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 was credited with the early Nat King Cole hits, "Mona Lisa" and "Too Young", but both were actually orchestrated by Nelson Riddle.[1] (In later releases of the recordings the credit was corrected to Riddle.[citation needed]) Not a uncommon practice these days: Baxter himself had arranged Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" in 1947 for a recording conducted by Frank De Vol. In 1953 he scored his first film, 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). The latter recording sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.[2]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.
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 besuited and conservative folk group that at one time featured a young David Crosby.[citation needed] He operated in radio as musical director of The Halls of Ivy and the Bob Hope and Abbott and Costello shows.
Like his counterparts Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin and James Horner, Baxter later worked for the film industries from 1960s to 70s. He worked on movie soundtracks for 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, Panic in Year Zero!, Beach Party, The Comedy of Terrors,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.[3]
With less soundtrack work in the 1980s, he scored music for theme parks and SeaWorlds. In the 1990s, Baxter was widely celebrated, alongside Martin Denny and the Arthur Lyman Group, as one of the progenitors of what had become known as the "exotica" movement. In his 1996 appreciation for Wired magazine, writer David Toop remembered Baxter thus:
"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".
Baxter has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6314 Hollywood Blvd.
Lost In Meditation
Les Baxter and His Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And my reverie
Brings you back to me
For in my imagination
Love has lingered on
As though you'd never gone.
This is just a dream that cannot last
So I sit in meditation
Trying to pretend this mood will never end.
I am lost in meditation
And my reverie
Brings you back to me
For in my imagination
Love has lingered on
As though you'd never gone.
This is just a dream that cannot last
When the magic of this mood has passed.
So I sit in meditation
Trying to pretend this mood will never end.
The lyrics of Les Baxter and His Orchestra's song Lost In Meditation express the feeling of being lost in thought and reliving a past love through the power of imagination. The singer is meditating and through the magic of the moment, they imagine their former lover, reliving memories of love that seem to have never faded away. It is a bittersweet expression of love, as the singer is aware that this moment of reverie is fleeting and cannot last.
The song conveys a sense of longing, and a desire to keep hold of the moment, to relive the love that once was. It speaks of the power of our imagination and how we can use it to transport ourselves to a different time and place. While lost in meditation, the singer tries to hold on to the feeling of love, hoping that the moment never ends.
Overall, the lyrics of Lost In Meditation are a poignant expression of love and the power of the human imagination. It speaks of the fleeting nature of love, but also the ability of our minds to relive cherished memories.
Line by Line Meaning
I am lost in meditation
I am fully absorbed in deep thought or contemplation.
And my reverie
And my daydream or state of being lost in thought.
Brings you back to me
Brings back memories of you or a desire to reunite with you.
For in my imagination
Because in my mind or mental image.
Love has lingered on
Love has remained present or persistent.
As though you'd never gone.
As if you had never left or disappeared from my life.
This is just a dream that cannot last
This is an unrealistic or fleeting fantasy that will inevitably end.
When the magic of this mood has passed.
When the enchanting or captivating feeling of this state is over.
So I sit in meditation
So I continue to focus my thoughts and remain in this mental state.
Trying to pretend this mood will never end.
Attempting to deceive myself or hold onto the illusion that this state will last forever.
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DUKE ELLINGTON, IRVING MILLS, JUAN TIZOL, LOU SINGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Julia H
You can feel it. Standing on an ivy covered, stone balcony, barefoot. Looking out over a moonlit lagoon, surrounded by thick jungle, seeing the moon and stars reflected on the gently rippling surface. The cool night breeze, whispering in your ear, playing with your hair, on your neck. Just you. And the night.
TEMAOHI2787
SUMPTUOUS!!!!
Scott Segraves
When I was first realizing I wanted to make radio my career instead of the legal thing that "III" on the end of my name meant my family had planned for me, I loved listening to Milt Haynes doing "Music Till Midnight" on KRMG/Tulsa. This was its theme melody.
Murat MORSÜMBÜL
Thanksomuch.