Early life
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis, Jr. was born in New York City, New York to Elvera Sanchez (1905-2000)[1], a Puerto Rican tap dancer, and Sammy Davis, Sr. (1900-1988), an African-American entertainer. The couple were both dancers in vaudeville. As an infant, he was raised by his paternal grandmother. When he was three years old, his parents split up. His father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour. During his lifetime Sammy Davis, Jr. stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan.[2] As a child he learned how to dance from his father and his "uncle" Will Mastin, who led the dance troupe his father worked for. Davis joined the act as a young child and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his long career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing.
Mastin and his father had shielded him from racism. Snubs were explained as jealousy, for instance. When Davis served in the United States Army during World War II however, he was confronted by strong racial prejudice. As he said later, "Overnight the world looked different. It wasn't one color anymore. I could see the protection I'd gotten all my life from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving hope that I'd never need to know about prejudice and hate, but they were wrong. It was as if I'd walked through a swinging door for eighteen years, a door which they had always secretly held open."
Career
While in the service, however, he joined an integrated entertainment Special Services unit, and found that the spotlight removed some of the prejudice. "My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man's thinking," he said.[3]
Sammy Davis, Jr. (left) with Roy Wilkins (right) at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
After he was discharged, Davis rejoined the dance act which played at a wide variety of spots around Portland Oregon, and began to achieve success on his own as he was singled out for praise by critics. The next year, he released his second album. The next move in his growing career was to appear in the Broadway show Mr. Wonderful in 1956.
In 1959, he became a member of the Rat Pack, which was led by his old friend Frank Sinatra, and included such fellow performers as Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Shirley MacLaine. Initially, Sinatra called the gathering of fast-living friends "the Clan," but Sam voiced his opposition, saying that it invoked thoughts about the Ku Klux Klan. Sinatra renamed the group "the Summit"...but nevertheless, the media kept on calling it the Rat Pack all along.
Davis was a headliner at The Frontier Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for many years, yet was required to accept accommodations in a rooming house on the west side of the city, rather than reside with his peers in the hotels, as were all black performers in the 1950s. For example, no stage dressing rooms were provided for black performers, so they were required to wait outside by the swimming pool between acts. [4]
During his early years in Las Vegas, he and other African-American artists like Nat King Cole and Count Basie could entertain on the stage, but often could not reside at the hotels at which they performed, and most definitely could not gamble in the casinos or go to the hotel restaurants and bars. After he achieved superstar success, Davis refused to work at venues which would practice racial segregation. His demands eventually led to the integration of Miami Beach nightclubs and Las Vegas casinos. Davis was particularly proud of this accomplishment. [5]
Although James Brown would claim the title of "Hardest Working Man in Show Business," the argument could be made that Sammy Davis, Jr. deserved it more. For example, in 1964 he was starring in Golden Boy at night and shooting his own New York-based afternoon talk show during the day. When he could get a day off from the theater, he would either be in the studio recording new songs, or else performing live, often at charity benefits as far away as Miami, Chicago and Las Vegas, or doing television variety specials in Los Angeles. Even at the time, Sam knew he was cheating his family of his company, but he couldn't help himself; as he later said, he was incapable of standing still.
Although still a huge draw in Las Vegas, Davis' musical career had sputtered out by the latter years of the 1960s, although he had a #11 hit (#1 on the Easy Listening singles chart) with "I've Gotta Be Me" in 1969. An attempt to update his sound and reconnect with younger people resulted in some embarrassing "hip" musical efforts with the Motown record label.[6] But then, even as his career seemed at its nadir, Sammy had an unexpected worldwide smash hit with "Candy Man". Although he didn't particularly care for the song and was chagrined that he was now best known for it, Davis made the most of his new opportunity and revitalized his career. Although he enjoyed no more Top 40 hits, he did enjoy some extra popularity with his performance of the theme song from the T.V. series Baretta (1975-1978) which was not released as a single but was given extensive radio play and he remained a successful live act beyond Vegas for the remainder of his career. He would still occasionally land television and film parts, including high profile visits to the All in the Family series playing himself. In the 1970s, he also appeared in a series of memorable commercials in Japan for Suntory whiskey.
On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special entitled Movin' With Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is famous for Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses in U.S. television history.[7]
In Japan, Davis appeared in television commercials for coffee, and in the U.S. he joined Sinatra and Martin in a radio commercial for a Chicago car dealership.
Davis was one of the first male celebrities to admit to watching television soap operas, particularly the shows produced by the American Broadcasting Company. This admission led to him making a cameo appearance on General Hospital and playing the recurring character Chip Warren on One Life to Live for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1980. He was also a game show fan, making a cameo on the ABC version of Family Feud in 1979, and hosting a question with Richard Dawson watching from the sidelines. He appeared on Tattletales with third wife Altovise Davis in the 1970s. He also made a cameo during an episode of the NBC version of Card Sharks in 1981.
Davis was an avid photographer who enjoyed shooting family and acquaintances. His body of work was detailed in a 2007 book by Burt Boyar. "Jerry [Lewis] gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter, during the Ciro's period, early '50s," Boyar quotes Davis. "And he hooked me." Davis used a medium format camera later on to capture images. Again quoting Davis, "Nobody interrupts a man taking a picture to ask... 'What's that nigger doin' here?' ". His catalogue of photos include rare shots of his father dancing onstage as part of the Will Mastin Trio. Also, intimate snapshots of close friends: Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, James Dean, Nat "King" Cole and Marilyn Monroe. His political affiliations also were represented in his images of: Robert Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. His most revealing work comes in photographs of wife May Britt and their three children, Tracey, Jeff and Mark.
(Credit Wikipidia.org)
Jalousie
Sammy Davis Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I sometimes wonder, if this spell that I'm under
Can only be a melody, for I know no one but me
Has won your heart, but when the music starts
My peace departs from the moment
they play that lovely strain
And we surrender to all it's charm again
We dance to a tango of love
Your heart beats with mine as we sway
You eyes give the answer I'm dreaming of
That soft word your cruel lips will never say
I fear that the music will end
And shatter the spell it may lend
To make me believe, when your eyes just deceive
But it's only the tango you love.
I feel that the music will end
And shatter the spell it may lend
To make me believe, when your eyes just deceive
And, it's only the tango you love.
It's only the tango that you love.
The lyrics of Sammy Davis Jr.'s song Jalousie are about the singer's inner struggle with jealousy and uncertainty in his relationship. He is tormented day and night by his own jealousy, and wonders if the intense emotions he is feeling are simply a result of the music they dance to, the tango. He is aware that no one but him has won his love interest's heart, but the moment the tango music starts playing, he feels as though they both surrender to its charm and power.
The singer acknowledges that the jealousy that tortures him is both an ecstasy and a mystery, but also a source of pain. The tango they dance to is a symbol of their love, and his heart beats in time with hers as they sway together. However, he is aware that sometimes her eyes deceive him and he fears that when the music ends, the spell will be broken and he will realize that he was only being deceived by the tango. In the end, the singer realizes that it's only the tango that his love interest truly loves, and not him.
Overall, the lyrics of Jalousie deal with the complex emotions of love, jealousy, and uncertainty in a relationship, all set to the backdrop of a passionate tango. The song conveys the idea that sometimes love can be deceiving and that we must be aware of our own insecurities and doubts.
Line by Line Meaning
Jealousy, night and day you torture me
Jealousy is a constant source of pain and anguish for me day and night.
I sometimes wonder, if this spell that I'm under / Can only be a melody, for I know no one but me / Has won your heart, but when the music starts
Sometimes I wonder if my love for you is just an illusion inspired by the music we dance to. I know that I'm the only one who has captured your heart, but when the music starts, it feels like we're the only two people in the world.
My peace departs from the moment / they play that lovely strain / And we surrender to all it's charm again /This jealousy that tortures me, is ecstasy, mystery, pain
As soon as that beautiful music starts, my inner calm disappears, and I feel both overwhelmed and tortured by jealousy. Jealousy is a powerful and confusing cocktail of intense emotions - it brings pleasure, mystery, and pain all at once.
We dance to a tango of love / Your heart beats with mine as we sway / You eyes give the answer I'm dreaming of / That soft word your cruel lips will never say
When we dance together, it's like we're in a passionate tango of love. Your heart beats in time with mine, and I long to hear you say the one thing that would ease my jealousy. But you never do - despite what your eyes say, your lips are always cruelly silent.
I fear that the music will end / And shatter the spell it may lend / To make me believe ,when your eyes just deceive / But it's only the tango you love
The thought that the music will end fills me with fear. I worry that the spell that the music has cast over us will be shattered when the song is over, and I'll realize that your affection was never truly there. When I look into your eyes, I'm often tempted to believe what I see, but I know deep down that it's only the tango that you love.
I feel that the music will end / And shatter the spell it may lend / To make me believe, when your eyes just deceive / And, it's only the tango you love.
I can sense that the music is drawing to a close, and I fear that the enchantment of the moment will be broken. The illusion that you love me will vanish, and I'll be left with the reality that you were only ever in love with the dance itself.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JACOB GADE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind