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.
Oh
Stanley Black Lyrics
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It's terribly sad but true,
All dressed up, no place to go
Each evening I'm awfully blue.
I must win some handsome guy
Can't go on like this,
I could blossom out I know,
Oh, sweet and lovely lady, be good
Oh, lady, be good to me
I am so awfully misunderstood
So lady, be good to me
Oh, please have some pity
I'm all-alone in this big city
I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood,
So lady be good to me.
Oh, please have some pity
I'm all alone in this big city
I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood,
So lady be good to me.
Oh lady be good to me.
The song "Oh Lady Be Good" by Stanley Black is a plea for someone to show the singer some kindness and compassion in the big city. The singer is a lonesome person who is all dressed up with nowhere to go, feeling terribly sad and misunderstood. They're hoping to win the affections of a handsome guy to blossom out of their loneliness. The phrase "Oh sweet and lovely lady" is a universal term used as a plea to a woman to show kindness and compassion to someone in need.
The repetition of the line "So lady be good to me" emphasizes the singer's desperation for comfort and companionship. The singer is overcome with a sense of loneliness that seems to have deep roots. They're trying to get out of the rut they're in and are seeking the help of a person who believes in them, so they could blossom out and share their gifts with the world. The song captures the sentiment that we all need someone to show us kindness, empathy, and care when we feel lost and alone.
Line by Line Meaning
Listen to my tale of woe,
Please listen to the depressing story of my life
It's terribly sad but true,
Unfortunately, everything I am about to tell you is extremely sad and factual
All dressed up, no place to go
Even though I am fully dressed, I have nowhere to go
Each evening I'm awfully blue.
Every night, I am filled with sadness and melancholy
I must win some handsome guy
I must find and win over an attractive and eligible man
Can't go on like this,
I can't continue living my life in this depressing manner
I could blossom out I know,
I have the potential to flourish and become happier if given the opportunity
With somebody just like you. So
That opportunity could come from being with someone like you. Therefore,
Oh, sweet and lovely lady, be good
Oh, kind and charming woman, please help me out
Oh, lady, be good to me
Oh, lady, please treat me well
I am so awfully misunderstood
People seem to have the wrong impression of me, and I am deeply hurt by this
So lady, be good to me
So, again, I implore you to be kind and good to me
Oh, please have some pity
Oh, please show some shared feelings of sadness or distress for my situation
I'm all-alone in this big city
I am completely alone in a vast and overwhelming metropolis
I tell you I'm just a lonesome babe in the wood,
I want you to know that I am simply an isolated and vulnerable person
So lady be good to me.
Therefore, please treat me with kindness and care
Oh lady be good to me.
Once more, I plead with you to show me compassion and understanding
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRA GERSHWIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind