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.

The High and the Mighty
Les Baxter and His Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I was high and mighty,
How I laughed at love
And the stars above,
Then you came like a gentle flame
And helped me to find my way!
I was high and mighty
And I told my heart
Where to stop and start,

Now I find that I was blind,
I'm learning it day by day!
Love can change things,
Rearrange things,
Oh, what strange things
Love can do!
I'm not high and mighty
But I have what's worth
All the gold on earth,

I have you and I give my heart
Forever and ever to you, you, you!

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Les Baxter's song High and Mighty speak to the transformative power of love. The singer starts off feeling as if he is above it all, laughing at love and the heavens above. However, when his significant other enters the picture, he begins to see things in a new light. Instead of being high and mighty, he finds himself brought down to a level where he is open to learning new things and experiencing the wonders of love. As the lyrics state, "Love can change things, rearrange things, oh, what strange things love can do!"

Through the help of his significant other, the singer realizes that he was once blind and is now learning more about love every day. The progression of the lyrics showcases how love changed the singer's perspective and helped him realize that what he once thought was important, such as material possessions and status, doesn't compare to the value of having someone to love forever. The singer realizes that love is worth more than all the gold on earth, and he is willing to give his heart to his significant other forever and ever.

Overall, the lyrics to High and Mighty depict the transformative power of love and how it can change someone's perspective on life. It speaks to how love can humble people and help them prioritize what's important in life.

Line by Line Meaning

I was high and mighty,
I used to have an arrogant attitude.

How I laughed at love
I used to mock love and its value.

And the stars above,
Even celestial things were beneath my contempt.

Then you came like a gentle flame
You arrived in my life like a warm, flickering light.

And helped me to find my way!
You aided me in discovering the right path to take in life.

I was high and mighty
I was prideful and conceited.

And I told my heart
I made decisions solely based on my own desires.

Where to stop and start,
I dictated how far to pursue things and when to cease.

Now I find that I was blind,
I realize now that I was foolish and shortsighted.

I'm learning it day by day!
I'm gradually comprehending the error of my ways.

Love can change things,
Love has the potential to transform things entirely.