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 You Can't Smile and Say Yes
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I'm ready to go.
But if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no!
Squeeze me a squoze in these fine clothes,
Mmmm...I love you so.
But if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no!
You don't know what you're saying.
Don't you know the war's on,
Everything is rationed,
How 'bout that jive, keep me alive?
Baby, let bygones be bygones,
'Cause men are scarce as nylons.
And if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no!
Baby, let bygones be bygones,
'Cause men are scarce as nylons.
And if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no, no, no, baby
Please don't cry and say no
The lyrics of Nat King Cole's song "If You Can't Smile and Say Yes" tell a story of a man who is trying to entice a woman to go out with him. He makes it clear that all he wants is a kiss or a squeeze, and he pleads with her not to say no. The song takes place during WWII, where everything, including men, is scarce. The man is desperate for any affection he can get and is willing to settle for a smile and a yes rather than a cry and a no. He implores the woman to let bygones be bygones and to forget any past rejections she might have had. The lyrics suggest that the man is willing to overlook any previous failed attempts at romance if it means he can finally get a date and some affection.
The lyrics reflect the bleak reality of life during WWII. The rationing of goods and services, including men, made life difficult for the women left behind. "If You Can't Smile and Say Yes" speaks to the desperation that many people felt during this time - the longing for some semblance of normalcy and human connection in the midst of war. The song implies that saying yes, even if it's only a smile, is better than saying no, as it could lead to some happiness and joy during a bleak time.
Line by Line Meaning
Knock me a kiss, you'll never miss
When I'm ready to go.
Give me a kiss as a sign of affection and I will always remember it, especially when I have to leave.
But if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no!
If you are not happy to do what I am asking of you, don't refuse to do it in tears. Just explain why you can't and I will understand.
Squeeze me a squoze in these fine clothes,
Mmmm...I love you so.
Embrace me tightly, especially when dressed up, because I adore you so much.
When I ask for a date, the answer is no.
You don't know what you're saying.
If you reject my invitation for a date, it's because you don't realize how much it would mean to me.
Don't you know the war's on,
Everything is rationed,
How 'bout that jive, keep me alive?
In this time of war and scarcity, can't you see that dancing and music are the few things that keep us entertained and alive?
Baby, let bygones be bygones,
'Cause men are scarce as nylons.
Let's forget about any previous misunderstandings and reconcile because good men, like stockings, are hard to come by.
And if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no!
Again, if you cannot agree with my request happily, please do not deny me sorrowfully.
Baby, let bygones be bygones,
'Cause men are scarce as nylons.
And if you can't smile and say yes,
Please don't cry and say no, no, no, baby
Please don't cry and say no
Let's make peace because we may not find someone who loves us as much as we love each other. And if you can't agree, please don't reject me in such a sad and dramatic manner.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: LOUIS JORDAN, TIMMIE ROGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
john
on A Blossom Fell
i want the song" I'll never settle for less" lyrics,would somebody be so kind to give it to me?