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
Killing Me Softly With His Song
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there
And he just kept on singing, singing clear and strong
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
He was strumming my pain, yeah, he was singing my life
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
With his song
The lyrics to "Killing Me Softly With His Song" by George Shearing describe the powerful and emotional impact that a singer has on the singer. The singer is able to "strum [his] pain with his fingers" and "sing [his] life with his words," conveying the deepest and most personal parts of his being. It's as if the singer knows the singer intimately and is able to express his emotions and experiences in ways that he never could.
The singer is drawn to the singer's style and decides to listen to him perform, and he is immediately moved by the young boy's talent. However, as the performance goes on, the singer becomes overwhelmed by the intense emotions that the singer is able to evoke. He feels as though the singer is reading his personal letters and exposing his secrets to the crowd, and he is left feeling exposed and vulnerable.
Despite this discomfort, the singer is captivated by the singer's skill and his ability to convey the singer's innermost thoughts and feelings. The singer is able to look deep into the singer's soul and sing with a clarity and strength that is both beautiful and painful. Ultimately, the singer recognizes that the singer is "killing [him] softly with his song," as the weight of his emotional revelations feels overwhelming.
Overall, "Killing Me Softly With His Song" is a powerful and evocative exploration of the way that music can tap into our deepest emotions and experiences, and how it can feel both healing and destructive at the same time.
Line by Line Meaning
Strumming my pain with his fingers
He is playing the music that expresses the turmoil of my soul.
Singing my life with his words
He is telling my story, expressing my emotions and experiences through his lyrics.
Killing me softly with his song
His music is so powerful and moving that it is overwhelming me and affecting me deeply.
Telling my whole life with his words
He is able to capture the entirety of my existence and communicate it through his lyrics.
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
I was intrigued by the positive things I had heard about his talents and unique approach to music.
And so I came to see him to listen for a while
I wanted to experience his music firsthand and see if it lived up to the hype.
And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
He was a new and unfamiliar figure to me, yet his music felt instantly familiar.
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
His music caused a powerful physical and emotional response in me, making me feel overwhelmed and exposed among the onlookers.
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
His music seemed to reveal the innermost thoughts and secrets that I had kept hidden away from the world.
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on
As much as I was being affected by his music, it felt almost too intense to bear, yet he continued to play and sing without any hesitation.
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
His lyrics seemed to resonate with my deepest struggles and pains, as if he had a profound understanding of my innermost thoughts and emotions.
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there
Despite the deep connection I felt through his music, it seemed as though he was completely unaware of my presence or existence.
And he just kept on singing, singing clear and strong
His voice continued to rise above the crowd and carry his powerful message, even as I struggled to process the intensity of his music.
He was strumming my pain, yeah, he was singing my life
His music felt almost like a direct reflection of my own experiences and emotions, as if he was expressing them for me in a way that I couldn't.
With his song
His music had the power to move and affect me in ways that I had never experienced before.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Robin Spielberg, Norman Gimbel, Charles Fox
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind