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.
Tell Me Margarita
Les Baxter and His Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell me why, why I think of you yet
I know I'll never be free
What has happened to me?
Tell me why, when we danced until three
Tell me why, why my heart couldn't see
I never dreamed of romance
When I think of how you looked that day
In your gown of silk and lace
Should have known the day you came my way
That this was the time and the place
Tell me why I keep fooling my heart
When I know it was love from the start
Why don't we give it a try?
If you know, tell me why
Tell me why I keep fooling my heart
When I know it was love from the start
Why don't we give it a try?
If you know, tell me why
Tell me
Tell me why
The song "Tell Me Margarita" by Les Baxter and His Orchestra is a ballad about a man who is hopelessly in love with a woman named Margarita. The lyrics express the man's confusion and frustration at his inability to forget about Margarita, even though he knows he can never be with her. The song opens with the singer asking, "Tell me why, though I try to forget, tell me why, why I think of you yet." This line sets the tone for the rest of the song, which explores the man's attempts to move on from Margarita and why he can't seem to let her go.
Throughout the song, the man reminisces about a time when he and Margarita danced until three in the morning, and he realizes that he should have known then that she was the one for him. He wonders why he never gave romance a chance and why he keeps fooling his heart into thinking they could be together. The chorus of the song repeats the phrase "Tell me why," as if the singer is pleading for answers to his questions about his love for Margarita.
Overall, "Tell Me Margarita" is a poignant and emotional ballad that captures the pain and longing of unrequited love. The lyrics express the singer's deep feelings for Margarita and his frustration at not being able to be with her, while also acknowledging that he may never find the answers he seeks.
Line by Line Meaning
Tell me why, though I try to forget
Please explain to me why, even though I make an effort to forget you,
Tell me why, why I think of you yet
I am still thinking of you, and I want to know why,
I know I'll never be free
I am aware that I can never be free from your thoughts,
What has happened to me?
I am uncertain what has happened to me that I cannot stop thinking about you,
Tell me why, when we danced until three
Please explain to me why I keep remembering the time we spent dancing until three in the morning,
Tell me why, why my heart couldn't see
I want to know why my heart failed to recognize that I was falling for you,
I never dreamed of romance
I never thought that I would fall in love with anyone,
Never gave it a chance
I didn't give myself an opportunity to experience romantic love,
When I think of how you looked that day
Whenever I recollect how beautiful you looked on that day,
In your gown of silk and lace
Dressed in a silk and lace outfit,
Should have known the day you came my way
I should have realized that the day you came into my life,
That this was the time and the place
Was the perfect time and place for us to meet and fall in love,
Tell me why I keep fooling my heart
Kindly explain to me what is making me deceive my heart,
When I know it was love from the start
I am aware that the love I feel for you has been there since the beginning,
Why don't we give it a try?
Why don't we try to start a romantic relationship,
If you know, tell me why
If you have an answer to my question, please tell me,
Tell me why I keep fooling my heart
Kindly explain to me what is making me deceive my heart,
When I know it was love from the start
I am aware that the love I feel for you has been there since the beginning,
Why don't we give it a try?
Why don't we try to start a romantic relationship,
If you know, tell me why
If you have an answer to my question, please tell me,
Tell me
Please tell me,
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: JAMES SOMERVILLE, STEVE BRONSKI, LAWRENCE COLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind