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.
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Ray Conniff Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My true love was true
I of course replied, something here inside
Cannot be denied
They said some day you'll find
All who love are blind
When your heart's on fire, you must realize
So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today my love has flown away
I am without my love
(Without my love)
Now laughing friends deride
Tears I cannot hide, hide
So I smile and say, when a lovely flame dies
Smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes
Smoke gets in your eyes
The first stanza of Ray Conniff's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" talks about how someone asked him how he knew his true love is true, and he replied that there is something inside of him that cannot be denied. This could suggest that the singer is confident and secure about his relationship and his love for his partner. However, in the second stanza, the singer acknowledges that people say all who love are blind, and when your heart is on fire, smoke gets in your eyes. The smoke represents the doubts and confusion that love and relationships can bring, which can obscure one's vision and clarity. Despite this, in the third stanza, the singer still tries to put up a brave face as his love has flown away, and his laughing friends deride the tears he cannot hide. This highlights how even when people have doubts and face heartbreaks, they still try to remain strong and pretend that everything is okay.
Overall, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is a melancholic song about love and heartbreak. The lyrics portray the complexities of love and human emotion, highlighting how even when one is confident about love and relationships, doubts and heartbreaks can still occur, causing confusion and insecurity. The song's title refers to the smoke getting in one's eyes, which is a metaphor for how love can affect our perception and judgement.
Line by Line Meaning
They asked me how I knew
Someone asked me how I knew my love was true
My true love was true
That my love was genuine and sincere
I of course replied, something here inside
I replied confidently that there was something inside of me which knew it was true love.
Cannot be denied
I could not deny my feelings for my lover
They said some day you'll find
Others warned me that eventually I would realize
All who love are blind
Love can make us oblivious to flaws and shortcomings
When your heart's on fire, you must realize
When you are consumed by passion, you need to be aware
Smoke gets in your eyes
That the overwhelming emotions can cloud our judgment like smoke in our eyes
So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
I teased them and laughed at their concerns
To think they could doubt my love
It was difficult to believe that they doubted my love
Yet today my love has flown away
But now my love has left me
I am without my love
I am now alone without my lover
Now laughing friends deride
Now my friends are laughing at me
Tears I cannot hide, hide
I feel so upset that I cannot conceal my tears
So I smile and say, when a lovely flame dies
I try to smile and say that when a beautiful romance ends
Smoke gets in your eyes
The pain and sadness can be overwhelming, just like smoke in one's eyes.
Smoke gets in your eyes
The smoke symbolizes the feelings of loss and regret that come with the end of a relationship
Smoke gets in your eyes
Despite trying to pretend otherwise, the heartache cannot be hidden or ignored
Smoke gets in your eyes
The smoke in our eyes is a metaphor for the tears that inevitably come with heartache and loss.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Otto Harbach, Jerome Kern
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Dubme2poss
I am 51 yrs old !! Never, Never have I heard of this man and his music? Unbelievable Sounds.. I discovered this man's music today....Wow. I'm into Don Drummond, the Skatalites, Vargas di tecelante, Herb Albert, Chuck Mangino and other great horn players. Ray Conniff has reached me finally. Truth.
@madhavanwarrier9714
The world has seen only one Ray conniff and the only one, there will be no other, he was
outstanding, awesome.
This class of music is no more.
@lesgriffiths8523
Nobody comes close to Ray Conniff's musical arrangements.....many , may thanks Ray....you have left us a wonderful legacy, thanks to Youtube.
Les Griffiths
@darioj.tessone9073
I have to walk 50 years to realize that this is the real thing. Thanks to my Mother who let me jnow this music and these superb musicians!!!
@raymondsommerfeldt2817
My mother loved Ray Conniff and the band. Even now I find it so easy on the ears.
@fabiandimaspratama
Same. As a young generation, this kind of music is timeless. My father loves this, I too find it enjoyable
@saraparks9712
Ray Conniff the king of romantic instrumental and classic music😍
@davidisraelhernandez9430
A mi señor padre le encantaba Ray Conniff y escucharlo hoy que se celebra a los padres me hizo recordarlo y no pude evitar las lagrimas un abrazo hasta al cielo papa.
@armandogilbarragan9707
Ray es de lo mejor
@JonasDeLourenco-qq2mb
Jamais Vai Existir Outro Igual ao Ray Conniff Bom Demais ❤❤❤😊😊😊