By 14, Les Brown was already a seasoned professional, and he started what would be the first of many bands; 'The Royal Serertadore'. Although the sax remained his main interest, Les also studied and mastered the classical clarinet while at Ithaca Conservatory of Music. (Years later, Les said he ended his solo clarinet playing career after listening to Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Jimmy Dorsey, and Woody Herman, and decided that he "wasn't in their class as a soloist and never would be.") After Ithaca Conservatory, he enrolled at Duke University and performed with the 'Blue Devils' for four years, taking over as leader in his junior year. The final performance of Les, and the Blue Devils, was in 1936 at Budd Lake, NJ, the hometown of Georgia Claire De Wolfe. Two years later, in September of 1938, Claire and Les became husband and wife.
Les took jobs arranging for the bands of Isham Jones, Larry Clinton and others, but he was keen to lead his own band again, and with the help of two 'angels', a new Les Brown band was born. His first big hit was a novelty tune written by Ben Homer and "deejay" Alan Courtney. It was "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" based on Joe DiMaggio's amazing 56-game hitting streak that had the entire U.S.A. talking that summer of 1941. Les wasn't able to record the song for two years, however, due to a musician's union recording ban imposed in 1942.
As soon as the recording ban was lifted, Les and the band great vocals by Henry "Butch" Stone (sax and vocals), and Doris Day, whose recording of "Sentimental Journey" became the perfect theme song for all the young men returning home from the war. It remained the number one song in the country for sixteen weeks, stayed on the Hit Parade for months, and has since become an undeniable standard in the lexicon of what composer Alec Wilder called 'American Popular Song'.
By this time, the band was known as "Les Brown and the Band of Renown", a name born on the spot when the band was about to perform live one night on the radio from the Palladium. Since the 60s, Les and his band have never stopped performing. They have continued making records and still perform about 60 dates a year making them the oldest existing band in America. In April of 1996, the Guiness Book of World Records awarded Les with the distinction of being the leader of the longest lasting musical organization in the history of popular music. Les' band is also very well remembered for the amount of traveling and radio shows they did with famed comedian Bob Hope.
Black Coffee
Les Brown and His Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Haven't slept a wink
I walk the floor and watch the door
And in between I drink
Black coffee
Love's a hand me down brew
I'll never know a Sunday
In this weekday room
I'm talking to the shadows
From 1 o'clock til 4
And lord, how slow the moments go
When all I do is pour
Black coffee
Since the blues caught my eye
I'm hanging out on Monday
My Sunday dreams to dry
Now a man is born to go a lovin'
A woman's born to weep and fret
To stay at home and tend her oven
And drown her past regrets
In coffee and cigarettes
I'm moaning all the morning
And mourning all the night
And in between it's nicotine
And not much heart to fight
Black coffee
Feelin' low as the ground
It's driving me crazy just waiting for my baby
To maybe come around... around
I'm waiting for my baby
To maybe come around
My nerves have gone to pieces
My hair is turning gray
All I do is drink black coffee
Since my man's gone away
The lyrics to Les Brown and His Orchestra's song "Black Coffee" reveal the sorrow and pain of a woman left alone by her lover. She is lonesome, unable to sleep and spends her days and nights pouring and drinking black coffee to fill the void left by her lover's absence. She talks to the shadows, mourning and moaning all day and all night, with no heart fight left in her. She pours her heart out in the lyrics, describing her feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, and her inability to escape her sorrow.
The lyrics also touch on the societal expectations placed on men and women. The man is expected to go out and love while the woman is expected to stay home, tend to the oven, and drown her regrets in coffee and cigarettes. The woman is left to bear the brunt of the pain, while the man moves on with his life, leaving behind a trail of heartbreak and sorrow. The song creates a poignant picture of the loneliness and despair felt by those left behind after a relationship ends, and the inability to escape the pain and constant reminder of what once was.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm feeling mighty lonesome
I'm feeling very lonely
Haven't slept a wink
I haven't slept at all
I walk the floor and watch the door
I pace around and keep looking at the door
And in between I drink
And during breaks, I drink
Black coffee
I drink black coffee
Love's a hand me down brew
Love is not personal, but it's passed down from one person to another
I'll never know a Sunday
I'll never experience happiness or joy
In this weekday room
Because of my sadness, every day feels like a weekday
I'm talking to the shadows
I'm speaking to the shadows on the walls
From 1 o'clock til 4
From one in the morning until four in the morning
And lord, how slow the moments go
Time is moving very slowly
When all I do is pour
When all I do is pour coffee
Since the blues caught my eye
Ever since I became sad
I'm hanging out on Monday
I'm feeling sad and depressed even on Mondays
My Sunday dreams to dry
I can't even enjoy the little happiness I used to experience on Sundays
Now a man is born to go a lovin'
Men are born to pursue love and relationships
A woman's born to weep and fret
Women are born to feel sad and worry
To stay at home and tend her oven
To stay at home and do household work
And drown her past regrets
To forget past mistakes
In coffee and cigarettes
By drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes
I'm moaning all the morning
I'm groaning throughout the morning
And mourning all the night
And crying throughout the night
And in between it's nicotine
And during breaks, I smoke nicotine
And not much heart to fight
And not much determination to fight my sadness
Feelin' low as the ground
Feeling worthless and depressed
It's driving me crazy just waiting for my baby
It's frustrating me to wait for my partner
To maybe come around... around
To possibly come back to me
I'm waiting for my baby
I'm waiting for my partner
To maybe come around
To possibly come back to me
My nerves have gone to pieces
My nerves are breaking down
My hair is turning gray
I'm experiencing stress and anxiety
All I do is drink black coffee
All I do these days is drink coffee
Since my man's gone away
Since my partner left me
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Francis Joseph Burke, Paul Francis Webster
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind