As a piano player, he formed a jazz trio in 1938 that played Los Angeles nightclubs, one of the first jazz trios featuring guitar and piano. Prior to this he had played music since he was a child and had worked with bands since he was sixteen. He was raised in Chicago and exposed to the abundant jazz scene there. He was heavily influenced by pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines.
Later he became more popularly known as a singer and crooner and his work became more orchestrated.
His first mainstream vocal hit was in 1944 with Straighten Up and Fly Right, based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Although hardly a rocker, the song's success proved that an audience for folk-based material existed. It is considered a predecessor to the first rock and roll records. Indeed, Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing more pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period with such hits as The Christmas Song (1946), Nature Boy (1948), Mona Lisa (1950), and his signature tune Unforgettable (1951). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never totally abandoned his musical roots; as late as 1956, for instance, he recorded an all-jazz album, After Midnight. In 1991, Mosaic Records released the Complete Nat King Cole Trio Recordings on Capitol, which contained 349 songs on twenty-seven LPs or eighteen CDs.
Throughout the 1950s Cole continued to rack up hit after hit, including Smile, Pretend, A Blossom Fell, and If I May. Most of his pop hits were collaborations with famed arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle. It was with Riddle that Cole released his first ten-inch long-play album in 1953 entitled Sings for Two in Love. Several more albums followed, including the Gordon Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, which reached number one on the album charts in April 1957.
Inspired by a trip to Havana, Cuba in 1958, Nat went back there that same year and recorded Cole Espanol, an album sung entirely in Spanish and Portuguese. The album was a hit not only in the U.S., but in Latin America as well. The album was so popular, that two others followed: A mis amigos in 1959, and More Cole Espanol in 1962.
Musical tastes were changing in the late 1950s, and despite a successful stab at rock n' roll with Send for Me, Cole's ballad singing had grown old to younger listeners. Like contemporaries Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, Nat found that the pop singles chart had been almost entirely taken over by youth oriented acts. In 1960, Nat's longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle, left Capitol Records for Frank Sinatra's newly formed Reprise Records label. The two parted ways with one final hit album Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. Nat would later re-tool the concept album into an off-Broadway production called I'm With You.
As the 1960s progressed, Nat once again found success on the American singles chart, starting with the country/pop flavored hit Ramblin' Rose in August of 1962. Three more hit singles followed: Dear Lonely Hearts, Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer, and That Sunday, That Summer. Nat's final album was entitled L.O.V.E, and was recorded in late 1964. It was released just prior to his death and reached number four on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. A "Best Of" album went gold in 1968. His 1957 song When I Fall in Love was a chart topping hit for the U.K. in 1987.
Cole was the first African-American to have his own radio program. He repeated that success in the late-1950s with the first truly national television show starring an African-American. In both cases, the programs were ultimately canceled because sponsors shied away from a black artist. Cole fought racism all his life, refusing to perform in segregated venues. In 1956, he was attacked on stage in Birmingham, Alabama by members of the White Citizens' Council who apparently were attempting to kidnap him. Despite injuries, Cole completed the show but vowed never to perform in the South again.
On 23rd August 1956, Cole spoke at the Republican National Convention in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California. He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960, to throw his support behind President John F. Kennedy. Cole was also among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961. Nat King Cole frequently consulted with President Kennedy (and later President Johnson) on the issue of civil rights. Yet he was dogged by critics, who felt he shied away from controversy when it came to the civil rights issue. Among the most notable was Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was upset that Cole didn't take stronger action after the 1956 on-stage attack.
In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The property owners association told Cole they didn't want any undesirables moving in, to which Cole retorted "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."
He and his second wife, Maria Ellington, were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. They had five children, including twin girls. Daughter Carol Cole, and son Kelly Cole were adopted. Kelly Cole died in 1995. Nat's daughter, Natalie Cole, and his younger brother, Freddie Cole are also singers.
Natalie and her father had an unexpected hit in the summer of 1991. The younger Cole mixed a 1961 recording of her father's rendition of Unforgettable with her own voice, creating an electronic duet. Both the song and the album of the same name won several Grammy awards the following year.
Cole performed in many short films, and played W. C. Handy in the film Saint Louis Blues. He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia.
Nat King Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice the rich sound it had (Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for this very purpose). Cole died of lung cancer at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, on 15th February 1965. His funeral was held at St. Victor's Catholic Church in West Hollywood, and he was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Cat Ballou, his final film, was released several months later.
Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The boulevard of broken dreams.
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams.
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow,
When you behold your shattered dreams.
Awake to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams.
Here is where you`ll always find me,
Always walking up and down.
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town.
The joy you find here, you borrow,
You cannot keep it long, it seems.
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams.
Interlude
Here is where you`ll always find me,
Always walking up and down.
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town.
The joy you find here, you borrow,
You cannot keep it long, it seems.
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams.
The lyrics of Nat King Cole's song Boulevard Of Broken Dreams paints a bleak picture of a street where people come to escape their shattered lives and broken dreams, where a kiss without regret can momentarily ease the pain, but ultimately, the tears that follow reveal the agony of their losses. The scene is populated by gigolos and gigolettes, men and women who sell their love and bodies to forget their own hardships. The street is a place where laughter and tears alternate, joy is fleeting, and people are constantly searching for meaning in their lives.
The singer, who we assume is part of the same world, describes the boulevard as his constant haunt, becoming his companion as he wanders aimlessly, detached from his soul, left behind in an old cathedral town. He too, is in the same predicament as those he observes, trying to find solace and a sense of belonging amongst the broken souls dwelling there. The song ends with a bittersweet tone, acknowledging that the inhabitants of the street may not be able to hold onto joy for long, but they still sing and dance on the boulevard of broken dreams.
Nat King Cole's Boulevard Of Broken Dreams is a poignant look at the human condition, where we are all struggling to make sense of our lives and seeking moments of happiness amidst our tragic experiences.
Line by Line Meaning
I walk along the street of sorrow,
I stroll through a place filled with sadness and grief,
The boulevard of broken dreams.
This is a place where people's aspirations and hopes never materialize,
Where gigolo and gigolette
A place where male and female prostitutes roam around,
Can take a kiss without regret
They can engage in physical intimacy without caring about what follows,
So they forget their broken dreams.
They do this to escape the weight of their shattered hopes and dreams.
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow,
You may be happy now, but it's only temporary. Sorrow will come knocking when you least expect it.
When you behold your shattered dreams.
When you come face-to-face with the brutal reality that your hopes and dreams have been crushed,
And gigolo and gigolette
Just like the prostitutes,
Awake to find their eyes are wet
People discover that they are crying,
With tears that tell of broken dreams.
All their tears tell stories of the unfulfilled and disappointing life they are living.
Here is where you'll always find me,
I am forever present in this gloomy place,
Always walking up and down.
Restless and without a destination,
But I left my soul behind me
I have lost myself in the past,
In an old cathedral town.
In a place where memories still linger and haunt me.
The joy you find here, you borrow,
The elation you feel in this place is only temporary and fleeting,
You cannot keep it long, it seems.
It always disappears as quickly as it comes.
But gigolo and gigolette
But the prostitutes, who are trapped in this place,
Still sing a song and dance along
still find joy in the midst of their pain,
The boulevard of broken dreams.
even though they are walking through the bleak Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Al Dubin, Harry Warren
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-pb6nh8wg4c
I walk along the street of sorrow
The boulevard of broken dreams
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow
When you behold your shattered dreams
And gigolo and gigolette
Awake to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams
Here is where you'll always find me
Always walking up and down
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town
The joy you find here, you borrow
You cannot keep it long, it seems
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams
@maryamirenea1386
I walk along the street of sorrow,
The boulevard of broken dreams.
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams.
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow,
When you behold your shattered dreams.
And gigolo and gigolette
Awake to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams.
Here is where you'll always find me,
Always walking up and down.
But i left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town.
The joy you find here, you borrow,
Find more lyrics at ※ Mojim.com
You cannot keep it long, it seems.
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams.
~interlude~
Here is where you'll always find me,
Always walking up and down.
But i left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town.
The joy you find here, you borrow,
You cannot keep it long, it seems.
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams.
@seanmignon4229
this is entirely not what i was expecting, but also entirely beautiful!!!
@user-pb6nh8wg4c
I walk along the street of sorrow
The boulevard of broken dreams
Where gigolo and gigolette
Can take a kiss without regret
So they forget their broken dreams
You laugh tonight and cry tomorrow
When you behold your shattered dreams
And gigolo and gigolette
Awake to find their eyes are wet
With tears that tell of broken dreams
Here is where you'll always find me
Always walking up and down
But I left my soul behind me
In an old cathedral town
The joy you find here, you borrow
You cannot keep it long, it seems
But gigolo and gigolette
Still sing a song and dance along
The boulevard of broken dreams
@getridofit3
When you behold your shattered schemes
@ExiledGypsy
@@getridofit3 Joyful sadness. A wonderful oxymoron
@liamwatson5125
Nat King Cole - piano and vocal
Irving Ashby - guitar
Joe Comfort - bass
Jack Costanzo - bongos and congas
Recorded 1949 in New York
@1234pouvez
When I google this title I only get the Green Day song. If I want this version I have to add the Artist's Name next to the song. Both versions are nice.
@ag4116
I love this song !!! I love it most from Diana Krall. I also have it sang in Polish. Nat Cole is the only other Black I love, besides Belafonte. Green Day song sucks big time, screaming idiots. But, everyone has their own. Love Krall.
@khalidmerghani1277
NO! Green Day's version sucks.
@alicemontgomery3808
@@ag4116 if you love Diana Krall, you might be interested to know Elvis plays this in the middle of Brilliant Mistake live. It’s incredible.
@johnllewlyndavies222
Try Amy Winehouse - there are three or four filmed live in South America.