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.
Indian Love Call
Stanley Black Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I'm calling you
Oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo
Will you answer too?
Oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo
That means I offer my life to you to be my own
If you refuse me I will be blue, waiting all alone
But if when you hear my love call ringing clear
Oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo
And I hear your answering echo so dear
Oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo
Then I will know our love will become true
You'll belong to me and I'll belong to you
Then I will know our love will become true
You'll belong to me and I'll belong to you
The lyrics in Stanley Black's song Indian Love Call are a plea from the singer to their love interest. The song starts with the singer calling out to their beloved, asking if they will answer back. The singer is willing to offer their life to the person they are singing to. The tone of the song is sad and the singer mentions that if they are refused, they will be "blue, waiting all alone".
The lyrics go on to say that if the person they are singing to hears their love call ringing clear and answers back, then they will know that their love will become true. The repetition of the "Oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo" is meant to emphasize the haunting and longing nature of the song. The final verse reiterates that once their love is true, they will belong to each other.
The song captures the emotional depth of longing and desire for love to be reciprocated. The lyrics evoke a sense of hope that the two individuals will come together and find true love. The song also highlights the pain of rejection and loneliness that can come with the pursuit of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo
Humming a tune that expresses my feelings
When I'm calling you
When I express my love to you
Will you answer too?
Will you accept my love?
That means I offer my life to you to be my own
I am willing to devote myself to you
If you refuse me I will be blue, waiting all alone
If you reject me, I will be heartbroken and lonely
But if when you hear my love call ringing clear
But if you are able to understand my love
And I hear your answering echo so dear
And you accept my love in return
Then I will know our love will become true
Then I will trust that our love is genuine
You'll belong to me and I'll belong to you
We will be together and in love.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto A. Harbach, Rudolf Friml
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind