Lou Rawls, who learned of gospel music through his grandmother in Chicago, became a successful singer, primarily from the 1950s through the 1980s. He was a high school classmate of music giant Sam Cooke, and they sang together in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a '50s gospel group.
After graduating from Chicago's Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a local gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, Rawls replaced Cooke in the Highway QC's after Cooke departed to join The Soul Stirrers in Los Angeles. Rawls was soon recruited by the Chosen Gospel Singers and himself moved to Los Angeles, where he subsequently joined the Pilgrim Travelers
After graduating from Chicago's Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, Rawls enlisted in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the "All-Americans" three years later as a sergeant, and hooked up with The Pilgrim Travelers as he traveled to Los Angeles. In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was in a serious car crash. Rawls was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. It took him months to regain his memory, and a year to fully recuperate. Rawls considered the event to be life-changing.
Alongside Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was recovered enough by 1959 to be able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1962, the same year he sang the soulful background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording of "Bring it on Home to Me." Rawls himself charted with a cover of the song in 1970 (with the title shortened to "Bring It On Home").
Rawls' first Capitol solo release was Stormy Monday (a.k.a. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water), a jazz album. On August 21, 1966, he opened for The Beatles at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.
Though his 1966 album Live! went gold, Rawls would not have a star-making hit until he made a proper soul album, appropriately named Soulin', later that same year. The album contained his first R&B #1 single, "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing". In 1967 Rawls won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single "Dead End Street."
In 1969, the singer was co-host of NBC's summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show along with Martin's daughter, singer Gail Martin.
After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single "Natural Man." He had a brief stint with Bell Records in 1974, where he recorded a cover of Hall & Oates' "She's Gone." In 1976, Rawls signed with Philadelphia International Records, where he had his greatest album success with the million-selling All Things in Time. The album produced his most successful single, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine", which topped the R&B and Adult Contemporary charts and went to number two on the pop side, becoming Rawls' only certified million-selling single in the process.
Subsequent albums, such as 1977's When You've Heard Lou, You've Heard It All yielded such hit singles as "Lady Love". Other releases in the 1970s included the classic album Sit Down And Talk To Me.
In 1982, Rawls received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On the night of September 29, 1977, Rawls performed the national anthem of the United States prior to the Earnie Shavers-Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. He would be requested to sing the anthem many times over the next 28 years, and his final performance of it came on October 23, 2005. The crowd at that performance may not have known that Rawls was extremely ill with cancer, but he reportedly delivered an electrifying performance to kick off Game Two of the 2005 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros.
In 1980, Rawls began the "Lou Rawls Parade of Stars Telethon" which benefits the United Negro College Fund. The annual event, known since 1998 as "An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence", consists of stories of successful African-American students who have benefited from and/or graduated from one of the many historically black colleges and universities who receive support from the UNCF, along with musical performances from various recording artists in support of the UNCF's and Rawls' efforts. The event has raised over US$200 million in 27 shows for the fund through 2006.
In January 2004, Rawls was honored by the United Negro College Fund for his more than 25 years of charity work with the organization. Instead of hosting and performing as he usually did, Rawls was given the seat of honor and celebrated by his performing colleagues, including Stevie Wonder, The O'Jays, Gerald Levert, Ashanti, and many others. His final television performance occurred during the 2005-2006 edition of the telethon, honoring Stevie Wonder in September 2005, just months before entering the hospital and after having been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year. This program, aired in January, 2006, contains his final public television performance, where he performed two classics, "You Are the Sunshine of My Life," and a final ode to Frank Sinatra with, "It Was A Very Good Year."
At the time of Rawls' death, news and UNCF figures noted the significance of Rawls' final performance, "It Was a Very Good Year." The song is a retrospective of one's life and its lyrics include, "When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for small town girls and soft summer nights...And now those days grow short, it is the autumn of years, and now I think about life as vintage wine from fine old kegs, from the brim to the dregs, it pours sweet and clear, it was a very good year."
Rawls appeared in a segment of the first season of Sesame Street, to sing the alphabet. He dismissed the concept of using cue cards for the performance, but reversed such decision when he forgot the order of the letters.
Throughout Rawls' singing career, he had the opportunity to appear in many films, television shows, and commercials. He can be seen in such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. He had a supporting role in the Baywatch spin-off, Baywatch Nights. He also appeared in the western television series, Big Valley, (starring legend Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans) where he played a hired hand. Here, he delivered the memorial line: "Ain't a horse that can't be rode; ain't a man that can't be throwed".
Rawls lent his rich baritone voice to many cartoons, including Hey Arnold! as the voice of Harvey The Mailman, Garfield, and The Proud Family. For many of the Film Roman Garfield specials, Rawls would often compose songs for them, which he would then sing usually doing a duet with Desiree Goyette. He also was famously in American sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
For many years, he was a spokesperson for the Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company. He was also a spokesman for Budweiser, helping promote the brand on radio and TV to African-American markets much as Ed McMahon did for the white audience. Budweiser was a key sponsor for the Rawls telethon and UNCF.
Rawls was also a regular guest host on "Jazz Central", a program aired on the BET Jazz cable channel.
He appears as "Dr. Rawls" in a dream on an episode My Wife and Kids, where he breaks into a parody version of "You'll Never Find", which a frightened Damon Wayans is afraid of having a colonoscopy the following day. Rawls uses the scope as a microphone in the scene. Rawls appears as a commentator in the second half of the unrated commentary of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
Rawls was also a guest star during the second season of The Muppet Show. He also made a brief appearance on the series finale of Martin. (The show's character Tommy is excited to see Lou Rawls at Nipsey's and mentioned that his favorite song is "Natural Man." Lou replied that he received a letter from a female claiming that she and her boyfriend broke up because of the song. This eludes to the episode where Tommy and Pam decide to move in together, but winded up fighting and ultimately breaking up because Tommy played the song "Natural Man" so much that it drove Pam crazy.)
The following is a list of Lou Rawls singles that made the top 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. His first Hot 100 entry was "Three O'Clock in the Morning" in 1965, and his final was "Wind Beneath My Wings" in 1983. In addition to those two, nine other singles peaked at positions below the top 50 on the Hot 100, and additional singles reached the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Bubbling Under charts.
* "Love Is a Hurtin' Thing" - 1966, #13 (also #1 R&B)
* "Dead End Street" - 1967, #29
* "Show Business" - 1967, #45
* "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)" - 1969, #18
* "A Natural Man" - 1971, #17
* "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine" - 1976, #2 (also #1 R&B and #1 Adult Contemporary); certified Gold for sales of one million copies
* "Lady Love" - 1978, #24
IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR
Lou Rawls Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for small town girls
And soft summer nights
We'd hide from the lights
On the village green
When I was seventeen
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for city girls
Who lived up the stair
With all that perfumed hair
And it came undone
When I was twenty-one
When I was thirty-five
It was a very good year
It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
Of independent means
We'd ride in limousines
Their chauffeurs would drive
When I was thirty-five
But now the days grow short
I'm in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
From fine old kegs
From the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
It was a mess of good years
The lyrics of "It Was A Very Good Year" by Lou Rawls is a reflection on the different stages of life that the singer has gone through, with each stage being associated with different types of girls. The first verse speaks of the singer's younger days at the age of 17, where he reminisces about simpler times in small town America, with small town girls and soft summer nights. The imagery of hiding from the lights on the village green and the youthful naivety captured in the lyrics reinforce this idea of a simpler time.
The second verse shifts the focus of the song to the singer's early adulthood, specifically his life at the age of 21. He now lives in the city and has more experience with the so-called "city girls". Despite experiencing somewhat more superficial relationships, these women are depicted as having "all that perfumed hair", suggesting a sort of luxurious and exotic lifestyle that might have seemed out of reach in his hometown.
Lastly, in the third verse, the song takes a different turn, capturing the singer's life at the age of 35. He is now used to dating blue-blooded girls of independent means who can afford to ride in limousines. The imagery of the chauffeurs driving the girls around develops the theme of luxury hinted at in previous verses. However, the melancholic undertones of the song begin to unfold, as the singer realizes that he is now at a stage in his life where he has to look back on his memories of younger days with nostalgia and longing.
Overall, the song takes the listener on a journey through the different stages of life that the singer has experienced, with each stage being associated with different types of girls. The lyrics capture the nostalgia and bittersweet feelings often associated with reminiscing about youth.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was seventeen
At the age of seventeen, life was an amazing experience full of hope and opportunity.
It was a very good year
Life was vibrant and full of great experiences, with many opportunities to explore new things and enjoy the moment.
It was a very good year for small town girls
Young women in small towns had a lot of opportunities to experience life in a meaningful way, with lots of supportive friends and family around them.
And soft summer nights
The summer nights were warm and gentle, creating the perfect environment for relaxation and reflection.
We'd hide from the lights
Sometimes it was better to be alone, to escape the pressures of the world and find peace in stillness.
On the village green
The peaceful, natural settings of rural life provided a perfect place for young people to relax and have fun together.
When I was twenty-one
As I grew older, I continued to appreciate all that life had to offer, with new experiences and many friends.
It was a very good year for city girls
Urban life provided exciting new opportunities and interesting people to meet, with many memorable experiences along the way.
Who lived up the stair
The excitement of discovering new people and new places was palpable, with every encounter being unique and memorable in its own way.
With all that perfumed hair
This was a time of youthful vitality, with everyone smelling the sweetness of life and experiencing it to the fullest.
And it came undone
However, with life comes disappointment and setbacks, which can sometimes be heartbreaking and tough to bear.
When I was thirty-five
As I grew older and more experienced, I found that my appreciation for all of life's wonders only grew, with each passing year becoming more meaningful and more treasured.
It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls
The excitement and passion of youth never fades, and even those born into privilege and status find themselves caught up in the magic of life's simple pleasures.
Of independent means
Despite the odds and challenges, young people of all backgrounds find a way to express themselves and find their way in the world.
We'd ride in limousines
The trappings of success and wealth can be exhilarating, but they pale in comparison to the simple joys of life like friendship and love.
Their chauffeurs would drive
At every age and every stage of life, we all need a little help along the way, whether it's from friends or total strangers who become our champions and allies.
But now the days grow short
As we all get older, we realize that the clock is ticking, and every moment counts in making the most of life's riches and joys.
I'm in the autumn of the year
We all come to certain points in our lives where we take stock of what has come before and realize that we must make the most of every remaining day.
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
Despite the years and the experiences, we all have something precious and wonderful inside of us that never fades or loses its luster: the joy of simply being alive.
From fine old kegs
Like fine wine, we only get better with age and experience, as the richness of our lives deepens and grows with every passing day.
From the brim to the dregs
Every drop of life is worth savoring, from the joys to the sorrows, because they are all part of the grand tapestry of our unique and beautiful lives.
And it poured sweet and clear
Despite everything, life remains a miraculous and beautiful gift, full of joy and happiness for those who are willing to take the time to pour themselves fully into every moment.
It was a very good year
Throughout all the highs and lows, we can look back on our lives with a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing that we did our best and always kept going. Life is truly a wonder and a gift, and every year is a very good year.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Ervin Drake
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind