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
You're Too Beautiful
Jackie Gleason Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I am a fool for beauty
Fooled by a feeling that because I have found you
I could have bound you too
You are too beautiful for one man alone
For one lucky fool to be with
When there are other men
Love does not stand sharing
Not if one cares
Have you been comparing
My every kiss with theirs
If, on the other hand, I'm faithful to you
It's not through a sense of duty
You are too beautiful
And I am a fool for beauty
Love does not stand sharing
Not if one cares
Have you been comparing
My every kiss with theirs
If, on the other hand, I'm faithful to you
It's not through a sense of duty
You are too beautiful
And I am a fool for beauty
The song You're Too Beautiful, written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, is a haunting exploration of the complex emotions that arise around love and beauty. The singer of the song is besotted with a woman who is so beautiful that she exceeds the bounds of what he can comprehend. He is aware of his own foolishness and vulnerability in the face of the intense feelings that she inspires in him. He recognizes that he could never possess her fully, and that there will always be other men who are drawn to her beauty. In this sense, the song is both a celebration and a lament for the transcendent power of beauty.
The song contains several contradictory impulses that speak to the complexity of human emotions. On the one hand, the singer acknowledges that love does not stand sharing, and that he feels possessive and jealous of the woman's beauty. On the other hand, he admits that his faithfulness to her is not out of a sense of duty, but rather a recognition of her unique, ineffable beauty. The song is thus a meditation on the ways in which love and beauty can inspire both joy and pain, passion and possessiveness.
Line by Line Meaning
You are too beautiful, my dear, to be true
You are so stunningly beautiful that it's hard to believe you are real, my love
And I am a fool for beauty
I am easily deceived by beauty and am willing to do anything for it
Fooled by a feeling that because I have found you
I am tricked by the idea that just because I found you, I can keep you
I could have bound you too
I thought I could tie you down and keep you for myself
You are too beautiful for one man alone
Your beauty is too much for only one man to enjoy
For one lucky fool to be with
It would take a fortunate fool to be with someone as beautiful as you
When there are other men
There are other men in the world
With eyes of their own to see with
Who have their own eyes to see your beauty with
Love does not stand sharing
When you truly love someone, you cannot bear to share them with anyone else
Not if one cares
It's impossible if you truly care about that person
Have you been comparing
Have you been comparing my love to someone else's
My every kiss with theirs
Have you been comparing the way I kiss you to the way they do
If, on the other hand, I'm faithful to you
However, if I remain loyal to you
It's not through a sense of duty
It's not out of obligation or responsibility
You are too beautiful
It's because you are so incredibly beautiful
And I am a fool for beauty
And I am a foolish man who is easily swayed by the allure of beauty
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind