Throughout the 1950s and early-1960s, Jackie Gleason enjoyed a secondary mu… Read Full Bio ↴Throughout the 1950s and early-1960s, Jackie Gleason enjoyed a secondary music career, lending his name to a series of best-selling mood music albums with jazz overtones for Capitol. Gleason felt there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals. He recalled seeing Clark Gable play love scenes in movies, and the romance was, in his words, "magnified a thousand percent" by background music. Gleason reasoned, "If Gable needs music, a guy in Brooklyn must be desperate!"

Gleason could not read or write music in a conventional sense; he was said to have conceived melodies in his head and described them vocally to staff help. He did likewise with the well-remembered themes of both The Jackie Gleason Show ("Melancholy Serenade") and The Honeymooners ("You're My Greatest Love"). There has been some controversy over the years as to how much credit Gleason should have received for the finished products; it has been written that beyond the possible conceptualizing of many of the songs, Gleason had no direct involvement such as conducting in the making of these recordings. However, his main musical companion, cornetist and trumpeter Bobby Hackett once said: "Jackie knows a lot more about music than people give him credit for. I have seen him conduct a sixty-piece orchestra and detect one discordant note in the brass section. He would immediately stop the music and locate the wrong note. It always amazed the professional musicians how a guy who technically did not know one note from another could do that. And he was never wrong."

Born February 26, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, United States. He died on June 24, 1987

I Concentrate on You
Jackie Gleason Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Whenever skies look gray to me
And trouble begins to brew,
Whenever the Winter winds become too strong,
I concentrate on you.

When fortune cries "Nay! Nay!" to me
And people declare "You're through!",
Whenever the blues become my only song,

I concentrate on you.

On your smile so sweet, so tender,
When at first your kiss I decline.
On the light in your eyes when I surrender,
And once again our arms intertwine;

And so, when wise men say to me
That love's young dream never comes true,

To prove that even wise men can be wrong,
I concentrate on you.

Overall Meaning

In Jackie Gleason's song "I Concentrate on You", the singer is describing the different difficult times that he goes through in life. These can range from gray skies, troubled times, and strong winter winds, to bad luck and people telling him he's finished - leading to feelings of sadness and the blues. However, the singer notes that during these times, he always finds comfort and solace in his thoughts of the person he loves. They are the focus of his concentration, and their smile, kiss, and the light in their eyes bring him back to a place of happiness and love. The singer notes that even when wise men suggest that love's dream will never come true, he proves them wrong by his ability to concentrate on his love and the happiness that it brings him.

Line by Line Meaning

Whenever skies look gray to me
When I am feeling down and hopeless

And trouble begins to brew,
And problems seem to crop up everywhere

Whenever the Winter winds become too strong,
When everything around feels cold and bleak

I concentrate on you.
I focus my thoughts and feelings on you

When fortune cries "Nay! Nay!" to me
When luck seems to be against me

And people declare "You're through!",
And others think I am done for

Whenever the blues become my only song,
When I am feeling sad and lonely

I concentrate on you.
I focus my thoughts and feelings on you

On your smile so sweet, so tender,
I think of your lovely, gentle smile

When at first your kiss I decline.
When I first resist your advances

On the light in your eyes when I surrender,
But then see the warmth in your eyes when I give in