Les Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American musician and… Read Full Bio ↴Les Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American musician and composer.

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.

Sabre Dance
Les Baxter and His Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

My heart begins to tingle when the bells begin to jingle
Zig-idee, zing, zing, zing, zig-I-dee zing zing
Zig-I-dee zing zing, zig-I-dee zing zing,
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance,
My heart beats try to capture all the rhythm and the rapture;
Zig-idee, zing, zing, zing, zig-I-dee zing zing
Zig-I-dee zing zing, zig-I-dee zing zing,
Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance.

Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom
I love the spell I'm under when the drums begin to thunder,
Boom-I-dee boom boom, boom-I-dee boom boom,
Boom-I-dee boom boom, boom-I-dee boom boom,
Like the tempo of a tropic rain,
When I hear trumpets blaring I can feel adventure flaring;
Ra-ta-ta tat tat, ra-ta-ta tat tat
Ra-ta-ta tat tat, ra-ta-ta tat tat
I am in a mood I can't explain,
I drift to an isle of perfume where summer roses eternally bloom,
There is a golden gleam waits my one wonderful dream;
Soon in a garden for two,
Lips cling to mine in the shadowy blue;
Arms filled with sweet delight hold me tight all through the night.
Music take me don't forsake me,
Let me be a ship lost at sea that the winds rock and roll;
Whirling, swirling, twirling, out of control,
That music drives me crazy,
Ev'rything becomes so hazy;
Drums are booming, cellos zooming,
Cymbals crashing, sabres flashing in a willy nilly sort of way,
I seem to hear it night and day;
Blending in romantic fashion, melody, moonlight and passion,
Riding high on heaven's highway,
Purple stars are guiding my way;
I am like a comet whizzing by,
Just when I get the feeling that the universe
Is reeling, suddenly the song is ending;
And I find that I'm descending like a star
That's falling from the sky,
Toppling! Twisting! Tumbling!
And down and down and down and down and
Roun' and roun' and roun' and roun' and
Down and down and down and down,

And I begin to spin into a trance
Ev'ry time they play that sabre dance

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Les Baxter and His Orchestra's song Sabre Dance describe the intoxicating effect that the music has on the singer. The ringing of the bells and the beating of the drums create a mesmerizing rhythm that captures the heartbeats of the singer. The music transports the singer to a tropical paradise where the sweet scent of summer roses fills the air. The melody, moonlight, and passion of the music blend together into a romantic frenzy, and the singer is lost in a trance of whirling, swirling, and twirling.

The music makes everything "so hazy", and the drums are booming, cellos are zooming, and cymbals are crashing in a "willy nilly sort of way." The sabres are flashing as the music drives the singer crazy. Despite the chaos of the music, the purple stars of the heavens guide the singer's way. When the song ends, the singer descends like a star that's falling from the sky. The singer knows that they will be entranced once again by the Sabre Dance, and the music will drive them into the same dizzying frenzy.

Line by Line Meaning

My heart begins to tingle when the bells begin to jingle
I feel ecstatic when I hear the sound of the bells ringing

Zig-idee, zing, zing, zing, zig-I-dee zing zing
The rhythm of the sabre dance makes my heart skip a beat

Ev'ry time they play the sabre dance,
Whenever the sabre dance is played, I can't resist its allure

My heart beats try to capture all the rhythm and the rapture;
I am captivated by the melody and rhythm of the sabre dance

Zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom, zoom
The energy of the drum beats sends me into a trance

I love the spell I'm under when the drums begin to thunder,
I am mesmerized by the power of the drum beats

Like the tempo of a tropic rain,
The intensity of the music is similar to the pouring of rain in the tropics

When I hear trumpets blaring I can feel adventure flaring;
The sound of the trumpets ignites a sense of adventure within me

Ra-ta-ta tat tat, ra-ta-ta tat tat
The beat of the snare drum fills me with excitement

I am in a mood I can't explain,
I am overcome with emotions that I cannot put into words

I drift to an isle of perfume where summer roses eternally bloom,
I am transported to a place where the scent of roses fills the air

There is a golden gleam waits my one wonderful dream;
I have a vivid and precious dream that awaits me

Soon in a garden for two,
I imagine myself in a romantic setting with a partner

Lips cling to mine in the shadowy blue;
I embrace a passionate and intimate moment

Arms filled with sweet delight hold me tight all through the night.
I feel the warmth and comfort of being held tightly in loving arms

Music take me don't forsake me,
I beg the music to never leave me behind

Let me be a ship lost at sea that the winds rock and roll;
I surrender myself to the music and let it take me on a wild ride

Whirling, swirling, twirling, out of control,
I am lost in the chaos and beauty of the music

That music drives me crazy,
The music makes me lose my mind in the best way possible

Ev'rything becomes so hazy;
My surroundings become blurry and indistinct because of the music

Drums are booming, cellos zooming,
The percussion and string instruments create an explosive sound

Cymbals crashing, sabres flashing in a willy nilly sort of way,
The cymbals clash and sabres cut through the air in a chaotic manner

I seem to hear it night and day;
The music is constantly in my head day and night

Blending in romantic fashion, melody, moonlight and passion,
The music evokes a sense of romance, moonlight, and intense emotions

Riding high on heaven's highway,
The music takes me on a delightful and heavenly journey

Purple stars are guiding my way;
I feel as if the stars are aligned with the music as my guide

I am like a comet whizzing by,
I feel as if I am a blazing comet moving at great speed

Just when I get the feeling that the universe Is reeling, suddenly the song is ending;
Just when I am completely swept up in the music, it comes to an unanticipated end

And I find that I'm descending like a star
As the music fades, I feel as if I am descending from a great height

That's falling from the sky,
Like a shooting star plummeting from the sky

Toppling! Twisting! Tumbling!
I feel like I am toppling, twisting, and tumbling as the music comes to a close

And down and down and down and down and Roun' and roun' and roun' and roun' and Down and down and down and down,
I feel like I am spinning and falling downwards as the music ends

And I begin to spin into a trance
The music sends me into a hypnotic state of mind

Ev'ry time they play that sabre dance
Whenever the sabre dance is played, it has a powerful effect on me

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ARAM ILJITSCH KHACHATURIAN, WALTER WILLIAM SHILLITTO

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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