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

What Now My Love
Jackie Gleason Lyrics

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What now my love
Now that you left me
How can I live through another day
Watching my dreams turn into ashes
And all my hopes into bits of clay
Once I could see, once I could feel
Now I am numb
I've become unreal

I walk the night, oh, without a goal
Stripped of my heart, my soul
What now my love
Now that it's over
I feel the world closing in on me
Here come the stars
Tumbling around me
And there's the sky where the sea should be

What now my love
Now that you're gone
I'd be a fool to go on and on
No one would care, no one would cry
If I should live or die

What now my love
Now there is nothing

Only my last goodbye
Only my last goodbye

Overall Meaning

In What Now My Love, Jackie Gleason sings about the pain of losing someone and not knowing what to do with oneself once that person is gone. The song talks about the emptiness one feels after a breakup, emphasizing the difficulty in moving on from that person. Gleason speaks to the melancholic nature of the song by painting a vivid image of a dismal reality where his dreams have turned to ashes and his hopes have crumbled into bits of clay. One moment he is able to see and feel everything, but now he is numb and unable to figure out how to deal with his loss.

As the song goes on, the singer seems to be lost, wandering aimlessly throughout the night, with no destination or goal. Jackie conveys how he has lost his heart and soul, and now he is just a shell of his former self. The night looms over him with an ominous presence, a reminder that he has nowhere to go, nothing to do.

Gleason uses the lyrics to paint a vivid picture of a person in deep pain, bereft of hope and completely alone. With the loss of love, everything around him falls apart, as if the world is closing in on him. Even the stars that once shone so brightly now fall around him, and the sky is a dismal reminder of his lost love. The final verses are a resignation that nothing really matters anymore. Nothing needs to happen because the damage is already done. The emotions conveyed in this song are timeless in their relatability, and Gleason's delivery is sincere and melancholic.

Line by Line Meaning

What now my love
What do I do now that you're gone?

Now that you left me
Since you've left me, what do I do?

How can I live through another day
It's difficult to face each new day without you

Watching my dreams turn into ashes
All my hopes and dreams are gone

And all my hopes into bits of clay
Everything I hoped for is now broken and pointless

Once I could see, once I could feel
I was once able to see and feel so much, but now I can't

Now I am numb
I'm emotionless and disconnected from everything around me

I've become unreal
I don't feel like a real person anymore

I walk the night, oh, without a goal
I wander aimlessly, with no purpose or direction

Stripped of my heart, my soul
I feel like I've lost the core of who I am

Now that it's over
Since it's all done and gone