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 AmΓ©lie
Linda
Ray Noble Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I never count sheep
I count all the charms about Linda
And lately it seems
In all of my dreams
I walk with my arms about Linda
But what good does it do me for Linda
Doesn't know that I exist?
Think of all the lovin' I've missed
We pass on the street
My heart skips a beat
I say to myself, "Hello, Linda"
If only she'd smile
I'd stop for a while
And then I would get to know Linda
But miracles still happen
And when my lucky star begins to shine
With one lucky break
I'll make Linda mine
The lyrics to Ray Noble & His Orchestra's song Linda begin with the singer talking about how he doesn't count sheep when he goes to sleep but instead he counts all the charms about Linda. He talks about how he dreams about walking with his arms around her but acknowledges that Linda doesn't know he exists. Despite this, he still thinks about her and wishes he could get to know her. When they pass each other on the street, his heart skips a beat and he wishes she would smile back at him. He believes that with one lucky break, he could make Linda his own.
The song is a classic love ballad with the singer pining for the attention of a woman he admires. The lyrics capture the feelings of unrequited love and the hope that one day the object of his affection will notice him.
Line by Line Meaning
When I go to sleep
When I'm about to sleep at night
I never count sheep
I don't count sheep to help me fall asleep
I count all the charms about Linda
Instead, I think about all the good qualities that Linda possesses
And lately it seems
Recently
In all of my dreams
In my dreams every night
I walk with my arms about Linda
I imagine myself holding Linda in my arms while walking
But what good does it do me for Linda
But it doesn't do me any good because Linda
Doesn't know that I exist?
Doesn't even know that I'm around?
Can't help feeling gloomy
This makes me feel unhappy
Think of all the lovin' I've missed
I can't help but think about all the love I've missed out on
We pass on the street
When we walk by each other on the street
My heart skips a beat
My heart starts to beat faster
I say to myself, "Hello, Linda"
I greet her in my head by saying her name
If only she'd smile
If only she would smile at me
I'd stop for a while
I would pause to speak to her
And then I would get to know Linda
And then we could get to know each other better
But miracles still happen
But sometimes, amazing things can still occur
And when my lucky star begins to shine
When my luck starts to turn around
With one lucky break
If I just have one chance
I'll make Linda mine
I'll make Linda my girlfriend or partner
Lyrics Β© Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JIMMY KHWAMBE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@garyk.nedrow8302
Surprising as it may seem to youngsters today, this song was very popular in 1947. Radio in those days was family-oriented, and everyone knew the hit songs. I remember little kids going down the sidewalks happily singing Linda because the tune is catchy and the lyrics easy to remember. It was probably their first introduction to dating. At age five, I was paid a quarter to sing the song on the stage of a small restaurant to amuse the customers. It was my first professional gig. My last one, too.
@miguelosvaldofloresdomingu8911
Huge Beatle fan and i didn't knew it was written for Linda Eastman!
Nice tune.
Whenever i'm searchin' for pre 1950 classics, this is always the channel i pick to enjoy these classics!
You're great man!
@the78prof72
Thanks, Miguel. Glad to hear that you're enjoying the music.
@lindagordon217
Iβve always wondered why my mother chose this name when my father rejected Julie and Anne; I bet it was this song, popular shortly before I was born; ironically, I grew up to be a huge Paul and then Paul and Linda fan, never knowing the date of this song, and loving the song he wrote for her (Lovely Linda) but I now remember my mother singing it when I was little! Thanks for the memory.
@darrylcpreston4043
As far as I know, this wonderful parody has yet to receive the public flogging that has been laid out for BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE. It was quaintly reminiscent of a much earlier period the day it was released.
With the passing of Doris Day, Buddy will receive some much deserved recognition. To many, he was the best crooner of the late forties.
@leonchildsjr8690
October 1st of this year will be the 70th anniversary of his tragic plane crash.
@patdoyle3686
He was very Good like Dean n Perry yet Bingπ was the πππππππof the crooners π
@cristinaletechipia7030
Me encanta esta linda canciΓ³n.
@dabidibup
I asked my mom where her mother heard the name "Linda" and she said her mother told her, that there was a song called "Linda Lu", now either the Ray Sharpe song is older then the when it was recorded, or this is the song
@lindaeno3853
I was named after this song !!