Linking two of Ellington's late-1930s blues compositions ("Diminuendo in Blue," "Crescendo in Blue"), the Gonsalves performance had been seeded a few years earlier, after Ellington had shelved his first idea for conjoining the two songs, a wordless-vocal interlude called "Transblucency." In fact the Paul Gonsalves "Wailing Interval" seems to have been performed first at Birdland in New York City, on June 30, 1951. As with Newport 1956, there are 27 or 28 choruses of Paul Gonsalves' solo. Furthermore it could be argued that the Birdland performance far surpasses that of Newport 1956 as an example of Gonsalves' power and inventiveness as a blues soloist. This is despite the fact after 5 or 6 choruses Gonsalves becomes out of sync with the rhythm section by a whole bar during an attempt at an overly complicated rhythm pattern in his improvising. It is clear from the recording that nobody notices this until the last few choruses of this mammoth solo!
Paul Gonsalves, 1967All that aside, it was the Newport 1956 performance that made the headlines. Staying tightly on the beat, repeating certain theme lines he improvised along the way without overdoing them, and accompanied only by Ellington at the piano, bassist Jimmy Woode, and drummer Sam Woodyard, Gonsalves by the seventh chorus had kicked the audience into a slowly swelling round of noisy applause and cheering that didn't let up for the remainder of the piece. Even more mayhem erupted when a platinum blonde jumped out of her seat and started dancing frantically to Paul's solo.
So loud and excited had the crowd become that Ellington---against the wishes of festival organisers, but knowing that stopping then might have caused a genuine riot---shifted to some less rhythmically vigorous material to bring them back down. The performance became the centerpiece of a live Ellington album from the festival; it resurrected Ellington as a major attraction and gave him (and, for time enough, Columbia Records's jazz catalog) the best-selling recording (Ellington at Newport) of his long and distinguished career.
It also made certain Ellington's forthcoming Time magazine feature, spearheading a profile on the apparent resurrection of jazz, would get almost as much attention as the band's acclaimed performance at Newport did. It guaranteed Ellington's longevity as a working bandleader and composer. (Years later, whenever he was asked about his earlier career, Ellington puckishly liked to reply, "Why, that was before my time. You know I was born at Newport.")
And, finally, it guaranteed that Gonsalves would be a major Ellington attraction for as long as he remained with the band, which was for the rest of Ellington's life. Gonsalves was a featured soloist in numerous Ellingtonian settings, but the memory of "Diminuendo" usually helped assure he'd be handed the job for any piece calling for an extended tenor saxophone solo. Gonsalves was also much liked as a personality; his friendliness with audiences, including an occasional habit of stepping down from the stage to play his horn directly to fans (and especially to young children), earned him the nickname "The Strolling Violins" within the Ellington organisation.
Born in Brockton to Cape Verdean parents, Paul's first instrument was the guitar, and as a kid was supposed to play Portuguese folk songs for his family, a job he definitely didn't like.
He grew up in New Bedford, and came to local renown as a member of the Sabby Lewis Orchestra.
His first professional engagement in Boston was on tenor saxophone with the Sabby Lewis band, in which he played before and after his military service during World War II.
Gonsalves's career had also taken him to places other than the Ellington group. He played with the big bands of Count Basie (1947-1949) and Dizzy Gillespie (1949-1950) as well as with the Ellington band (1950-1974).
After a lifetime of being addicted to alcohol and narcotics, Paul Gonsalves died of a drug overdose in London a few days before Duke Ellington passed away - Mercer Ellington refused to tell Duke of his death, fearing the shock may further accelerate his father's decline. Both Ellington and Gonsalves, along with the trombonist Tyree Glenn, lay side by side in the same New York funeral home.
The 1999 remaster/reissue of Ellington at Newport-- restored and expanded to include the entire, original concert (the original album was doctored with post-production studio overdubbing, including audience noise extracted from other portions of the evening dubbed onto "D & C") reintroduced the performance that made Gonsalves a household name in the first place.
Day Dream
Paul Gonsalves Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Can't keep my feet on the ground
Everything seems unreal now
When you're not around
Day Dream
Why do you haunt me so?
Deep in a rosy glow
Day Dream
I walk along on air
Building a castle there
For me and my love to share
Don't know the time
Lordy, I'm in a daze
Sun in the sky
While I moon around, feeling hazy
Day Dream
Don't break my reverie
Until I find that he
Is day dreaming just like me
Day Dream
Why do you haunt me so?
Deep in a rosy glow
The face of my love you show
Day Dream
I walk along on air
Building a castle there
For me and my love to share
Don't know the time
Lordy, I'm in a daze
Sun in the sky
While I moon around, feeling hazy
Day Dream
Don't break my reverie
Until I find that he
Is day dreaming just like me
Paul Gonsalves's song "Day Dream" is a beautiful and melancholy expression of yearning for a lost love. The lyrics convey a sense of disorientation and unreality when the singer is not around the person he loves. The title "Day Dream" refers to the singer's persistent daydreams in which he imagines himself building a castle in the air with his lover, as if lost in a rosy glow of romantic fantasies. The phrase "when you're not around" repeats throughout the song, emphasizing the singer's preoccupation with his lover's absence from his life, which renders everything else meaningless and unfulfilling.
The vivid imagery of the lyrics supports this sense of dreaminess and disorientation. The singer is "walking along on air" and feeling "hazy," suggesting he is emotionally and mentally ungrounded. The "rosey glow" that permeates the song recalls both the romantic fantasies of the singer and the uncertain, ephemeral nature of his feelings. He is lost in a reverie and does not want to be disturbed until he realizes his lover is daydreaming about him too. The song ends on a note of hope, suggesting that the singer has found comfort in the shared daydreams of his beloved.
Overall, "Day Dream" is a poignant and poetic expression of the bittersweet complexities of love and desire. The lyrics are spare but evocative, conveying a sense of vulnerability and longing that many listeners can relate to. The melody is similarly captivating and beautifully realized, with Gonsalves's saxophone providing an achingly beautiful accompaniment to the lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Funny the way I feel now
I feel different, unique and strange at this moment.
Can't keep my feet on the ground
I feel like I'm floating, with no sense of direction or gravity.
Everything seems unreal now
My surroundings don't feel real and are perceived as a dream-like state.
When you're not around
The absence of a significant person in my life makes my reality seem surreal.
Day Dream
The idea of vividly imagining oneself in an alternative reality, creating a mental escape to a better place.
Why do you haunt me so?
The concept of daydreaming lingers on one's mind, urging them to escape into a different reality.
Deep in a rosy glow
A utopic and blissful image in the mind, with the dreamer's loved one being the focal point.
The face of my love you show
The face of the dreamer's loved one appears in the mind, emphasizing the concept of love and personal attachment.
I walk along on air
The state of feeling as though one is floating while walking, creating a sense of joy and freedom.
Building a castle there
Constructing an idealistic world in one's mind, a perfect world for the dreamer and their personal connections.
For me and my love to share
Visualizing an alternate reality where the dreamer and their loved one can coexist happily.
Don't know the time
Losing all sense of time and urgency while daydreaming.
Lordy, I'm in a daze
Being lost in a state of daydreaming, feeling as though reality is a distant thought.
Sun in the sky
A representation of the passage of time while daydreaming.
While I moon around, feeling hazy
The dreamer feels unproductive while daydreaming and unable to focus on tasks at hand.
Don't break my reverie
A plea to not interrupt the state of daydreaming and ruin the escape from reality.
Until I find that he
Continuing the search for the perfect man in the dreamer's alternate reality.
Is day dreaming just like me
The dreamer wishes for their dream partner to share the same escape to an ideal reality with them.
Lyrics © DistroKid, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Duke Ellington
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind