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.
Love Dance
Les Baxter and His Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In thinking such a thing could be
That you could ever care for me
I'm sure you hate to hear
That I adore you, dear
But grant me
Just the same
For love
You'd be so easy to love
So easy to idolize
All others above
So worth the yearning for
So swell to keep every home fire burning for
We'd be so grand at the game
So carefree together
That it does seem a shame
That you can't see
Your future with me
Cause you'd be oh, so easy to love
The lyrics to Les Baxter and His Orchestra's Love Dance tell a story of unrequited love. The singer knows that they are wasting their time thinking that the person they are in love with could ever love them back, but they can't help feeling the way they do. The singer realizes that the person they love does not reciprocate those same feelings and they may even find it annoying that the singer adores them. However, the singer argues that they are not entirely to blame for loving this person.
The singer then goes on to describe just how easy it would be to love this person, to idolize them above all others, and how worth it that love would be. The singer yearns for them and says that they would be so good together, carefree and happy. The singer laments that the person they love can't see a future with them, because it would be so easy to love them. The song is a classic tale of unrequited love, with the singer longing for someone who does not feel the same way.
Line by Line Meaning
I know too well that I'm just wasting precious time
I am aware that I am wasting valuable time by thinking this way
In thinking such a thing could be
It is not likely that my desired outcome can become a reality
That you could ever care for me
It is unlikely that you will ever care for me in that way
I'm sure you hate to hear
I am sure that you dislike hearing that I love you
That I adore you, dear
I love you very much
But grant me
Please allow me to express my feelings
Just the same
Despite everything, my feelings remain the same
I'm not entirely to blame
I am not the only one responsible for my affection
For love
Because of love
You'd be so easy to love
You are someone that would be easy to love
So easy to idolize
It is easy to worship you
All others above
You are above everyone else to me
So worth the yearning for
You are worth the longing I feel for you
So swell to keep every home fire burning for
You are the one I want to keep the fire of love burning for
We'd be so grand at the game
We would be great at this thing called love
So carefree together
Together, we would be free from worry or responsibility
That it does seem a shame
It is regrettable that we are not together
That you can't see
It is unfortunate that you cannot see
Your future with me
That we could have a great future together
Cause you'd be oh, so easy to love
This is because you are someone who would be easy to love
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLE PORTER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
muana1313
Gostei imenso deste género de musica que não conhecia!
Muito obrigada Miguel
X FACTOR
LesBax always nails it. Listening to this, one could make the case Quiet Village may have been inspiration.
sha1om
This was the B-side of Quiet Village…
Miguel Angel Olondriz
Lex Baxter is the king of exotic music
THE BAD SEED
One of my favorites. I love the hypnotic part with whatever that sound is. Sounds like a muffled vocal with a kazoo-like instrument.
Rick Creighton
Those Exotica lps he did are some of the best stuff ever.
MontseAntares
¡¡¡ Muy bueno este vinilo Don Angel !!!... ¡¡¡ FELICIDADES !!!
Miguel Angel Olondriz
Esta es la joya de las joyas del exotísmo de Les Baxter y fíjate el año, es el año que nací yo, (los 2 temas anteriores me gustan más que este) he subido las piezas sueltas que no estaban, hay otras piezas sueltas en otros canales, incluso el disco entero
Katia Plant Scientist
You could dance salsa to this!
Nicolas Chéno
Sample by Boman here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Zixff1gqg