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.
Where Is The Love
Ray Conniff Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love.
You said you'd give to Me
Soon as You were free
Will it ever be
Where Is The Love?.
You told Me that You didn't Love Him,
And You were gonna say goodbye
But if You really didn't mean it,
Why did You have to lie?.
Where Is The Love,
You said was Mine all Mine,
Till the end of time
Was it just a lie
Where Is The Love?.
If You had had
A sudden change of Heart
I wish that You would tell Me so
Don't leave Me hangin on the promises
You've got to let Me know.
Oh how I wish I never met You
I guess it must have been My fate
To fall in Love
With someone else's Love
All I can do is wait
(That's all I can do)
Yeah yeah yeah.
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love
Where Is The Love...
The song “Where Is The Love” by Ray Conniff is about a lover who feels abandoned and betrayed. The chorus repeats the phrase “Where Is The Love” several times to emphasize the theme of heartbreak. The singer mentions that their lover had promised to give them their love once they were free, but the promise seems to have been broken. The singer is confused and frustrated as they cannot find the love they were promised; they don't know what happened to it. The song also explores how the singer thought their lover had fallen out of love with someone else and was going to leave them, but then the person decides to stay, leaving the singer in a state of confusion and uncertainty.
The singer is angry and hurt because they were given promises that were not kept. They are waiting to hear if there has been a sudden change of heart from their lover. The song implies that the singer has been cheated, and they are sad and lonely. The song has a sad, melancholic tone, with a sense of longing and despair.
Overall, “Where Is The Love” by Ray Conniff is a song that explores heartbreak and the broken promises of love. It reflects on the pain and confusion felt when a lover does not keep their promise, and when love fades away. It is a timeless song that beautifully captures the emotions of a broken heart.
Line by Line Meaning
Where Is The Love
A repeated question asking where the love that was promised is
Where Is The Love
Asking again where the love promised is
Where Is The Love
Repeating the question in search of the promised love
Where Is The Love
The question still remains - where is the promised love?
Where Is The Love
The search continues for the love that was promised
Where Is The Love
The longing for the promised love intensifies
Where Is The Love.
The repeated question continues unanswered
You said you'd give to Me
Referring to a promise of love that was made
Soon as You were free
A promise to give love as soon as some obstacle is removed
Will it ever be
Wondering if the promise of love will ever be fulfilled
Where Is The Love?.
The question of where the promised love is remains
You told Me that You didn't Love Him,
Referring to a conversation where the person said they didn't love someone else
And You were gonna say goodbye
Implying that they were going to leave that person soon after
But if You really didn't mean it,
Expressing confusion about the sincerity of their words
Why did You have to lie?.
Asking why they had to deceive if they didn't intend to leave
Where Is The Love,
Asking where the promised love is again
You said was Mine all Mine,
A reminder that they promised love belonged only to the artist
Till the end of time
A promise to love forever was made
Was it just a lie
Questioning the authenticity of the promise of love
Where Is The Love?.
The repeated question of where the promised love is remains
If You had had
Talking about a hypothetical situation
A sudden change of Heart
If the person changed their mind about the promise of love
I wish that You would tell Me so
The singer wants to know if the person has had a change of heart
Don't leave Me hangin on the promises
Asking the person to not leave them hanging on to the promises of love
You've got to let Me know.
Urging the person to communicate their intentions clearly
Oh how I wish I never met You
Expressing regret for meeting the person because of the unresolved promise of love
I guess it must have been My fate
A feeling that it was meant to be to meet the person and know about the promise of love
To fall in Love
The artist fell in love with the person despite everything
With someone else's Love
The love the artist fell into was already promised to someone else
All I can do is wait
Acknowledging that they are helpless - waiting for the promised love is all they can do
(That's all I can do)
Emphasizing the helplessness of the singer
Yeah yeah yeah.
A repetition to emphasize the feeling of being helpless while waiting for the promised love
Writer(s): MAC DONALD RALPH, SALTER WILLIAM
Contributed by Taylor B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.