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.
It Happens to Be Me
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He's learning now how empty arms can be
Someone who used to know your kiss not long ago
That someone happens to be me
How he misses you and must confess
Without you he's like driftwood on the sea
He's just a dreamer who is still in love with you
I'll never know just why we parted
It's more than I can comprehend
I only know when you departed
You started a night that has no end
Perhaps there'll come a time when you're alone
Your heart still haunted by a memory
If then you chance to find there's someone on your mind
I hope it happens to be me
Perhaps there'll come a time when you're alone
Your heart still haunted by a memory
If then you chance to find there's someone on your mind
I hope it happens to be me
I hope it happens to be me
The lyrics to Nat King Cole's song "It Happens To Be Me" speak of someone who longs for the touch and love of the person who left them. The first verse talks about how the person is learning how empty their arms feel without their loved one's embrace. The second verse goes on to express just how much the person misses their lost love, likening them to driftwood on the sea without them. The chorus reveals that this dreamer who is still in love with their ex happens to be the person singing the song.
The third verse touches on the confusion and pain that comes with a sudden breakup, expressing that the singer may never fully understand why their loved one left. The final verse speaks to the hope that one day, the ex may think of them and remember the love they shared. The song ends with the repeated phrase, "I hope it happens to be me," implying that the singer still holds out hope that they can be reunited with their lost love someday.
Overall, the lyrics speak of the pain of separation and the hope of a future reconciliation, along with the uncertainty and longing that come with a broken heart. Nat King Cole's smooth, soulful delivery adds depth and emotion to the lyrics, making it a touching and timeless classic.
Line by Line Meaning
Someone longs for you and your caress
There is someone who deeply desires to be with you and feel your loving touch
He's learning now how empty arms can be
He is beginning to understand the pain of loneliness and how it feels to have no one to hold
Someone who used to know your kiss not long ago
There is someone who has recently lost your affection and intimate touch
That someone happens to be me
I am the one who is longing for you and misses you deeply
How he misses you and must confess
He cannot help but admit how much he misses you in his life
Without you he's like driftwood on the sea
Without your love, he feels lost and unable to find direction or stability in his life
He's just a dreamer who is still in love with you
He is a hopeless romantic who still has strong feelings for you
That dreamer happens to be me
I am the one who is still in love with and dreaming of being with you
I'll never know just why we parted
I will never fully understand or come to terms with why we had to separate
It's more than I can comprehend
The reasons for our separation are too complex and difficult for me to fully understand or accept
I only know when you departed
The only thing I am certain of is that my life changed drastically after you left
You started a night that has no end
Your departure marked the beginning of a long and painful period of darkness and loneliness in my life
Perhaps there'll come a time when you're alone
Maybe one day you will find yourself without company or companionship
Your heart still haunted by a memory
Even though time has passed, you may still be haunted by memories of the past
If then you chance to find there's someone on your mind
If you happen to think of someone in particular during these solitary moments
I hope it happens to be me
I hope that someone you think of is me and that you still have feelings for me
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ARTHUR KENT, SAMMY GALLOP
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?