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.
If I May
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If I may (if I may)
And dream dreams of you every night
If I might (if I might)
And if I may, I'd like to say
I wish that you were mine
If I had you, all I would do
I'd like to tell you of your charms
Every day, if I may
I'd like to hold you in my arms
Every night, if I might
You're the object of my affections
And if you have no objections
I'd like to love you, night and day
If I may
I'd like to love you every day
If I may
And dream dreams of you every night
If I might
And if I may, I'd like to say
I wish that you were mine
If I had you, all I would do
Is adore you all the time
I'd like to tell you of your charms
Every day, if I may
I'd like to hold you in my arms
Every night, if I might
You're the object of my affections
And if you have no objections
I'd like to love you, night and day
If I may
The lyrics of Nat King Cole's song "If I May" express a deep desire to love and be with someone, to cherish and adore them every day and night. The verse "I wish that you were mine, if I had you, all I would do is adore you all the time" signifies the intensity of this feeling. The singer wants to tell this person of their charms every day and hold them in their arms every night, as they are the object of their affections.
The lyrics evoke a sense of longing and yearning to be with someone who may not be in the singer's life yet. It's a declaration of love without any expectation of reciprocation. The singer is presenting their heart on a platter, revealing their deepest desires, and hoping that the person they are singing to would feel the same way.
Line by Line Meaning
I'd like to love you every day
The singer desires to love and cherish the person addressed on a daily basis
If I may (if I may)
The singer is seeking permission to express their affection
And dream dreams of you every night
The singer imagines and thinks of the person addressed before sleep
If I might (if I might)
The artist is asking for the opportunity to dream of the person addressed
And if I may, I'd like to say
The artist wants to express their feelins if allowed to do so
I wish that you were mine
The singer wishes that they could have a romantic relationship with the person addressed
If I had you, all I would do
The singer promises to constantly adore and care for the person addressed
Is adore you all of the time
The artist will show their love continuously and without end
I'd like to tell you of your charms
The artist desires to point out the attractive and admirable qualities of the person addressed
Every day, if I may
The artist requests the opportunity to express their admiration on a daily basis
I'd like to hold you in my arms
The singer wants to embrace and physically show affection to the person addressed
Every night, if I might
The artist seeks the chance to hold and comfort the person addressed at night
You're the object of my affections
The person addressed is the focus and target of the singer's love and admiration
And if you have no objections
The singer is asking if the person addressed is open to a romantic relationship
I'd like to love you, night and day
The singer wants to love and cherish the person addressed constantly
If I may
The artist repeats their request for permission to love
Lyrics Β© BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RALEIGH MUSIC PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Rose Marie McCoy, Charles Singleton
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
sauquoit13456
On this day in 1955 {May 21st} "If I May" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100; eventually it peaked at #8 and spent 10 weeks in the Top 100... The record's flip side fared even better on the charts, "A Blossom Fell" reached #2 {For 1 week} and spent 20 weeks in the Top 100... "A Blossom Fell" reached #3 on the United Kingdom's Singles chart... Sadly; Nat King Cole passed away on February 15th, 1965 at the young age of 45... May he R.I.P.
Bruce Dettloff
Had never heard this before I bought a Nat King Cole karaoke disc for some of his other songs. Now this one and "Send For Me" (had never heard that one either) are my two favorites to sing. He was so damn smooth. I hope I do him justice when I cover his songs.
Josh N
Pure class as always.
Michael Friedman
Lovely song and musical performance !
louisetta1000
WONDERFUL VOICE... UNFORGETTABLE
MtGoat
Nat Cole = Class Act. Always.
Deirdre Barksdale
P hChui hii
cylon74
FIRMΓ ROLA... LOVE IT
TOMBANCROFT
A classic from the mid-50's - a great song for singing to a girlfriend. I recorded this in a fairground coin slot recording booth here in the UK - a floppy plastic disc dropped out of the slot when you had finished. Wish I still had it - I was just 14 years old at the time.
Daniel Ramirez
Feeling this way about someone right now.