Hampton was born on 20th April 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky, but moved to Chicago as a child, where he began his career as a drummer. He relocated to Los Angeles to play drums in Les Hite's band. They soon became the house band for Frank Sebastian's New Cotton Club, a popular L.A. jazz club.
During a 1930 recording date in the NBC studios in L.A., Louis Armstrong discovered a vibraphone. He asked Hampton if he could play it. Hampton, who knew how to play the xylophone, tried it and they agreed to record a few records with Hamp on vibes. Hampton is credited with popularizing the vibraphone as a jazz instrument.
In the mid-1930s, the Benny Goodman Orchestra came to Los Angeles to play the Palomar Ballroom. John Hammond brought Goodman to see Hampton play. Goodman asked Hampton to move to New York City and join Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa who'd already formed a Benny Goodman Trio within the large band - to expand into the Benny Goodman Quartet. The Trio and Quartet were among the first racially integrated bands to record and play before wide audiences; they were just as well received at Goodman's famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert as was the full Goodman band.
While Hampton worked for Goodman in New York, he recorded with several different small groups known as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra as well as assorted small groups within the Goodman band. In the early 40s he left the Goodman organization to form his own touring band.
Hampton's band fostered the talents of Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon, Ernie Royal, Jack McVea, Charlie Mingus, Monk Montgomery, Wes Montgomery, Quincy Jones, Benny Golson, Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Clifford Brown, Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, Joe Williams, Arnett Cobb, Earl Bostic, and John Colianni among many others.
Hampton's recording of "Flying Home" (1939) with the famous honking tenor sax solo by Jacquet, later refined and expanded by Cobb (1946), is considered by some to be the first rock and roll record. He was known for his tireless energy and his skill on the vibes, drums, and lightning speed two-fingered piano. The bars on the vibraphone are laid out like the piano; Hampton played both instruments the same way.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Hampton and his band started playing at the University of Idaho's jazz concert, which in 1985 was renamed the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. In 1987 the University's music college was renamed the Lionel Hampton School of Music, the first and only university music college to be named after a jazz musician.
Lionel Hampton died of cardiac arrest at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York on 31st August 2002. He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.
Exactly like you
Lionel Hampton Lyrics
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Not a real one, just a dream
A wonderful vision of us as a team
Can you imagine how I feel now
Love is real now, it's ideal
You're just what I wanted
And now it's nice to live
Paradise to live
I know why I've waited
Know why I've been blue
Prayed each night for someone
Exactly like you
Why should we spend money
On a show or two
No one does those love scenes
Exactly like you
You make me feel so grand
I want to hand the world to you
I hope you'll understand
Each foolish little scheme I'm schemin'
And dream I'm dreamin'
Now I know why mother
Taught me to be true
She meant me for someone
Exactly like you
The lyrics of Lionel Hampton's "Exactly Like You" explore a feeling of fulfillment that comes with finding the perfect partner. The song starts with the artist describing a perfect sweetheart that he had always dreamt of. He tells the listener that this perfect sweetheart was not a real person, but a dream. This line is crucial: it underscores the fact that the singer had been looking for someone like his dream sweetie, and that finding someone like this is important to him. The singer goes on to say that he has now found this perfect partner in the present moment, and he feels elated. He realizes that love is real, and his present partner is precisely what he wanted. The song comes to a close with an admission that his mother had taught him to be true and that she intended him to find someone precisely like his new partner.
The song is a classic example of the love songs of the early twentieth century, which speaks to the significance of romance and devotion. The song was first recorded in 1930 and has since become an influential jazz standard. It is a popular song for swing dancers to dance along to, as it has an upbeat tempo that encourages playful movements. The lyrics of the song have been covered by many artists over the years, and the song has been featured in various movies and TV shows. The song's timeless nature is a testament to its importance in the history of popular music.
Line by Line Meaning
I used to have a perfect sweetheart
I once had an idealized version of what my perfect partner would be like
Not a real one, just a dream
This was just a fantasy and not based on anything real or tangible
A wonderful vision of us as a team
I imagined the two of us working together perfectly, as if we were on a sports team
Can you imagine how I feel now
Now that I've found someone who meets all those ideal qualities, it's hard to describe how happy I feel
Love is real now, it's ideal
I've finally found love that lives up to my idealized expectations
You're just what I wanted
You're the perfect person for me
And now it's nice to live
Now that I'm with you, life is wonderful
Paradise to live
Being with you feels like living in paradise
I know why I've waited
I now understand the reason why I had to wait for the right person to come along
Know why I've been blue
I now know why I was feeling down when I hadn't found you yet
Prayed each night for someone
I had been hoping and praying each night to find the perfect partner
Exactly like you
Someone who fits my idealized version of the perfect partner, just like you do
Why should we spend money
Why should we go out and spend money on entertainment?
On a show or two
Why should we go see movies, concerts or plays when we can just spend time together?
No one does those love scenes
No one can quite replicate the way we feel for each other
Exactly like you
Just like you, no one else can experience the love we have for each other
You make me feel so grand
Being with you makes me feel amazing and grand
I want to hand the world to you
I want to give you everything in the world
I hope you'll understand
I hope you'll understand how much I care for you
Each foolish little scheme I'm schemin'
There may be some things I do that are a bit foolhardy, but it's all in an effort to make you happy
And dream I'm dreamin'
I may be a bit of a dreamer, but that's because I want us to have the best life together
Now I know why mother
I now understand why my mother told me to be patient and wait for the right person
Taught me to be true
She wanted me to be true to myself and not settle for anything less than what I truly desired
She meant me for someone
My mother knew that there was someone out there who would perfectly complement me
Exactly like you
That person, of course, is you - you're everything I ever wanted in a partner
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Dorothy Fields, Jimmy Mchugh
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind