards
1934 "Honeysuckle Rose" Jazz (Single) Victor in 1998
1929 "Ain't Misbehavin'" Jazz (Single) Victor in 1984 Listed in the National Recording Registry
by the Library of Congress in 2004.
Subject of the Irish poet Michael Longley's "Elegy for Fats Waller".
Waller's organ music is prominently featured in the David Lynch film Eraserhead.
He was caricatured in several Warner Brothers animated shorts, most notably Tin Pan Alley Cats.
In the 2008 film, Be Kind Rewind Fats Waller was a major theme and influence for the storyline.
Italian comics book artist Igort published a comic book about Waller entitled Fats Waller on Coconino Press in 2009.
Some of Waller's music ("Jitterbug Waltz") is used in the video game series BioShock.
Waller's version of "Louisiana Fairytale" was used for many years as the theme song to This Old House.
A Broadway musical revue showcasing Waller tunes entitled Ain't Misbehavin' was produced in 1978. (The show and a star of the show, Nell Carter, won Tony Awards.) The show opened at the Longacre Theatre and ran for over 1600 performances. It was revived on Broadway in 1988. Performed by five African American actors, it included such songs as "Honeysuckle Rose", "This Joint Is Jumpin'", and "Ain't Misbehavin'".
Star Dust
Fats Waller Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
The lonely nights
Dreaming of a song
The melody
Haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
You are in my arms
The nightingale
Tells his fairytale
Of paradise, where roses grew
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
Fats Waller's song "Star Dust" tells the story of a person who is reminiscing about a past love. The opening lines create a sense of melancholy with the image of the purple dusk of the twilight time stealing across the meadows of the heart. The stars climbing up high in the sky remind the singer of the distance between him and the person he loves. The second stanza reveals the depth of the longing, with the singer admitting to spending lonely nights dreaming of a song that haunts his reverie. This song takes him back to a time when his love was new, and every kiss was an inspiration. In this part of the song, the singer is transported back to a time when he was happy, but unfortunately, that was long ago. The final stanza is about the singer's futile attempts to get over this lost love, as he finds himself dreaming in vain. He can find his consolation only in the memory of the love's refrain, the stardust melody.
Line by Line Meaning
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
As the sun sets, the darkness slowly creeps in and fills my heart with emptiness and sorrow.
Steals across the meadows of my heart
The nightfall's shadow blankets the field of love and vanishing memories that reside inside me.
High up in the sky the little stars climb
The little blinking stars rise far away, making me think of you floating away from me too.
Always reminding me that we're apart
The stars keep reminding me that we are apart, and these sparkling stars serve as the sad witness of it.
You wander down the lane and far away
You have gone far away and went down the memory lane, but the residue of your past love remains
Leaving me a song that will not die
You left, leaving behind a song that continues to play in my mind, offering a recurring reminder of our forgotten affair.
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
Our love has now become a pile of stardust, which was once shining bright and beautiful.
The music of the years gone by.
The song represents the music of the emotion we had back then, continuing to play in before my drowning thoughts of you.
Sometimes I wonder, how I spend
On certain days, I find myself thinking about how I spent my nights with you.
The lonely nights
The memories of your love make me feel lonely and incomplete in the vast, empty nights.
Dreaming of a song
I dream of the past where our love used to offer a beautiful melody that I now long for.
The melody
Our love's melody comes alive in my dreams at night, soothing my sadness.
Haunts my reverie
I am haunted by the memories of our love, and it melds into my gloriously vivid dreams.
And I am once again with you
In my heart and mind, I am once again holding you tightly, experiencing the love of yesteryears.
When our love was new
My mind rewinds to the days when our love was new, and the world was perfect, devoid of bitterness and resentment.
And each kiss an inspiration
Each kiss inspired a spark of love and passion within me, transporting me to a paradise of emotions.
But that was long ago
Those distant days are long gone, replaced by a painful memory of a love that I couldn't retain.
And now my consolation is in the stardust of a song
Now lost in the memories of your love, the only thing that consoles me is the stardust that your melody has left in me.
Besides the garden wall, when stars are bright
In the evenings, besides the garden wall when stars are shining bright, you come back to me in my thoughts and dreams.
You are in my arms
I embrace you tightly in my imagination, revisiting fond moments that brought us joy.
The nightingale
The nightingale sings its song, and its melody gives me hope that our love will bloom once again.
Tells his fairytale
The nightingale narrates a story of love in his song, and I long for our own fairytale to repeat itself.
Of paradise, where roses grew
The nightingale's story mentions a paradise of love, where roses bloomed, where our love used to exist.
Though I dream in vain
Although my dreams may be futile, they offer me solace and longing for something that was once real.
In my heart it will remain
The memories of our love will remain forever in my heart despite everything.
My stardust melody
The tune of our love has now dwindled to a pile of stardust, a mere memory of what was once beautiful.
The memory of love's refrain.
The recollection of our dance, and the sweet embrace of our love will echo in my heart forever, making me remember our love for eternity.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRISTOPHER GENTRY, JOHN HUTCHINSON DEAN, MATTHEW EVERITT, SIMON IAN WHITE, STUART BLACK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@tubeytubetuber
Fats Waller was such a charming musician.. this is beautifully played.
@gargan1977tua
What a gorgeous touch, he was a master player and a wonderful composer.
@AnthonySmith22
75 years in the future and Fats is still the man.
@bryanleigh6497
85
@aoxomoxoa88
Dad used to play the piano, did loads of gigs around London and modelled himself on "Fats", dressed like him too! I was brought up with this music and I love it!
@dknoire
Imagine you sit in a bar and hear this song played by him.
@big3ye378
+Mado Oh my god, I love imagining that.
@argus1393
Oh god if only......
@johntechwriter
He's in several movies from the '30s. Steals every scene of course. Here he does justice to Hoagy Carmichael's masterpiece.
@missmerrily4830
So sad that we never will, but aren't we lucky to live in a time when we can access such great music as this so easily?