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.
Ruby
Les Baxter Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Not always what you seem
And though my heart may break when I awake
Let it be so
I only know, Ruby, it's you
They say, Ruby you're like a song
You don't know right from wrong
But from the start, who stole my heart?
Ruby, it's you
I hear your voice and I must come to you
I have no choice what else can I do?
They say, Ruby you're like a flame
Into my life you came
And though I should beware
Still I don't care you thrill me so
Les Baxter's 1952 song "Ruby" is a classic love song that romanticizes an enigmatic woman named Ruby. The song is based on Ruby, a woman who is like a dream and not always what she seems. However, the singer's heart may break when he lets go of this dream, but he accepts this possibility with equanimity. Though they don't know where to draw the line between right and wrong, he sees the aches and pains of his heart in Ruby's eyes. He confesses that he feels helpless when he hears Ruby's voice and is compelled to seek her out. Despite sensing danger from Ruby, he is mesmerized by how she thrills him so.
The song captures the feeling of desire and danger that often accompanies love. It tells the story of a man who is willing to take a risk for love despite the danger that may be involved. The concept of Ruby, the woman who is like a dream, not always what she seems, and a flame that can consume a man's heart, is an allusion to the precious gemstone. Ruby, like the gemstone, is a symbol of passion, devotion, and love. The song is a testament to the power of love that can make a person lose their rationality and act against their better judgment.
Line by Line Meaning
They say, Ruby you're like a dream
The people around me say that you are like a dream.
Not always what you seem
You are not always what you appear to be.
And though my heart may break when I awake
Even though it hurts me sometimes to face the reality of our relationship.
Let it be so
I have no control over my feelings for you.
I only know, Ruby, it's you
You are the only person who can make me feel this way.
They say, Ruby you're like a song
The people around me say that you are like a song.
You don't know right from wrong
You are not always aware of what is right or wrong.
And in your eyes I see heart aches for me
I can see the pain that you feel for me when I look into your eyes.
But from the start, who stole my heart?
But I cannot help but fall in love with you.
Ruby, it's you
It is you who I have fallen in love with.
I hear your voice and I must come to you
When I hear your voice, I feel a strong need to be with you.
I have no choice what else can I do?
I cannot resist the pull of my love for you.
They say, Ruby you're like a flame
The people around me say that you are like a flame.
Into my life you came
You came into my life and changed everything.
And though I should beware
Even though I know that I should be cautious.
Still I don't care you thrill me so
I cannot help but be thrilled by you and my feelings for you outweigh any caution I should have.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HEINZ ROEMHELD, MITCHELL PARISH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Thoseoldphonos 57
I have a promo 45 of Les performing a tune called "ruby lips", and I STILL can't find it on YouTube. It's backed with another one I can't find, called "The lonely whisperer", and they're both very good.