Baxter studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory before moving to Los Angeles for further studies at Pepperdine College. Abandoning a concert career as a pianist, he turned to popular music as a singer. At the age of 23 he joined Mel Tormé's Mel-Tones, singing on Artie Shaw records such as “What Is This Thing Called Love?”.
Baxter then turned to arranging and conducting for Capitol Records in 1950, and conducted the orchestra of two early Nat King Cole hits, “Mona Lisa” and “Too Young”. In 1953 he scored his first movie, the sailing travelogue Tanga Tika. With his own orchestra, he released a number of hits including “Ruby” (1953), “Unchained Melody” (1955) and “The Poor People Of Paris” (1956). He also achieved success with concept albums of his own orchestral suites: Le Sacre Du Sauvage, Festival Of The Gnomes, Ports Of Pleasure, and Brazil Now, the first three for Capitol and the fourth on Gene Norman's Crescendo label. The list of musicians on these recordings includes Plas Johnson and Clare Fischer.[citation needed] Baxter also wrote the “Whistle” theme from the TV show Lassie.
Baxter did not restrict his activities to recording. As he once told Soundtrack! magazine, “I never turn anything down”.
In the 1960s, he formed the Balladeers, a conservative folk group in suits that at one time featured a young David Crosby. He worked in radio as musical director of The Halls of Ivy and the Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello shows.
Like his counterparts Henry Mancini and Lalo Schifrin, Baxter later worked for the film industry in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked on movie soundtracks for B-movie studio American International Pictures where he composed and conducted scores for Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films and other horror stories and teenage musicals, including The Pit and the Pendulum, The Comedy of Terrors, Muscle Beach Party, The Dunwich Horror, and Frogs. Howard W. Koch recalled that Baxter composed, orchestrated and recorded the entire score of The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) in a total of three hours for $5,000.
When soundtrack work fell off in the 1980s, he scored music for theme parks such as SeaWorld.
According to Milt Bernhart, Nelson Riddle was a ghost writer for Baxter when Baxter was working for Nat King Cole. Bernhart states the Riddle told him that Baxter did not write the material on his exotica albums. Bernhart states that, while working for Baxter on recording a score for a Roger Corman film, it was apparent that Baxter could not conduct competently and “couldn't read the scores”. According to Bernhart, “Someone else had written the music.”
Gene Lees states that the exotica albums were written by Albert Harris and the material recorded with Yma Sumac was written by Pete Rugolo. According to Rugolo, he was paid $50 per arrangement to ghost for Les Baxter and that he “did a whole album with Yma Sumac”. A comparison of the Baxter album “Space Escapade” and Albert Harris' suite “Bachannal!” recorded by Frank De Vol shows a distinct similarity in both composition and arrangement, leading to the probability that Harris ghost wrote even more for Les Baxter.
Nelson Riddle held a grudge against Baxter for taking credit for Riddle's arrangements on two Nat King Cole hit recordings. According to André Previn, when collaborating once with Baxter, in the time Previn and Riddle had finished their parts, Baxter had written just one bar for woodwinds and included a note for the oboe that does not exist on the instrument.
Baxter, alongside Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman, is celebrated as one of the progenitors of exotica music. In his 1996 appreciation for Wired magazine, writer David Toop wrote that Baxter “offered package tours in sound, selling tickets to sedentary tourists who wanted to stroll around some taboo emotions before lunch, view a pagan ceremony, go wild in the sun or conjure a demon, all without leaving home hi-fi comforts in the white suburbs.”
Les Baxter has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6314 Hollywood Blvd.
Autumn Leaves
Les Baxter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais
Nous vivions tous deux ensemble
Toi qui m'aimais moi qui t'aimais
Mais la vie separe ceux qui s'aiment
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants desunis
The lyrics to this classic song "Autumn Leaves" are about the memories of love and loss associated with autumn. The falling leaves, which symbolize the transience of life, are juxtaposed with the memories of summer kisses and sun-burned hands held in love. The singer reflects on the fact that since the beloved has gone away, the days have grown long and winter is coming. The most painful feeling is experienced when autumn leaves start to fall, reminding the singer of the lost love.
The second verse, which is in French, adds depth and intimacy to the song. The lyrics convey the idea that the song is a reflection of the singer's own life situation as well as the universal experience of lovers who separate but cling to the memories of their life together. The French verse speaks of two lovers who once lived together and loved each other deeply, but who have now been separated by life. The ocean's waves erasing the footsteps of their love on the sand, serves as a metaphor for the impermanence of love and the inevitability of loss.
Line by Line Meaning
The falling leaves drift by the window
The leaves that have changed colors and are now falling in autumn move by the window slowly and gracefully.
The autumn leaves of red and gold
The leaves have turned from green to orange and yellow as the season of fall has been ushered in.
I see your lips, the summer kisses
I remember the warmth of your lips during the time we shared together.
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
I reminisce the touch of your hands as we basked in the sun's rays of warmth.
Since you went away the days grow long
I feel like every day lasts so much longer now that you're not here with me anymore.
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
The winter season is approaching and soon enough, its frigid winds and cold white embrace will be upon us.
But I miss you most of all my darling
I miss you more than anything in this world, my beloved.
When autumn leaves start to fall
The autumn leaves falling brings up all the emotions and memories of when we were still together.
C'est une chanson, qui nous ressemble
This song describes us perfectly, our love and our journey.
Toi tu m'aimais et je t'aimais
You loved me and I loved you.
Nous vivions tous deux ensemble
We lived our lives together side by side.
Toi qui m'aimais moi qui t'aimais
You loved me and I loved you equally.
Mais la vie separe ceux qui s'aiment
But life has this cruel way of tearing apart even those who love each other.
Tout doucement sans faire de bruit
It happens oh so gently, without any warning or noise.
Et la mer efface sur le sable les pas des amants desunis
And like the waves of the sea that erase footprints left on the sand, love also fades away leaving no trace behind of two souls that parted ways.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ryan Dennler
Some good music right here. Very well put together.
Judy Judd
Beautiful music!!!
Frank Youngwerth
This was a hugh hit for several, including Roger Williams in the 1950's. Sold in the millions, and was on the Hit Parade for a lengthy period of time. Was classified as "popular music" of that era.
54spiritedwill54
Very well put together.
airohfication
Splendid!
Eamon Browne
One of the best
frozenpeachie
Amazing This is so pretty:D
Jamie Carlisle
Les Baxter was known for Exotica which is Bachelor Pad music. The kind of music that a father would listen to while smoking his pipe wearing his smoking jacket.
Leslie Baxter Eaton
I'm so glad you're enjoying this..
Ralph Nuolo
Hello, are you Mr. Baxter relative?