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.
I'm a Shy Guy
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My, I'm a 'fraid-to-try guy
No lie.
There's a gal that I idolize
But I just can't seem to hypnotize.
And when she pets me,
You betcha, it gets me.
And everytime I hold her hand,
Everytime she's close to me,
My heart is filled with ecstasy,
And like a dope, I let the chance slip by.
There, I should have told her then
But all I did was sit and grin,
And I ended up so mad that I could cry.
'Cause I'm a shy guy
Wish I was a sly guy
Then I could say, "Baby, baby, I love you"
Just like those guys in moving pictures all do.
I'm just a shy guy
Wish I was a sly guy
Then I could say, "Baby, baby, I love you"
Just like those guys in moving pictures all do
Nat King Cole's I'm a Shy Guy is a song about a boy who is in love with a girl but is too shy to confess his true feelings to her. He describes himself as a 'fraid-to-try guy, who idolizes a girl he can't seem to persuade. Whenever she comes near him, he becomes nervous, and even though he wants to tell her how he feels, he can't. He just grins foolishly and misses his chance. The song ends with him wishing he was a sly guy so that he could confess his love like in the movies.
The song's lyrics capture the essence of teenage shyness and the anxiety that comes with first love. It portrays the moment in a boy's life when he feels smitten with someone, but he is too shy to take action. Many people can relate to this song because everyone has gone through a stage in their life when they were too shy to express their love.
The song also highlights the influence of movies on our culture, especially in the 1950s when this song was written. In the movies of that era, shy girls would often find love with suave guys who knew just what to say. However, real life isn't like the movies and sometimes even the most confident people can be shy when it comes to love.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm just a shy guy
I am not confident or outgoing when it comes to meeting new people or expressing my feelings.
My, I'm a 'fraid-to-try guy
I am hesitant to take risks and try new things because I am afraid of failure or rejection.
No lie.
This is the truth, I am not lying.
There's a gal that I idolize
There is a woman that I admire and look up to.
But I just can't seem to hypnotize.
Despite my admiration, I cannot seem to capture her attention or interest.
And when she pets me, You betcha, it gets me.
When she shows affection towards me, it makes me feel happy and excited.
And everytime I hold her hand, I'm just too shy to say the things I plan.
Even when we are physically close, I am too bashful to express my feelings, despite having planned to do so beforehand.
Everytime she's close to me, My heart is filled with ecstasy,
Whenever we are near each other, I feel intense joy and happiness.
And like a dope, I let the chance slip by.
Despite feeling strongly for her, I let opportunities to express my feelings pass me by, similar to a foolish decision.
There, I should have told her then But all I did was sit and grin,
I regret not telling her how I felt earlier, and instead, I just sat there and smiled.
And I ended up so mad that I could cry.
Because of my inaction, I became angry and upset to the point where I felt like crying.
'Cause I'm a shy guy
The reason I acted this way was because I am shy.
Wish I was a sly guy
I wish I was more cunning or charismatic when it comes to expressing my feelings.
Then I could say, "Baby, baby, I love you"
If I were more confident, I would be able to say the words "I love you" to her.
Just like those guys in moving pictures all do.
I am envious of characters in movies who are able to express their love with confidence and ease.
I'm just a shy guy, Wish I was a sly guy
I am a timid person who wishes they had more confidence and charm.
Then I could say, "Baby, baby, I love you"
If I had more courage, I would be able to tell her that I love her.
Just like those guys in moving pictures all do.
I want to emulate the confidence exhibited by characters in movies who are able to express their love boldly.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: NAT KING COLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alan Senzaki
My mom use to see him live all the time in a small club in hollywood in the early forties before he became known as a singer. What an incredible artist.
Spark _
SO~JEALOUS !!! YOUR MOM WAS SUPER LUCKY !!! CRAZY LUCKY ! He died a year before I was born ! His voice was my 1st love for a singer ! I was 5 !!!💜👍💖💘💜💜💜💜🥁🎵🎶🎹🎤🐲🐉😻😻😻👍👍👍👍
Chris K. Head
Just amazing..., what I wouldn't give to have seen these guys live..
SELMER B.Action
Fabulous trio
Spark _
👍👍👍
Roy Arrowood
Judging by that gal all over Nat I'm figuring he did all right despite any shyness
Henk Poleij
Nice easy listening tune!, great.
Ninjafish25
I’m 22 but the music makes me feel a way
NURREDIN
I want that Gibson L-5 with the Charlie Christian pickup!
Artista_Montoya
Back when things was how they were meant to be.