Rollins was born in New York City to parents from the United States Virgin Islands. The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central Harlem and on Sugar Hill, receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean, Kenny Drew, and Art Taylor.
As a saxophonist he had initially been attracted to the jump and R&B sounds of performers like Louis Jordan, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. The German critic Joachim Berendt described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of Coleman Hawkins and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of bebop in the 1950s. Other tenor saxophone influences include Ben Webster and Don Byas. By his mid-teens, Rollins became heavily influenced by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. During his high school years, he was mentored by the pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, often rehearsing at Monk's apartment.
Rollins has played, at various times, a Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone and a Buescher Aristocrat. During the 1970s he recorded on soprano saxophone for the album Easy Living. His preferred mouthpieces are made by Otto Link and Berg Larsen. He uses Frederick Hemke medium reeds.
You Are Too Beautiful
Sonny Rollins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I am a fool for beauty
Fooled by a feeling that because I have found you
I could have bound you too
You are too beautiful for one man alone
For one lucky fool to be with
When there are other men
Love does not stand sharing
Not if one cares
Have you been comparing
My every kiss with theirs
If, on the other hand, I'm faithful to you
It's not through a sense of duty
You are too beautiful
And I am a fool for beauty
Love does not stand sharing
Not if one cares
Have you been comparing
My every kiss with theirs
If, on the other hand, I'm faithful to you
It's not through a sense of duty
You are too beautiful
And I am a fool for beauty
In Sonny Rollin's song "You are too beautiful," the lyrics express the inner struggle in the singer's mind about the woman he loves. He thinks she is too perfect to be true and feels like a fool for being fooled by her beauty. He has found her, but he worries he is not good enough for her, and that she deserves more than him. He questions whether he should even be with her as she is so beautiful that he thinks other men might be drawn to her as well. He asks the ultimate question, whether he can be faithful to her or not.
The lyrics discuss how love cannot stand sharing, and he asks whether she has been comparing his kisses with other men's kisses, implying that he is afraid of losing her to someone else. The song then pivots to where the singer admits that if he remains faithful to her, it's not because of a sense of duty but because she is too beautiful, and he is a fool for beauty. In essence, he is saying that she is worth staying faithful to, even with the risks involved.
Overall, the song's lyrics show the inner turmoil of a man in love with a woman who he thinks is too perfect for him. Despite these doubts, he recognizes that she is worth being faithful to, as she is too beautiful to let go of.
Line by Line Meaning
You are too beautiful, my dear, to be true
The singer feels that the addressee is too perfect and it's hard for them to believe that someone like them exists.
And I am a fool for beauty
The singer is admitting that their obsession with beauty leads them to make foolish decisions.
Fooled by a feeling that because I have found you
The singer feels deceived by the idea that finding someone so beautiful means they can have them forever.
I could have bound you too
The artist confesses to wanting to force the addressee to stay with them despite what they might want.
You are too beautiful for one man alone
The artist believes that the addressee's beauty deserves to be appreciated by more than just one person.
For one lucky fool to be with
The singer acknowledges that they are lucky to be with the addressee despite their own shortcomings.
When there are other men
The singer is aware that other men are attracted to the addressee as well.
With eyes of their own to see with
These other men have their own unique perspectives and ways of appreciating the addressee's beauty.
Love does not stand sharing
The artist believes that love cannot be shared between multiple people and still be true.
Not if one cares
If someone truly cares about their partner, they cannot bear the idea of sharing them with others.
Have you been comparing
The singer suspects that the addressee may be comparing their relationship to those they have with other men.
My every kiss with theirs
The artist wonders if the addressee is evaluating the quality of their kisses compared to those of other men.
If, on the other hand, I'm faithful to you
The singer is suggesting that if they are faithful to the addressee, it is not out of obligation or duty, but because they truly want to be.
It's not through a sense of duty
The singer is denying that their faithfulness is merely a result of feeling obligated to be loyal to the addressee.
You are too beautiful
The singer repeats what they've already expressed about the addressee being too beautiful for them.
And I am a fool for beauty
The artist reiterates their tendency to make foolish decisions based on their love for beauty.
Lyrics © IMAGEM MUSIC INC
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind