Frank Chacksfield, born Francis Charles Chacksfield (May 9, 1914 - June 9, … Read Full Bio ↴Frank Chacksfield, born Francis Charles Chacksfield (May 9, 1914 - June 9, 1995) was a popular conductor in the "easy listening" style.

He was born in Battle, East Sussex, England and is remembered by many music lovers and record collectors for his numerous albums and appearances on radio and television during the era following the second world war.

From the 1950s onwards, Chacksfield was one of Britain's most famous orchestra leaders, and his fame spread around the world. Early in his career he was fortunate to have several big sellers in the USA, which firmly established his reputation world-wide.

During his recording career with Decca alone, it is estimated that he sold 20 million copies.

Chacksfield learned to play the piano as a boy and became the deputy organist for the local church. Though his parents discouraged his pursuit of music as a career, he persevered. In the late '30s, when he was in his mid-20s, he was leading small musical bands in Britain. During World War II, he was assigned to the British Army entertainment unit, and after the war he became a regular performer on the BBC.

In 1953, he formed an orchestra he called "The Tunesmiths" and won a contract with Parlophone Records. Within two years, he expanded the group from a traditional big band into an orchestra with strings and released a series of "mood music" albums. His sound was similar to Mantovani and Melachrino. His biggest hits, in both the UK and the US, were "Ebb Tide" and "Limelight."

Chacksfield was also responsible for the musical arrangement of the first ever British entry into the Eurovision Song Contest, "All" by Patricia Bredin in 1957. Only because BBC musical director Eric Robinson insisted on accompanying Bredin to the contest in Frankfurt, Chacksfield did not get the chance to perform as a conductor on this international stage.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Chacksfield recorded a large number of instrumental recordings for Starborne Productions. The recordings were licensed for use by "Easy Listening" radio stations and functional music companies. The vast majority of these recordings were not made commercially available to the general public until 2007 by Starborne Productions.

How Deep Is the Ocean
Frank Chacksfield Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

How much do I love you?
I'll tell you no lie
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?

How many times a day do I think of you?
How many roses are sprinkled with dew?

How far would I travel
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?

And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry?
How deep is the ocean?
How high is the sky?

How far would I travel
To be where you are?
How far is the journey
From here to a star?

And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry?
How deep is the ocean?

How high is the sky?
How high is the sky?

Overall Meaning

These lyrics represent the depth and intensity of love that the singer feels for their beloved. The opening lines indicate that the singer is willing to speak the truth and be honest about the extent of their love. The questions that follow are rhetorical and serve to emphasize the infinite nature of their love by drawing comparisons to vast and boundless elements of nature. The lines "How many times a day do I think of you? How many roses are sprinkled with dew?" suggest that the singer's love is constant and unwavering, just as the dew on the roses stays consistent throughout the day.

The next stanza continues with the theme of distance, asking how far the singer would travel to be with their beloved and comparing this distance to that which exists between planets. This emphasizes that the singer is willing to go to great lengths to be with the one they love, even if it requires an immense amount of effort. The final lines return to the idea of loss, suggesting that the singer would be devastated if they ever lost their beloved, as evidenced by the repetition of the question about how much they would cry.

Overall, these lyrics convey a sense of deep love and commitment, as well as a fear of losing the object of that love. By drawing comparisons to nature, the songwriter emphasizes the vastness of their emotional connection, which cannot be contained or measured.

Line by Line Meaning

How much do I love you?
To what extent do I have affection for you?

I'll tell you no lie
I am being completely truthful.

How deep is the ocean?
What is the extent of my love for you?

How high is the sky?
What is the extent of my love for you?

How many times a day do I think of you?
How frequently do thoughts of you cross my mind?

How many roses are sprinkled with dew?
What is the frequency of a specific occurrence?

How far would I travel
What is the distance I would traverse?

To be where you are?
To arrive at your location?

How far is the journey
What is the distance of the travel?

From here to a star?
From my current location to a far-off point?

And if I ever lost you, how much would I cry?
The amount of sadness and tears shed if I were to lose you?