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 See Your Face Before Me
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Crowding my every dream
There is your face before me
You are my only theme
It doesn't matter where you are
I can see how fair you are
I close my eyes and there you are
Always
If you could share the magic
If you could see me too
There would be nothing tragic
In all my dreams of you
Would that my love could haunt you so
Knowing I want you so
I can't erase
Your beautiful face before me.
Would that my love could haunt you so
Knowing I want you so
I can't erase
Your beautiful face before me.
The song "I See Your Face Before Me" by Nat King Cole is a timeless classic that speaks about a person's undying longing and obsession for someone they love. The lyrics suggest that the singer cannot stop thinking about their significant other and how that person's face haunts them in their dreams. They see their loved one's face everywhere they go, and they long for their love to be reciprocated.
The lyrics "If you could share the magic, If you could see me too, there would be nothing tragic, in all my dreams of you" suggests that the singer is hoping for the day when they can be with their loved one and that being in each other's company would be nothing short of magical. The line "Would that my love could haunt you so, knowing I want you so" implies that the singer's love is so strong that they wish it could permeate through to their lover's dreams and thoughts.
The song's melancholic melody perfectly complements its poignant lyrics, making it an instant classic. The song has been covered by various artists over the years, but none can match the charm and warmth of Nat King Cole's voice.
Line by Line Meaning
I see your face before me
In my mind's eye, I can vividly see your face, constantly occupying my thoughts.
Crowding my every dream
Your image is everywhere I turn, dominating every dream and thought I have.
There is your face before me
Your beautiful face is ever-present in my mind, overwhelming and captivating me.
You are my only theme
You are the only thing I can think about, my sole preoccupation and focus at all times.
It doesn't matter where you are
Your physical location is irrelevant to me, as your image is always with me, wherever I go.
I can see how fair you are
I can visualize your beauty, your gracefulness and allure, as if you were right in front of me.
I close my eyes and there you are
Without even trying, I can easily picture your face when I close my eyes, as if it were imprinted in my mind.
Always
You are always with me, haunting my thoughts and dreams, never leaving my side.
If you could share the magic
If only you could experience the intense emotions and connection I feel when I think of you.
If you could see me too
If only you could perceive that the intensity of my feelings towards you is mutual, that you occupy the same place in my heart.
There would be nothing tragic
If only we were together, our love would be free from sorrow and despair.
In all my dreams of you
Every dream I have about you is filled with hope and longing, a symbol of the passion I feel for you.
Would that my love could haunt you so
If only my love for you could overwhelm and envelop you in the same way it does to me, to make you feel the same way I do.
Knowing I want you so
You need to understand the depth of my longing for you, to know how much I want to be with you.
I can't erase
I cannot remove or forget, the image of your beautiful face which is deeply embedded in my heart and soul.
Your beautiful face before me.
The thought of you and the vision of your lovely face is always with me, a constant reminder of my love and devotion towards you.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: ARTHUR SCHWARTZ, HOWARD DIETZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@joaquimbarros5218
Estás inesquecíveis vozes que só quem tem um bom gosto pela música aprecia e revei .
@thomashirschmann5033
What a gem - thanks for sharing!
@user-in9xy8eh5f
Incredibly lovely song. Incomparable voice. This came way before my time, but I appreciate it very much.
@user-in9xy8eh5f
Sad that these beautiful songs are seldom listened to these days.
@MegaJacKapp
Quite a contrast to https://youtu.be/3hopJ3LuWf0