It was Norman Granz, the iconic producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic and the founder of Verve Records, who, upon hearing Pass in 1970, immediately recognised the "new talent" and signed him to Granz's new Pablo Records label (named for Granz's friend Pablo Picasso).
In 1974, Pass released his landmark solo album "Virtuoso" on Pablo Records. Also in 1974, Pablo Records released the album "The Trio" featuring Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. "The Trio" won a Grammy award for best jazz performance. As part of the Pablo Records "stable," Pass also recorded with Benny Carter, Robert Conti, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan and others.
Pass is known for his brilliant chord melody work where he simultaneously plays walking bass and chord melodies.
Offbeat
Joe Pass Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A ship to keep our memories afloat
I wanna hit rewind
Playback a hundred times
The moment when our hearts aligned
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la
La la la la la la la la
Forget the air
I'll breathe you instead
Fill up my lungs
Forget to exhale
Exhale
I'll be down
You be my offbeat
Let's make a rh-rh-rh-rhythm
In harmony
Waltz to our 3/4
Cause you put the art in my heart
Your warmth & sunny rays
I'll save for rainy days
To break in case of emergency
Then I'll shut these eyes
Playback a thousand times
The moment when our hands intertwined
Forget the air
I'll breathe you instead
Fill up my lungs forget to exhale
Exhale
I'll be down
You be my offbeat
Let's make rh-rh-rh-rhythm
In harmony
Waltz to our 3/4
Cause you put the art in my heart
The song "Offbeat" by Joe Pass talks about the power of memories and love. The singer desires to have a library full of their love story and a ship to keep their memories alive. The chorus talks about how the singer wants to relive the moments of love again and again, never wanting to let go of the feeling. The singer would rather breathe in their loved one and forget to exhale than to fill their lungs with air. The line "I'll be down, you be my offbeat" suggests that the singer is willing to follow their loved one's lead, creating a rhythm in harmony. The song ends with the singer talking about saving their loved one's warmth and sunny rays for rainy days, reliving the moment of their hands intertwining a thousand times.
The lyrics of the song are quite powerful and use metaphors beautifully. The line "Fill up my lungs forget to exhale" suggests that the singer is so in love that they would rather forget to breathe out than let go of their loved one. The line "Waltz to our 3/4", the time signature of a waltz, creates a feeling of grace and elegance, fitting perfectly with the theme of the song. The use of the ship as a metaphor to keep memories afloat is quite interesting and unique.
Line by Line Meaning
I want a library full of our stories
I desire to have a vast collection of our memorable moments stored in my memory
A ship to keep our memories afloat
I wish for a safe haven to preserve all the precious times we have spent together
I wanna hit rewind
I yearn to revisit the times that we have cherished and relive them once again
Playback a hundred times
I want to replay those beautiful moments multiple times to keep them alive in my memory
The moment when our hearts aligned
That specific moment when our love for each other got intensified and our hearts became one
Forget the air
I don't need to breathe the air since I'm already breathing you in
I'll breathe you instead
I'll take a deep breath of you as if you are the air that I breathe in
Fill up my lungs
I want you to take over all the space in my lungs and become an essential element for my survival
Forget to exhale
I don't want to exhale since I want to keep you inside me, as long as possible
I'll be down
I'll submit myself completely to you
You be my offbeat
I want you to be my partner, even if we are off the beat, so that we can create beautiful music together
Let's make a rh-rh-rh-rhythm
Together we will create a unique rhythm with our heartbeats
In harmony
We will work together to create a melody that is in perfect sync
Waltz to our 3/4
Let's dance to a waltz in our unique timing of 3/4 beat
Cause you put the art in my heart
You are the inspiration behind all the creativity that flows out of me, you are like an art to my heart
Your warmth & sunny rays
You are like summer, warm and bright, adding happy vibes to my life
I'll save for rainy days
I'll keep you stored during the sad times to look back at and boost myself up
To break in case of emergency
I'll break the glass when I'm in dire need of sunshine and warmness
Then I'll shut these eyes
I'll close my eyes and vividly remember the happy moments to give me peace and solace
Playback a thousand times
I'll want to relive those moments thousands of times to keep me smiling and elated
The moment when our hands intertwined
The instant that our hands locked, signifying our connection and love
Writer(s): Joe Pass
Contributed by Lincoln V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.