Noble wrote both lyrics and music for many popular songs during the British dance band era known as the "Golden Age of British music", notably for his longtime friend and associate Al Bowlly, including Love Is The Sweetest Thing, Cherokee, The Touch of Your Lips, I Hadn't Anyone Till You and his signature tune, The Very Thought of You. Noble also played a radio comedian opposite American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's stage act of Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, and American comedy duo Burns and Allen, later transferring these roles from radio to TV and popular films.
Raymond Stanley Noble was born at 1 Montpelier Terrace in the Montpelier area of Brighton, England. A blue plaque on the house commemorates him. Noble studied at the Royal Academy of Music and in 1927 won a competition for the best British dance band orchestrator that was advertised in the Melody Maker music magazine. In 1929, he became leader of the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, an HMV Records studio band that featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day.
The most popular vocalist with Noble's studio band was Al Bowlly, who joined in 1930. During this time Noble co-wrote Turkish Delight, By the Fireside and Goodnight, Sweetheart. The latter song was a number one hit for Guy Lombardo in the United States charts.
Noble moved to New York City in 1934. The Bowlly/Noble recordings with the British New Mayfair Dance Orchestra on HMV had achieved popularity in the United States and Noble had several number one hits on the US pop singles charts:
Love is the Sweetest Thing, 1933, no.1 for 5 weeks;
Old Spinning Wheel, 1934, no.1 for 3 weeks;
The Very Thought of You, 1934, no.1 for 5 weeks;
Isle of Capri, 1935, no.1 for 7 weeks;
and with the American band:
Paris in the Spring, 1935, no.1 for 1 week.
As well as Al Bowlly, Noble also took his drummer Bill Harty to USA and asked Glenn Miller to recruit American musicians to complete the band. Glenn Miller played the trombone in the Ray Noble orchestra which performed Glenn Miller's composition Dese Dem Dose as part of the medley Dese Dem Dose/An Hour Ago This Minute/Solitude during a performance at the Rainbow Room in 1935. The American Ray Noble band had a successful run at the Rainbow Room in New York City with Bowlly as principal vocalist. The act included ventriloquist Edgar Bergen.
Although Noble was no singer, he did appear twice as an upper crust Englishmen on two of his more popular New York records, 1935's Top Hat and 1937's Slumming on Park Avenue. Ray Noble was also an arranger who scored many record hits in the 1930s: Mad About the Boy (1932), Paris in the Spring (1935) and Easy to Love (1936),
Ray Noble and his orchestra appeared in the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress with Burns and Allen. Noble played a somewhat "dense" character who was in love with Gracie Allen. His catchphrase was "Gracie, this is the first time we've ever been alone together." Al Bowlly returned to England in 1938 but Noble continued to lead bands in America, moving into an acting career portraying a stereotypical upper-class English idiot.
Ray Noble played the piano but seldom did so with his orchestra. In a movie short from the 1940s featuring Ray Noble and Buddy Clark (one of his most popular band singers), Ray Noble is asked by the announcer to play one of his most popular hits. He sits down at the piano and plays Goodnight, Sweetheart.
Ray Noble provided music for many radio shows like The Chase and Sanborn Hour, The Charlie McCarthy Show and Burns and Allen and also guest appeared in some of their films. He worked with Bergen for nearly fifteen years, playing the foil to McCarthy and the slow-witted Mortimer Snerd, and his orchestra appeared with Edgar Bergen in the 1942 film Here We Go Again. He also did the orchestration for the 1942 Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper. Noble's last major successes as a bandleader came with Buddy Clark in the late 1940s.
The ventriloquist TV show ended in the mid-1950s, and Noble retired to Santa Barbara, California. In the late 1960s Noble relocated to Jersey in the Channel Islands. In March 1978 he flew to London for treatment of cancer, and later died of the disease at a London hospital.
In 1987 Noble was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
In 1996 Noble was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 2005 The Very Thought of You, recorded by Ray Noble and His Orchestra on Victor in 1934, received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award
In 1938 the Noble composition You're So Desirable was recorded by Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson
The Noble and Bowlly 1934 recording of Midnight, the Stars and You was prominently featured on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining
In 1990 the Noble composition You're So Desirable was recorded by Robert Palmer
In the 1990 film, The Russia House, protagonist 'Barley' Blair, played by Sean Connery, is portrayed as having once played in the "great Ray Noble's Band"
The Noble and Bowlly classic 1931 song Guilty was included on the 2001 film soundtrack of Amélie
I've Got A Feeling
Ray Noble Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've got you deep in the heart of me.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
I've got you under my skin.
I'd tried so not to give in.
I said to myself, this affair never will go so well.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well
I've got you under my skin?
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
I would sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
In spite of the warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, how it yells in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, ain't no chance to win
Why not use your mentality, get up, wake up to reality?
And each time I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop just before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
And I like you under my skin.
The song “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by Cole Porter was originally recorded by Ray Noble and His Orchestra, featuring the voice of British singer Al Bowlly, in 1936. The song quickly became a hit and has since been covered by various artists, including Frank Sinatra, who popularized it in the 1950s.
The lyrics of the song describe the intense emotional connection between two people in love. The singer admits that he has the person “under [his] skin” and that they are “deep in the heart of [him].” Despite his efforts to resist the attraction, he ultimately cannot help himself and gives in to the love affair. The repeated warnings in his head to “use [his] mentality, wake up to reality” suggest that he knows that the affair will likely end badly for him, but he is still unable to resist the temptation of the person he loves.
The use of metaphors throughout the song, such as comparing the person to something physically inside the singer, helps to emphasize the intensity of the emotion that the singer is feeling. The repetition of phrases like “I’ve got you under my skin” and “Don’t you know, you fool” also adds to the emotional impact of the song.
Overall, the song “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” is a timeless classic that perfectly captures the complicated nature of love and the inability to resist its pull.
Line by Line Meaning
I've got you under my skin.
You have become a permanent part of me, deeply ingrained and unshakeable.
I've got you deep in the heart of me.
You hold a special place in my heart that cannot be replaced by anyone else.
So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me.
You are so much a part of me that I can't imagine my life without you.
I'd tried so not to give in.
I attempted to resist my feelings for you, but it was impossible.
I said to myself, this affair never will go so well.
I knew logically that pursuing this relationship could lead to trouble down the road.
But why should I try to resist when, baby, I know down well
I've got you under my skin?
Despite the potential risks, I cannot resist the powerful attraction I feel towards you.
I'd sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of havin' you near
I am willing to do whatever it takes to keep you close to me, regardless of the consequences.
In spite of a warnin' voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear,
Don't you know, you fool, you never can win?
Despite the nagging voice of reason that warns me against pursuing this relationship, my desire for you prevails.
Use your mentality, wake up to reality.
I know that I should be more rational and think logically, but my emotions override my reason.
But each time that I do just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
Cause I've got you under my skin.
Even when I try to be reasonable, the thought of you keeps me from resisting temptation.
And I like you under my skin.
I am happy to have you be a part of me and to feel this deep connection with you.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind