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.
Paradise
Stanley Black Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And then I understand. mm
Her eyes afire with one desire
Then a heavenly kiss
Could I resist?
And then she dims the light, mm
And then she holds me tight. mm
Her kiss, each fond caress
She takes me to paradise
And then he holds my hand, mm
And then I understand. mm
His eyes afire with one desire
Then a heavenly kiss
Could I resist?
And then he dims the light, mm
And then he holds me tight. mm
Her kiss, each fond caress
They lead the way to happiness
She takes me to paradise
The lyrics to Stanley Black's "Paradise" are a love song that describes the intense connection and desire between two people. The singer describes how when his partner takes his hand, he understands the depth of their connection. Her eyes are full of desire and passion, and he cannot resist her heavenly kiss. When she dims the light and holds him tight, he feels her every kiss and caress leading him towards happiness and paradise.
The lyrics also have a gender-neutral version, where the singer describes how when their partner takes their hand, they understand the depth of their connection. Their partner's eyes are full of desire and passion, and they cannot resist their heavenly kiss. When they dim the light and hold them tight, they feel their partner's every kiss and caress leading them towards happiness and paradise.
Line by Line Meaning
And then she holds my hand, mm
She takes my hand and I feel a sense of comfort and connection with her
And then I understand. mm
Her touch communicates a message of understanding to me
Her eyes afire with one desire
The passion in her gaze is focused on one thing, and that is me
Then a heavenly kiss
Her kiss is so amazing and pure that it feels like I am in heaven
Could I resist?
I am so enchanted and enamored that I could not say no to her advances
And then she dims the light, mm
She sets a romantic mood by lowering the lighting in the room
And then she holds me tight. mm
She embraces me tightly, conveying a sense of security and comfort
Her kiss, each fond caress
The way she kisses me and touches me is filled with tenderness and affection
They lead the way to happiness
The gestures of love and intimacy we share bring us both great joy and fulfillment
She takes me to paradise
Being with her and having such an intimate connection with her feels like I am in paradise
Lyrics © GRABBITT MUSIC PUBLISHING CO., Songtrust Ave
Written by: Gregory J Abbott
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Socorro Martinez
esta bella música me recuerda a mi papito
Dreamer8girl
¸.•*¨*•¸☆ Miguel,
Hermosa melodía! Gracias por compartir.
Un abrazo....Ro