Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1932, Murphy was raised in a musical family, his parents having met as members of the local Methodist Church choir. He grew up in the nearby small town of Fulton, New York, where his grandmother and then his aunt were the church organists. Opera was also a presence in the Murphy home. He started piano lessons at the age of seven.
Murphy joined his brother's jazz dance band as the singer when a teenager, citing influences from Nat "King" Cole, June Christy, Anita O'Day, and Ella Fitzgerald. The Jazz pianist Art Tatum was also an influence.
Murphy graduated from Syracuse University in 1953, majoring in Music and Drama. University life included performing on campus and also in a club – playing piano and singing.
In 1954, Murphy moved to New York City, working part-time as an actor and singer. He appeared in productions for the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company and a musical version for television of Casey at the Bat. Also, he twice took second place at the Apollo Theatre amateur contests.
Murphy was eventually introduced to record producer Milt Gabler, who was an artist and repertoire director (A & R) for Decca. His resulting debut recording was Meet Mark Murphy (1956), followed closely by Let Yourself Go (1957).
In 1958 Murphy moved to Los Angeles and recorded for Capitol, but returned to New York in the early '60s and recorded the album Rah! (1961) on Riverside Records, performing "Angel Eyes", a version of Horace Silver's "Doodlin'", and "Green Dolphin Street", featuring Bill Evans, Clark Terry, Urbie Green, Blue Mitchell and Wynton Kelly as accompanists. His favorite recording to date, That's How I Love the Blues, soon followed. In 1963, Murphy hit the charts across the country with his single of "Fly Me to the Moon" and was voted New Star of the Year in Down Beat Magazine's Reader's Poll.[citation needed]
In the late 1960s Murphy moved to London, England, where he worked primarily as an actor. He continued however, to cultivate his jazz audiences in Europe. He returned to the States in 1972 and began recording an average of an album a year for more than fourteen years on the Muse label. These projects - including the albums Nat King Cole Songbook Vol. I and II, Bop for Kerouac, Kerouac Then And Now, Living Room, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Beauty And the Beast and, Stolen Moments - gained numerous Grammy nominations.[citation needed] This last album contains Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" with lyrics by Murphy.
In 1984 together with Viva Brasil he recorded the album Brazil Song (Cancões do Brasil), which featured original material written by Brazilian songwriters including work by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Milton Nascimento.
In 1987, Murphy recorded Night Mood, an album of songs by Brazilian composer Ivan Lins, followed by the Grammy-nominated September Ballads on Milestone Records. Murphy has also appeared on U.F.O.'s last two releases (for Polydor Records), in which he wrote and rapped lyrics on songs composed with the group. This collaboration opened up further new audiences in the acid-jazz and hip-hop genres, demonstrating jazz's timelessness while transcending generations and styles.
In August 1997, BMG/RCA Victor released Song For The Geese, for which he has received his sixth Grammy nomination. Also in August 1997, the 32 Records label Joel Dorn and Michael Bourne released a double CD anthology Stolen and Other Moments, which features some of his recordings for the now defunct Muse label. The CD features material from the two "Kerouac" albums and a selection of "the best of Mark Murphy".
Murphy’s release Once to Every Heart (2005), on the Verve label, features sensuous ballads, where the listener can capture him singing in top form, with superb musicians and sounding better than ever. In 2007 Love is What Stays was released on Verve. Both albums were produced by German trumpeter Till Brönner.
Murphy has also collaborated with Five Corners Quintet, a modern Finnish jazz band. He appears on their albums Chasin' the Jazz Gone By (2005) and Hot Corner (2008).
In 2010 he released the independently produced CD, Never Let Me Go, on which he is supported by pianist Misha Piatigorsky, bassist Danton Boller and drummer Chris Wabich. A limited edition EP/MP3, "Beautiful Friendship: Remembering Shirley Horn" on Gearbox Records was released in 2013.
Murphy continued to tour internationally into his 80s, appearing at festivals, concerts, in jazz clubs and on television programs, throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as other places. John Bush at AllMusic.com described Murphy as "a major name in vocal jazz." A longtime resident of the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, he died there on October 22, 2015.
With Every Breath I Take
Mark Murphy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And find I didn't dream of you
Without a warning, no it's never a surprise
As soon as I awake, thoughts of you arise
With ev'ry breath I take
At any time or place
I close my eyes and see your face
If only I believed that dreams come true darlin'
You were the one who said forever from the start
And I've been drifting since you've gone
Out on a lonely sea that only you can chart
I've been going on, knowing that my heart will break
With ev'ry breath I take!
In Mark Murphy's song, "With Every Breath I Take", the lyrics speak to the ever-present memory and yearning for a lost love. The opening lines express how the thought of the person is constant, even from the moment of waking up. The lyrics emphasize on the fact that it is hard to forget someone who was once an integral part of one's life. The sudden and unexpected nature of how thoughts of the person constantly arise shows that the memories are so vivid and strong that it's hard to move on, and the mind keeps replaying the happy past they had together.
The second verse paints a picture of how the memories of the person fill one's mind and become so vivid that they start imagining them being together again. Even though it's just a dream, the feelings they have in that moment while dreaming seem real. The lyrics convey a sense of longing and desire to be with the person again, to live that dream. But the singer also realizes that it is just a dream, and that he needs to come to terms with the reality of the situation.
The chorus represents the pain of trying to move on from the relationship. The imagery of being alone in a vast sea without direction is a metaphor for the feeling of being lost and lonely without the person he loved. It conveys the idea that he's been trying to stay afloat but the person he loves is the only one who can help him find his way. The lyrics also convey the idea of heartbreak, that it hurts so much that it feels like he's breaking with every breath he takes. The song speaks of the overpowering feeling that the person is always with him, even though they are physically apart, and that every breath is a reminder of the love he lost.
Line by Line Meaning
There's not a morning that I open up my eyes
Every morning when I wake up, I immediately think of you
And find I didn't dream of you
I can't remember a night when I didn't dream about you
Without a warning, no it's never a surprise
I don't have to try to think of you because thoughts of you come naturally
As soon as I awake, thoughts of you arise
The first thing I think about when I wake up is you
With ev'ry breath I take
You are constantly on my mind and I can't help but think of you all the time
At any time or place
No matter where or when, thoughts of you fill my mind
I close my eyes and see your face
Even when I close my eyes, I can picture you in my mind
And I'm embracing you
I imagine myself holding you in my arms
If only I believed that dreams come true darlin'
I wish I could believe that my dreams of being with you could become a reality
You were the one who said forever from the start
You promised to always be with me from the beginning
And I've been drifting since you've gone
Ever since you left, I feel like I've been aimlessly wandering without you
Out on a lonely sea that only you can chart
I feel lost and alone without you, as if you were the only one who could guide me
I've been going on, knowing that my heart will break
I've been trying to continue with life without you, even though I know my heart is still hurting
With ev'ry breath I take!
My love for you is constant and every breath reminds me of that love
Lyrics © WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: CY COLEMAN, DAVID JOEL ZIPPEL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Claude Malone
Thanks for this! My vocal instructor was a student of Mr. Murphy and ended up becoming a dear friend up until his passing. She has so many beautiful stories about him, and always recommends that I listen to his songs, including this one.