Black was born as Solomon Schwartz on 14 June 1913 in Whitechapel, England. His parents were Polish and Romanian Jews. He began piano lessons at the age of seven. He was aged only 12 when his first composition was broadcast on BBC Radio and continued his early success by winning a Melody Maker arranging competition aged 15.
In the early 1930s he was employed as a jazz player and composer and had worked with Howard Jacobs, Joe Orlando, Lew Stone, Maurice Winnick and Teddy Joyce by the time he joined Harry Roy in 1936. He had also broadcast and recorded with several American musicians, including jazz saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, who had first heard Black on late night radio shows with Lew Stone's band. When the two eventually met in London, the reviewer Edgar Jackson suggested they record together, and a notable collaboration is a duet version of Honeysuckle Rose.
During World War II, Black joined the Royal Air Force, and became involved in managing the entertainment of servicemen based at Wolverhampton. In 1944 he was appointed conductor of the BBC Dance Orchestra, and remained in the job for almost nine years, broadcasting as many as six nights a week.
By this time he had also begun recording under his own name for Decca. Now well involved with the film industry, he went on to compose, arrange and direct music for about 200 more films, notably after being appointed music director at Elstree Studios in 1958. He was also principal conductor of the Associated British Picture Corporation Orchestra and musical director composer of that organisation from 1958-1963.
Stanley Black's radio work kept him in contact with a large listening audience through his incidental music for shows such as Much Binding in the Marsh and the first two series of The Goon Show. He later presented his own programmes on radio and television, including Black Magic and The Marvellous World of Stanley Black.
In the early 1950s he regularly topped the Melody Maker lists of the most-heard musicians on radio. He was chosen to be included on Decca's first release of long-playing records in the UK in June 1950. This enabled him to continue his conducting, arranging and performing and resulted in a large number of albums. He was particularly popular in United States, as evidenced by his inclusion in the Billboard best-sellers lists.
During his life, he conducted many of Britain's major orchestras, and until the 1990s he was still directing regular broadcast sessions at the BBC studios, despite the onset of deafness in later life.
Stanley Black is remembered for writing numerous scores for radio, television and cinema, including the theme-tune for The Goon Show.
Other films he composed scores for include Laughter in Paradise (1951), The Naked Truth (1957), Blood of the Vampire (1958), Too Many Crooks (1958), The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961), West 11 (1963), The System (1964), Crossplot (1969), and the Cliff Richard musicals The Young Ones (1961) and his orchestral backing for Richard's follow up, Summer Holiday (1962), which won him an Ivor Novello Award. His work also became familiar to millions of cinema audiences as a consequence of his theme tune and music library for Pathé News, written in 1960.
He also recorded many classical works, including collections of Tchaikovsky and George Gershwin. In 1965 he won a Gramophone Award for his version of Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnol. In addition, he arranged and conducted many commercially successful albums on LP and later CD like Tropical Moonlight, Cuban Moonlight, Black Magic, and series of Film Spectacular and Broadway Spectacular for Decca Records.
Blue Tango
Stanley Black Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And we're dancing to the tango we loved when first we met
While the music plays, we recall the days
When our love was a tune that we couldn't soon forget
As I kiss your cheek, we don't have to speak
The violins, like a choir, express the desire
We used to know not long ago
So just hold me tight in your arms tonight
The lyrics of the song Blue Tango by Stanley Black embody the passion and nostalgia of a couple dancing to the tango they fell in love with. The line "Here am I with you in a world of blue" sets the mood of the song, portraying the couple's melancholy state of mind. However, their passion for each other hasn't waned, as evident in the line "And we're dancing to the tango we loved when first we met."
The music of the tango catalyzes their memories, taking them back to when their love was still a fresh and passionate tune that they couldn't forget. This is reflected in the lyrics, "While the music plays, we recall the days when our love was a tune that we couldn't soon forget." Even in their silence, their mutual emotions are being expressed, creating a moment of unspoken desire. This unspoken passion is expressed in the line "The violins, like a choir, express the desire we used to know not long ago."
In conclusion, Blue Tango by Stanley Black is a song that evokes the passion and yearning of a couple who have been together for a long time. It speaks to the power of music to evoke nostalgia, and the unspoken communication between two people who deeply understand and cherish each other.
Line by Line Meaning
Here am I with you in a world of blue
In this moment, I am with you feeling melancholic.
And we're dancing to the tango we loved when first we met
We are dancing the same tango we used to dance when we first started loving each other.
While the music plays, we recall the days
The music playing reminds us of the past when we were in love.
When our love was a tune that we couldn't soon forget
Our love was so strong that we still remember it as if it was a tune stuck in our heads.
As I kiss your cheek, we don't have to speak
The kiss on your cheek speaks more than a thousand words.
The violins, like a choir, express the desire
The violins playing sound like a choir expressing our emotions and desires.
We used to know not long ago
Our love and desire for each other were well known and not so distant in time.
So just hold me tight in your arms tonight
Hold me close and don't let go because tonight we relive the love we once had.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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