After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II (where he worked under Walter Schumann), he was hired by Mitch Miller, then head of A & R at Columbia Records as their home arranger, and he worked with several artists, including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and Johnnie Ray. He wrote a top 10 arrangement for Don Cherry's "Band of Gold" in 1955, a single that sold more than a million copies.
Amongst the hit singles he backed with his orchestra (and eventually with a male chorus) were "Yes Tonight Josephine" and "Just Walkin' in the Rain" by Johnnie Ray; "Chances Are" and "It's Not for Me to Say" by Johnny Mathis; "A White Sport Coat" and "The Hanging Tree" by Marty Robbins; "Up Above My Head," a duet by Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray, and "Pet Me, Poppa" by Rosemary Clooney. He also backed up the albums "Tony" by Tony Bennett, "Blue Swing" by Eileen Rodgers, "Swingin' for Two" by Don Cherry. and half the tracks of "The Big Beat" by Johnnie Ray.
In these early years he also produced some similar sounding records for Columbia's Epic label under the name of Jay Raye (which stands for "Joseph Raymond") amongst them a backing album and singles with Somethin' Smith & The Redheads, an American male vocal group.
Because of the success of his backings Mitch Miller allowed him to make his own record, and this became the successful "'S Wonderful", a collection of standards that were recorded with an orchestra and a wordless singing chorus (four men, four women). He released many more albums in the same vein, including "Dance The Bop" (1957), "'S Marvelous" (1957, gold album), "'S Awful Nice" (1958), "Concert in Rhythm" (1958, gold album), "Hollywood in Rhythm" (1958), "Broadway in Rhythm" (1959), and "Concert in Rhythm, Volume II" (1959, gold album).
In 1959 he started the Ray Conniff Singers (12 women and 13 men) and released the album "It's the Talk of the Town. This group of word— not just syllable — singing singers brought him the biggest hit he ever had in his career: "Somewhere My Love" (1966). The title track of the album was written to the music of Lara's Theme from the film Doctor Zhivago (1965), and was a top 10 single in the US. The album also reached the US top 20 and went platinum, and Conniff won a Grammy. The single and album reached high positions in the international charts (a.o. Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan) as well. Also extraordinarily successful was the first of four Christmas albums by the Singers, "Christmas with Conniff" (1959). Nearly fifty years after its release, in 2004, Conniff posthumously was awarded with a platinum album/CD.
Musically different highlights in Conniff's career are two albums he produced in cooperation with Billy Butterfield, an old buddy from earlier swing days. "Conniff Meets Butterfield" (1960) featured Butterfield's solo trumpet and a small rhythm group; "Just Kiddin' Around" (after a Conniff original composition from the 1940's), released 1963, featured additional trombone solos by Ray himself. Both albums are pure light jazz and did not feature any vocals.
Later in the 1960's he produced an average of two instrumental and one vocal album a year. Among these are (Original albums only):
* "'s Wonderful" (1956)
* "Dance the Bop!" (1957)
* "'s Marvelous" (1957)
* "'s Awful Nice" (1958)
* "Concert in Rhythm, Vol.1" (1958)
* "Broadway in Rhythm" (1958)
* "Hollywood in Rhythm" (1958)
* "It's The Talk of the Town" (1959)
* "Conniff Meets Butterfield" (1959)
* "Christmas with Conniff" (1959)
* "Concert in Rhythm, Vol.2" (1959)
* "Young at Heart" (1960)
* "Say It with Music (A Touch of Latin)" (1960)
* "Memories Are Made of This" (1960, gold album)
* "Somebody Loves Me" (1961)
* "'S Continental" (1961)
* "So Much in Love" (1962, gold album)
* "Rhapsody in Rhythm" (1962)
* "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (1962, gold album)
* "The Happy Beat" (1962)
* "You Make Me Feel So Young" (1963)
* "Speak to Me of Love" (1963)
* "Friendly Persuasion" (1964)
* "Invisible Tears" (1964)
* "Love Affair" (1965)
* "Music From 'Mary Poppins', 'The Sound of Music', 'My Fair Lady' & Other Great Movie Themes" (1965)
* "Here We Come A-Caroling" (1965)
* "Happiness Is" (1965)
* "Ray Conniff's World of Hits" (1966)
* "En Español (The Ray Conniff Singers Sing It in Spanish)" (1966)
* "This Is My Song" (1967)
* "Ray Conniff's Hawaiian Album" (1967)
* "It Must Be Him" (1967, gold album)
* "Honey" (1968, gold album)
* "Turn Around Look at Me" (1968)
* "I Love How You Love Me" (1968)
* "Live Europa Tournee 1969/Concert in Stereo" (1969)
* "Jean" (1969)
* "Concert In Stereo: Live At 'The Sahara Tahoe'" (1969)
* "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970)
* "We've Only Just Begun" (1970)
* "Love Story" (1970)
* "Great Contemporary Instrumental Hits" (1971)
* "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (1971)
* "Love Theme from "The Godfather" (1972)
* "Alone Again (Naturally)" (1972)
* "I Can See Clearly Now" (1972)
* "Ray Conniff in Britain" (1973)
* "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" (1973)
* "Harmony" (1973)
* "The Way We Were" (1973)
* "The Happy Sound of Ray Conniff" (1974)
* "Ray Conniff In Moscow" (1974)
* "Laughter in the Rain" (1975)
* "Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (1975)
* "Love Will Keep Us Together" (1975)
* "I Write the Songs" (1975)
* "Live in Japan" (1975)
* "Send in the Clowns" (1976)
* "Theme from 'SWAT' and Other TV Themes" (1976)
* "After the Lovin'" (1976)
* "Exitos Latinos" (1977)
* "Ray Conniff Plays the Bee Gees and Other Great Hits" (1978)
* "I Will Survive" (1979)
* "The Perfect '10' Classics" (1980)
* "Exclusivamente Latino" (1980)
* "Siempre Latino" (1981)
* "The Nashville Connection" (1982)
* "Musik für Millionen" (partly produced for a German TV show in 1982)
* "Amor Amor" (1982)
* "Fantastico" (1983)
* "Supersonico" (1984)
* "Campeones" (1985)
* "Say You Say Me" (1986)
* "30th Anniversary Edition" (1986)
* "Always in My Heart" (1987)
* "Interpreta 16 Exitos De Manuel Alejandro" (1988)
* "Ray Conniff Plays Broadway" (1990)
* "'S Always Conniff" (1991)
* "Latinisimo" (1993)
* "40th Anniversary" (1995)
* "Live in Rio (aka Mi Historia)" (1997)
* "I Love Movies" (1997)
* "My Way" (1998)
* "'S Country" (1999)
* "'S Christmas" (1999)
* "Do Ray Para O Rei" (2000).
Between 1957 and 1968, he had 28 albums in the American Top 40, the most famous one being "Somewhere My Love" (1966). He topped the album list in Britain in 1969 with "His Orchestra, His Chorus, His Singers, His Sound". He also was the first American popular artist to record in Russia—in 1974 he recorded "Ray Conniff in Moscow" with the help of a local choir. His later albums like "Exclusivamente Latino", "Amor Amor" and "Latinisimo" made him very popular in Latin-American countries, even more so after performing in the Viña del Mar International Song Festival. In Brazil and Chile he was treated like a young pop superstar in the 1980s and 1990s when he was in his 70s and 80s. He even played live with his orchestra and eight-person chorus in large football stadiums as well as in Viña del Mar.
Ray Conniff was a quiet, modest sympathetic artist. He always worked in the background so that in the fifties there were rumours that this man didn't even exist and his name was just a name fake as then his orchestral sound was so sensational. Nevertheless he sold about 70 million albums world-wide and continued recording and performing until his death in 2002.
He died in Escondido, California, and is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
In 2004, a memorial two-CD compilation set, "The Essential Ray Conniff", was released, featuring many rare and previously unreleased tracks. "The Singles Collection, Vol.1" was released on the Collectables label in 2005. This also features many rare tracks.
He Don't Love You Like I Love You
Ray Conniff Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm lying in bed,
Holdin' you close in my dreams;
Thinkin' about all the things that we said
And comin' apart at the seams.
We try to talk it over
But the words come out too rough;
I know you were tryin'
Beautiful faces,
Loud empty places
Look at the way that we live,
Wastin' our time
On cheap talk and wine
Left us so little to give.
The same old crowd
Was like a cold dark cloud
That we could never rise above,
But here in my heart
I give you the best of my love.
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love,
(You get the best of my love.)
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love.
(You get the best of my love.)
I'm goin' back in time
And it's a sweet dream.
It was a quiet night
And I would be alright
If I could go on sleeping.
But every morning'
I wake up and worry
What's gonna happen today.
You see it your way,
And I see it mine,
But we both see it slippin' away.
You know, we always had each other, baby.
I guess that wasn't enough.
Oh, but here in my heart
I give you the best of my love.
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love.
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love.
The lyrics of Ray Conniff's song "He Don't Love You Like I Love You" explore a relationship that is falling apart despite the best intentions and efforts of both parties. The singer is lying in bed, thinking about all the things that they and their partner said to each other, and feeling like they are coming apart at the seams. They try to talk it over, but the words come out too rough, and the singer knows that their partner was trying to give them the best of their love. The couple is surrounded by beautiful faces and loud, empty places, wasting their time on cheap talk and wine, and left with little to give. The old crowd is like a cold dark cloud that they can never rise above, but in the singer's heart, they give their partner the best of their love.
The second part of the song adds another layer of sadness as the singer reflects on how they want to go back in time and experience a sweet dream again. They wake up worried about what's going to happen today, and they both see the relationship slipping away, but in their heart, they know they always had each other. Unfortunately, it seems that it wasn't enough to keep the relationship from falling apart. The singer continues to give their partner the best of their love, but it may not be enough to save the relationship.
Overall, the lyrics of "He Don't Love You Like I Love You" are a poignant reminder of how sometimes our best efforts are not enough to save a relationship, and no matter how much we love someone, they may not feel the same way. The song's simple melody and soft instrumentation help to convey the emotion of the lyrics, making it a powerful and memorable ballad.
Line by Line Meaning
Every night
I'm lying in bed,
Holdin' you close in my dreams;
Thinkin' about all the things that we said
And comin' apart at the seams.
Every night, I try to find comfort in sleep, and in my dreams, I am close to you. I think about our conversations and how our relationship seems to be falling apart.
We try to talk it over
But the words come out too rough;
I know you were tryin'
To give me the best of your love.
We try to discuss our issues, but the discussions often get heated, and there is a lack of proper communication. I know that you are putting in effort to love me in the best way you know how.
Beautiful faces,
Loud empty places
Look at the way that we live,
Wastin' our time
On cheap talk and wine
Left us so little to give.
Our surroundings are beautiful and loud, but they lack meaning. We waste our time on trivial things like gossip and drinking, which leaves us with less to give to our relationship.
The same old crowd
Was like a cold dark cloud
That we could never rise above,
But here in my heart
I give you the best of my love.
We have been surrounded by the same people who may not be helping our relationship. Here, in my heart, I am giving you my unconditional love, the best of what I have.
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love,
(You get the best of my love.)
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love.
(You get the best of my love.)
You, my dear, are receiving the happiest and purest form of my love.
I'm goin' back in time
And it's a sweet dream.
It was a quiet night
And I would be alright
If I could go on sleeping.
At times, I wish to go back in time to the simpler moments, which I now only experience in my dreams. I wish I could continue dreaming as it brings me peace.
But every morning'
I wake up and worry
What's gonna happen today.
You see it your way,
And I see it mine,
But we both see it slippin' away.
However, I cannot avoid worrying every morning about what will happen next in our relationship. We have different views, but we know that our current situation is slipping away.
You know, we always had each other, baby.
I guess that wasn't enough.
Oh, but here in my heart
I give you the best of my love.
We have always had each other's support, but it wasn't sufficient to save our relationship. Nonetheless, I am loving you with everything I have left.
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love.
Oh, sweet darlin',
You get the best of my love.
You will always receive my best love, my sweet darling.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, Red Cloud Music
Written by: GLENN FREY, DON HENLEY, J.D. SOUTHER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind