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.

Vieni Vieni
Les Baxter and His Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Viene su, viene su, viene
Come along through the years with me
Can't you see how I adore you
And how long I've waited for you?
Viene su, viene su, won't you say you love me too?

Can't you see how I adore you
And how long I've waited for you?

Viene su, viene su, won't you say you love me too?

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Les Baxter and His Orchestra's song "Vieni Vieni" express the idea of a promise of love and devotion. The phrase "Quand tu me siffleras vieni, vieni" (when you whistle vieni, vieni) is a symbolic gesture indicating that the singer will always be there for their loved one. The repeated phrase "Vieni, vieni" also reinforces this idea of always being available.

The lyrics also suggest that the love the singer feels is strong and one-sided. The line "Je peux quand je veux aimer pour deux" (I can love for two when I want to) implies that the singer is willing to love endlessly, even if it is not reciprocated. The final lines of the song repeat the importance of the loved one and their all-encompassing nature. "Car je ne peux vivre, vivre, vivre, sans toi, sans toi, sans toi" (because I cannot live, live, live without you, without you, without you) demonstrate the dependence the singer has on their loved one.

Overall, the lyrics to "Vieni Vieni" depict themes of devotion, love, and the idea of the importance of a loved one.

Line by Line Meaning

Quand tu me siffleras vieni, vieni
When you whistle to me, come to me

Pour toi pour toi je serai là !
For you, for you, I will be there!

Vieni, vieni ni vieni, vien' ici
Come, come or come here

Vieni, vieni, vieni si
Come, come, come if

Vieni si tu m'aimes autant que je t'aime
Come if you love me as much as I love you

Ou plus que je t'aime
Or more than I love you

Même si tu m'aimes bien moins que je t'aime
Even if you love me much less than I love you

Vieni, vieni, viens quand même
Come, come, come anyway

Je peux quand je veux aimer pour deux
I can love for two when I want to

Aimer pour deux
Love for two