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)
Lush Life
Sammy Davis Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Those come what may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get a feel of life
From jazz and cocktails
The girls I knew had sad and sullen grey faces
With distant gay traces
You could see where they've been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales
Then suddenly you came along
With a siren song
It tempts me to madness
I thought for a while that your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me
But, I was wrong
I was wrong
Life is lonely again,
And only last week, everything seemed so sure.
Now life is awful again,
A trough full of hearts will probably be a bore, a bore
A week I might go to Paris
At least a bite of it
All, all I want to do is laugh in spite of it
I'll forget you, I will
And yet you are still
Burning inside my brain
Romance is mush
And it stifles those who strive
Well I'll live a lush life in some small dive
And I, I'll be alright with the rest
All those whose lives are lonely too
Sammy Davis Jr.'s song Lush Life is a melancholic and nostalgic reflection on life, love, and heartbreak. Davis Jr. sings about his past experiences visiting "gay places" and the people he met there, including women with "sad and sullen grey faces" who had lost their spark due to the pressures of life. However, his mood changes when he meets someone special who tempts him to madness with their siren song. He believes that their poignant smile is tinged with sadness, leading him to believe that they share a great love for him. Unfortunately, he later realizes that he was wrong and that life has once again become lonely and uncertain. He contemplates forgetting this person, but they continue to burn inside his brain.
Davis Jr. sings about the futility of romance, which he feels stifles those who strive for something more. He vows to live a lush life, indulging in jazz and cocktails in some small dive, and finds solace in knowing that he is not alone in his loneliness.
The song's melody, with its swooning strings and mournful horns, perfectly captures the bittersweet emotions conveyed in the lyrics. Sammy Davis Jr.'s smooth and expressive voice adds to the song's poignancy, making it a timeless classic.
Line by Line Meaning
I, I used to visit all these very gay places
I used to frequent various joyful locations
Those come what may places
Regardless of the circumstances in those locations
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
People who go to such places to unwind and seek solace in life
To get a feel of life
To experience a taste of existence
From jazz and cocktails
Entertainment and refreshments usually obtained at such locations
The girls I knew had sad and sullen grey faces
The females I knew looked downcast with gloomy countenances
With distant gay traces
Although somewhat lighthearted or cheerful in the background
That used to be there
Which had previously been present and more prominent
You could see where they've been washed away
Evident that those traces had been faded or eroded from them
By too many through the day
Due to the problems and stresses encountered during daylight hours
Twelve o'clock tales
Stories heard around midnight
Then suddenly you came along
Then you suddenly appeared
With a siren song
Using an irresistible melody or voice
It tempts me to madness
It's so alluring that it drives me crazy
I thought for a while that your poignant smile
For some time, I believed your meaningful grin
Was tinged with the sadness
Was mixed with a touch of sadness
Of a great love for me
Of a deep passion and affection for me
But, I was wrong
However, my assumption was mistaken
Life is lonely again,
I again feel isolated in existence
And only last week, everything seemed so sure.
It was only the prior week when everything felt secure
Now life is awful again,
Now I again loathe this existence
A trough full of hearts will probably be a bore, a bore
Manifold options to choose from is likely going to be monotonous
A week I might go to Paris
Perhaps, within a week, I might journey to Paris
At least a bite of it
At least have a momentary experience of it
All, all I want to do is laugh in spite of it
I aspire to laugh despite everything
I'll forget you, I will
I will forget about you
And yet you are still
Nevertheless, you still linger in my mind
Burning inside my brain
Persistently entrenched in my memory
Romance is mush
Love stories and affection are trivial
And it stifles those who strive
It suppresses the people who yearn for more
Well I'll live a lush life in some small dive
So I will have a vibrant and luxurious life in a modest establishment
And I, I'll be alright with the rest
And I shall be fine amongst others who also feel detached and alone
All those whose lives are lonely too
All those who are also living in seclusion or solitude
Lyrics © K SMITH MUSIC CO., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Billy Strayhorn
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind