Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Mancini's father, Quinto, was a steelworker, who made his only child begin flute lessons at the age of eight. When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After high school, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a South German concentration camp.
Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band to classical to pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name composer of easy listening music.
Mancini's range also extended to orchestral and ethnic scores (Lifeforce, The Great Mouse Detective, Sunflower, "Tom and Jerry: The Movie", Molly Maguires, The Hawaiians), and darker themes ("Experiment In Terror," "The White Dawn," "Wait Until Dark," "The Night Visitor").
Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime. Among the symphony orchestras he conducted are the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis and with Andy Williams, who had sung many of Mancini's songs.[citation needed]
Mancini had experience with acting and voice roles. In 1994 he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series Frasier, as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?" Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie Gunn, the movie version of the series Peter Gunn, the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.
Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20 Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.
Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career.
Mancini died at the age of 70 in Beverly Hills/Los Angeles, California of pancreatic cancer. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of Victor/Victoria. At the time of his death, Mancini was married to singer Virginia "Ginny" O´Connor, with whom he had three children. Ginny Mancini went on to found the Society of Singers a non profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts and holds the annual Ella Awards.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers(ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001.
The Windmills of Your Mind
Henry Mancini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind!
The lyrics to Henry Mancini's song "The Windmills of Your Mind" paint a picture of a cyclical, ever-spinning world where time and memories blur together into an endless, hypnotic cycle of thought. The imagery is vivid and surreal, with references to snowballs, carousels, clocks, and windmills creating a dreamlike atmosphere that captures the feeling of being caught in one's own thoughts. The repeated metaphor of circles within circles reinforces the sense of a never-ending cycle, while the suggestion of forgotten dreams and memories that can never be fully grasped creates a sense of wistfulness and nostalgia.
The final verse of the song introduces a sense of romantic longing, with the lines "When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware / That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!" This last line adds a note of poignancy to the song's meditative tone, suggesting that the circular nature of time and memory can also be a source of pain and loss. Through its intricate and imaginative use of language, "The Windmills of Your Mind" creates a mesmerizing portrait of the mind at work, and the way our thoughts and memories shape our perception of the world around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
The cyclical nature of life, with events repeating themselves and creating a larger pattern.
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
There is no clear starting point or end point in the cycle of life, which continues relentlessly regardless of our actions.
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Life events can build upon themselves, becoming larger and more overwhelming, much like a snowball rolling down a mountain or a balloon that grows larger as it's filled with air.
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
The cycle of life seems never-ending, much like a carousel running perpetually, despite the distant and unreachable moon.
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
Time is constantly moving forward, like the hands of a clock, and we can only watch as it passes us by.
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
The world spins endlessly, with orbits and patterns echoing the cycle of life as a whole.
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!
These images are symbolic of the mental processes that enable us to make connections and discover deeper meanings within these events.
Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
The cycle of life can lead to unexpected paths and outcomes, like a maze that continually opens up new paths.
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
We can discover new and unknown parts of ourselves, like a cave where light never touches.
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream
Past memories can resurface in our consciousness, creating disorienting and surreal experiences.
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Small actions can have profound consequences, like throwing a pebble in a stream that creates ripples that affect the entire surface of the water.
Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
The mundane and everyday can have deeper significance and meaning, like the sound of keys jingling or words echoing in our minds.
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
The rapid pace of time can be disorienting and leave us wondering about the choices and actions that shape our lives.
Lovers walking along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
The transience of human relationships is mirrored in the changing landscape around us, with the footprints of lovers being washed away by the tides.
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
The perceptions and experiences that shape our lives may be rooted in our own minds, rather than outside sources that we cannot control.
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
The past can be a source of nostalgia and contemplation, with images and sounds evoking memories and emotions that we may not fully understand.
Half-remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
Our memories and experiences are shaped by the people we have met, but over time these connections can fade and become nebulous or unclear.
When you knew that it was over, you were suddenly aware
The realization that a chapter of our lives has come to a close can be jarring and wake us from the mental patterns we've grown accustomed to.
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Nature reflects the cycles of life, with the turning leaves evoking the fleeting memories of a past love.
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find, in the windmills of your mind!
The cycle of life is a tapestry of interconnected images and experiences, with each moment building upon the last and leading to new and unexpected paths.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand, Alan Bergman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind