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.
Willow Weep For Me
Lionel Hampton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Willow weep for me
Bend your branches green along the stream that runs to sea
Listen to my plea
Listen willow and weep for me
Yes, gone my lovers dream
Lovely summer dream
Sad as I can be
Hear me willow and weep for me
[Chorus:]
Oh, whisper to the wind and say that love's a sin
Leave my heart a-breaking, and making a moan
Murmur to the night to hide her starry light
So none will find me sighing, crying all alone
Oh, willow weep tree
Weeping sympathy
Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me
When the shadows fall, bend over willow and weep for me
[Chorus]
Yes, willow weep tree
Weeping sympathy
Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me
When the shadows fall, bend over willow and weep for me
Yes
, Lionel Hampton and Oscar Peterson's song "Willow Weep For Me" is a beautifully melancholic tune that speaks of lost love and sadness. The lyrics describe a person who has been left by their lover and is pleading with a willow tree to weep along with them. The tree is seen as a symbol of nature's empathy, as it has been known to bend down and cover gravesites, providing comfort to the grieved. The singer asks the willow to listen and hear their weeping and to lend their sympathetic tears.
The chorus of the song takes on a more melancholic tone as the singer asks the wind to whisper that love is a sin and to hide the stars so that they can cry alone in the dark. The second verse repeats the theme of the first, with the singer asking the tree for weeping sympathy and to cover them with its branches.
Line by Line Meaning
Yes, willow weep for me
I'm asking the willow tree to weep for me
Willow weep for me
Repeat of the first line asking the willow tree to weep for me
Bend your branches green along the stream that runs to sea
I'm asking the willow tree to bend its branches over the stream that leads to the sea
Listen to my plea
I'm asking the willow tree to listen to my plea
Listen willow and weep for me
I'm asking the willow tree to listen to me and weep for me
Yes, gone my lover's dream
My lover's dream has vanished
Lovely summer dream
My lover's dream was a beautiful summer dream
Gone and left me here to weep my tears into the stream
My lover has left me alone to cry my tears into the stream
Sad as I can be
I'm feeling extremely sad
Hear me willow and weep for me
I'm again asking the willow tree to listen to me and weep for me
Oh, whisper to the wind and say that love's a sin
I'm asking the wind to whisper and proclaim that love is a sin
Leave my heart a-breaking, and making a moan
I want my heart to be in continuous, heart-wrenching pain
Murmur to the night to hide her starry light
I'm asking the night sky to cover its starry light
So none will find me sighing, crying all alone
I want to remain hidden so that no one sees me crying and sighing alone
Oh, willow weep tree
I'm asking the willow tree to weep for me once again
Weeping sympathy
I'm calling the willow tree a sympathetic crier
Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me
I want the willow tree to bend its branches and cover me with them
When the shadows fall, bend over willow and weep for me
I'm asking the willow tree to bend over me and weep for me when the shadows fall
Yes, willow weep tree
Repeat of the request for the willow tree to weep for me
Weeping sympathy
Repeat of calling the willow tree a sympathetic crier
Bend your branches down along the ground and cover me
Repeat of wanting the willow tree to cover me with its branches
When the shadows fall, bend over willow and weep for me
Repeat of asking the willow tree to bend over me and weep for me when the shadows fall
Yes
Closing acknowledgment of the request for the willow tree to weep for me
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Ann Ronell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind