Nat "King" Cole (March 17th 1919–February 15th 1965) was a popular America… Read Full Bio ↴Nat "King" Cole (March 17th 1919–February 15th 1965) was a popular American singer and jazz musician.

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've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Nat King Cole Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!
I've grown accustomed to her face.
She almost makes the day begin.
I've grown accustomed to the tune that
She whistles night and noon.
Her smiles, her frowns,
Her ups, her downs
Are second nature to me now,

Like breathing out and breathing in.
I was serenely independent and content before we met,
Surely I could always be that way again-
And yet
I've grown accustomed to her look,
Accustomed to her voice,
Accustomed to her face.

"Marry Freddy."
What an infantile idea.
What a heartless, wicked, brainless thing to do.
But she'll regret, she'll regret it.
It's doomed before they even take the vow!

I can see her now, Mrs. Freddy Eynsford-Hill
In a wretched little flat above a store.
I can see her now, not a penny in the till,
And a bill collector beating at the door.
She'll try to teach the things I taught her,
And end up selling flowers instead.

Begging for her bread and water,
While her husband has his breakfast in bed.
In a year, or so, when she's prematurely grey,
And the blossom in her cheek has turned to chalk.
She'll come home, and lo, he'll have upped and run away
With a social-climbing heiress from New York.

Poor Eliza. How simply frightful!
How humiliating! How delightful!
How poignant it'll be on that inevitable night
When she hammers on my door in tears and rags.
Miserable and lonely, repentant and contrite.

Will I take her in or hurl her to the walls?
Give her kindness or the treatment she deserves?
Will I take her back or throw the baggage out?

But I'm a most forgiving man,
The sort who never could, ever would,
Take a position and staunchly never budge.
A most forgiving man.
But, I shall never take her back,
If she were even crawling on her knees.
Let her promise to atone,
Let her shiver, let her moan,
I'll slam the door and let the hell-cat freeze!

"Marry Freddy"-h a!

But I'm so used to hear her say
"Good morning" ev'ry day.
Her joys, her woes,
Her highs, her lows,
Are second nature to me now,
Like breathing out and breathing in.
I'm very grateful she's a woman
And so easy to forget,
Rather like a habit
One can always break,
And yet,
I've grown accustomed to the trace

Of something in the air,
Accustomed to her face.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" by Nat King Cole express the singer’s conflicted feelings about his ex-partner marrying someone else. He confesses that he has grown so accustomed to her in his life that he finds it hard to let go. He admits that her presence in his life had become second nature to him and that he had never thought he would miss her so much until she was gone. He anticipated that he could be independent and content without her, but he has grown too accustomed to her habits, her smiles, frowns, ups, and downs. The song creates a vivid two-part picture, with the first half reminiscing about his feelings towards her and the second half envisioning her potential downfall and possible return to him. As much as he recognizes the sadness and regret to come, he is still not willing to take her back if and when that day arrives, despite his forgiving nature. The song brings out the pain, heartbreak, and complexity of love and relationships, and the difficulty of letting go of something that has become a part of life.

Line by Line Meaning

Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn!
The singer is frustrated and overwhelmed.

I've grown accustomed to her face.
The singer has become accustomed to seeing and being around the woman.

She almost makes the day begin.
The woman brings joy and positivity to the singer's day.

I've grown accustomed to the tune that she whistles night and noon.
The artist is used to hearing the woman whistle a particular tune throughout the day.

Her smiles, her frowns, her ups, her downs are second nature to me now, like breathing out and breathing in.
The artist has gotten used to all aspects of the woman's personality and they are now a natural part of life.

I was serenely independent and content before we met, surely I could always be that way again- and yet I've grown accustomed to her look, accustomed to her voice, accustomed to her face.
The singer was previously satisfied with life alone, but has now become accustomed to the woman's presence and is unsure if they could go back to being alone.

"Marry Freddy." What an infantile idea. What a heartless, wicked, brainless thing to do. But she'll regret, she'll regret it. It's doomed before they even take the vow!
The singer thinks the idea of the woman marrying Freddy is foolish and lacks thought. They believe she will eventually regret it and that the marriage is doomed to fail.

I can see her now, Mrs. Freddy Eynsford-Hill. In a wretched little flat above a store. I can see her now, not a penny in the till, and a bill collector beating at the door.
The artist imagines the woman as poor and struggling to make ends meet in her future life with Freddy.

She'll try to teach the things I taught her, and end up selling flowers instead. Begging for her bread and water, while her husband has his breakfast in bed.
The artist believes the woman will struggle to teach Freddy as they did and will eventually resort to selling flowers to make ends meet while Freddy lives comfortably.

In a year, or so, when she's prematurely grey, and the blossom in her cheek has turned to chalk. She'll come home, and lo, he'll have upped and run away with a social-climbing heiress from New York.
The artist imagines the woman returning home after years of marriage, only to find that Freddy has left her for a wealthy woman.

But I'm a most forgiving man, the sort who never could, ever would, take a position and staunchly never budge. A most forgiving man. But, I shall never take her back, if she were even crawling on her knees. Let her promise to atone, let her shiver, let her moan, I'll slam the door and let the hell-cat freeze!
The singer claims to be forgiving, but ultimately decides that they would never take the woman back, even if she begged for forgiveness.

"Marry Freddy"- h a!
The artist repeats their rejection of the idea for the woman to marry Freddy.

But I'm so used to hear her say "Good morning" ev'ry day. Her joys, her woes, her highs, her lows, are second nature to me now, like breathing out and breathing in. I'm very grateful she's a woman and so easy to forget, rather like a habit one can always break, and yet, I've grown accustomed to the trace of something in the air, accustomed to her face.
The singer is used to the woman's presence and knows her well, but is still hesitant to fully commit to her. They appreciate her but can't help but imagine a life without her.

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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