Shearing was born in the Battersea area of London, United Kingdom. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. He started to learn piano at the age of three. After limited training and extensive listening to recorded jazz, he began playing at hotels, clubs and pubs in the London area, sometimes solo, occasionally with dance bands. In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band and became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing with Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early 1940s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls.
In 1946, Shearing established himself in the United States. In 1955, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Leading a quintet (piano with guitar, bass, drums and vibraphone), which over the years included Cal Tjader, Margie Hyams, Denzil Best, Israel Crosby, Joe Pass and Gary Burton, Shearing had a succession of hugely popular records including September In The Rain and his own composition, Lullaby Of Birdland (1952). His style, including the joint playing of the melody by piano and vibraphone, was also widely copied, becoming part of the idiom of pop music, so that his records from that period now sound far less innovative than they did at the time. Later, Shearing played with a trio, as a solo and increasingly in duo. Among his collaborations have been sets with the Montgomery Brothers, Marian McPartland, Brian Torff, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and Kenny Davern.
In the 1970s, Shearing's profile had been lowered considerably, but upon signing with Concord Records in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a renaissance.
Over the years, Shearing has also collaborated with singers including Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Ernestine Anderson, Carmen McRae, and most notably, Mel Tormé, with whom he performed frequently in the late 80s and early 90s at festivals, on radio and for recordings.
Recently, Shearing collaborated with the John Pizzarelli Trio to create the album The Rare Delight of You, which garnered extremely good reviews. The album cover, featuring Pizzarelli and Shearing posing in front of a solid blue background, was designed to resemble the cover of Nat King Cole Sings George Shearing Plays, a legendary jazz recording with which it shares some similarities in style.
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solo's frequently draw upon the music of Debussy and, particularly, Erik Satie for inspiration. Shearing also made a recording with the classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell.
Shearing wrote a number of jazz arrangements of hymn tunes for the organ in collaboration with organist Dale Wood, that have been published in sheet music form.
(2) For a long stretch of time in the 1950s and early '60s, George Shearing had one of the most popular jazz combos on the planet -- so much so that, in the usual jazz tradition of distrusting popular success, he tended to be underappreciated. Shearing's main claim to fame was the invention of a unique quintet sound, derived from a combination of piano, vibraphone, electric guitar, bass, and drums. Within this context, Shearing would play in a style he called "locked hands," which he picked up and refined from Milt Buckner's early-'40s work with the Lionel Hampton band, as well as Glenn Miller's sax section and the King Cole Trio. Stating the melody on the piano with closely knit, harmonized block chords, with the vibes and guitar tripling the melody in unison, Shearing sold tons of records for MGM and Capitol in his heyday.
The wild success of this urbane sound obscures Shearing's other great contribution during this time, for he was also a pioneer of exciting, small-combo Afro-Cuban jazz in the '50s. Indeed, Cal Tjader first caught the Latin jazz bug while playing with Shearing, and the English bandleader also employed such esteemed congueros as Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, and Armando Peraza. As a composer, Shearing was best known for the imperishable, uniquely constructed bop standard "Lullaby of Birdland," as well as "Conception" and "Consternation." His solo style, though all his own, reflected the influences of the great boogie-woogie pianists and classical players, as well as those of Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, and Bud Powell -- and fellow pianists long admired his light, refined touch. He was also known to play accordion and sing in a modest voice on occasion.
Shearing, who was born blind, began playing the piano at the age of three, receiving some music training at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London as a teenager but picking up the jazz influence from Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller 78s. In the late '30s, he started playing professionally with the Ambrose dance band and made his first recordings in 1937 under the aegis of fellow Brit Leonard Feather. He became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing a key role in the self-exiled Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early '40s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls before emigrating in New York City in 1947 at the prompting of Feather. Once there, Shearing quickly absorbed bebop into his bloodstream, replacing Garner in the Oscar Pettiford Trio and leading a quartet in tandem with Buddy DeFranco. In 1949, he formed the first and most famous of his quintets, which included Marjorie Hyams on vibes (thus striking an important blow for emerging female jazz instrumentalists), Chuck Wayne on guitar, John Levy on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Recording briefly first for Discovery, then Savoy, Shearing settled into lucrative associations with MGM (1950-1955) and Capitol (1955-1969), the latter for which he made albums with Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, and Nat King Cole. He also made a lone album for Jazzland with the Montgomery Brothers (including Wes Montgomery) in 1961, and began playing concert dates with symphony orchestras.
After leaving Capitol, Shearing began to phase out his by-then-predictable quintet, finally breaking it up in 1978. He started his own label, Sheba, which lasted for a few years into the early '70s -- and made some trio recordings for MPS later in the decade. In the '70s, his profile had been lowered considerably, but upon signing with Concord in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a renaissance in all kinds of situations. He made a number of acclaimed albums with Mel Tormé, raising the singer's profile in the process, and recorded with the likes of Ernestine Anderson, Jim Hall, Marian McPartland, Hank Jones, and classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell. He also recorded a number of solo piano albums where his full palette of influences came into play. He signed with Telarc in 1992 and from that point through the early 2000s continued to perform and record, most often appearing in a duo or trio setting. Shearing, who had remained largely inactive since 2004 after a fall in his New York City apartment, died of congestive heart failure at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital on February 14, 2011. He was 91. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
Goodnight My Love
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Goodnight my love, my moment with you now is ending
It was so heavenly, holding you, close to me
It will be heavenly to hold you again in a dream
The stars above have promised to meet us tomorrow
Till then my love, how dreary the new day will seem
So for the present, dear, we'll have to part
Sleep tight, my love, goodnight, my love
Goodnight my love, your mommy is kneeling beside you
Goodnight my love, to dreamland the sandman will guide you
Come now you sleepyhead, close your eyes, and go to bed
My precious sleepyhead, you mustn't play peek-a-boo
Goodnight my love, your little Dutch dolly is yawning
Goodnight my love, your teddy bear called it a day
Your doggy's fast asleep, my but he's smart
Sleep tight, my love, goodnight my love
In George Shearing's song "My Silent Love," the lyrics speak to a bittersweet goodbye between two lovers. As the moon descends, one lover bids goodnight to the other and expresses their sadness that their moment together must come to a close. The intimacy that they shared in the embrace was like heaven, and the hope is that they would meet again in their dreams.
The stars above symbolize the promise of a future meeting, but until then, the new day without each other will be dreary. The heartache of separation is palpable. The lovers take solace in the fact that they belong to each other and that they shared something precious. The lyrics convey a sadness that speaks to the universal human experience of longing and separation.
Furthermore, the song takes an unexpected turn with the second verse. The tone shifts from a romantic goodbye between two lovers to a mother tucking her child into bed. The same refrain of "goodnight, my love" is applied as the parent says goodnight to their child. The lyrical juxtaposition of these two dramatically different situations adds another layer of depth to the song and allows multiple interpretations. One could interpret this shift to show the importance of unconditional love, with the same goodbye words applying to both scenarios, while someone else may find a deeper meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
Goodnight my love, the tired old moon is descending
It’s time to say goodnight my love as the moon is getting tired and moving downward.
Goodnight my love, my moment with you now is ending
I need to say goodnight to my love as our time together has come to an end.
It was so heavenly, holding you, close to me
It was a heavenly feeling to hold you and be close to you.
It will be heavenly to hold you again in a dream
It will be a heavenly experience to hold you in a dream since we are parting for the night.
The stars above have promised to meet us tomorrow
The stars above have promised to meet us tomorrow and bring us back together.
Till then my love, how dreary the new day will seem
Until then my love, the new day will seem so drab and boring without you around.
So for the present, dear, we'll have to part
So we will have to part for the time being, my dear.
Sleep tight, my love, goodnight, my love
Sleep well, my love, and have a good night.
Remember that you're mine sweetheart
Please remember that you are mine, my dear.
Goodnight my love, your mommy is kneeling beside you
Time for little ones to go to bed and their mother is by their side.
Goodnight my love, to dreamland the sandman will guide you
It's time to say goodnight, and the sandman will take you to the dreamland.
Come now you sleepyhead, close your eyes, and go to bed
It's time to sleep, close your eyes and drift off to sleep, my sleepyhead.
My precious sleepyhead, you mustn't play peek-a-boo
My precious sleepyhead, you shouldn't play peek-a-boo and be distracted from going to sleep.
Goodnight my love, your little Dutch dolly is yawning
It's time to say goodnight, and even your dolly is yawning.
Goodnight my love, your teddy bear called it a day
It's time to say goodnight, even your beloved teddy bear is tired and calling it a day.
Your doggy's fast asleep, my but he's smart
Even your pet doggy is fast asleep, and he's smart for finishing his sleep in time.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, ANTHEM ENTERTAINMENT LP
Written by: Harry Revel, Mack Gordon
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind