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.
They Say It's Wonderful
Stanley Black Lyrics
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It's wonderful, so they say
And with the moon up above, it's wonderful
It's wonderful, so they tell me
I can't recall who said it
I know I've never read it
I only know they tell me that love is grand, and
Is wonderful, wonderful
In every way, so they say
To leave your house some morning
And without any warning, you're stopping people,
Shouting that love is grand, and
To hold a man in your arms is wonderful, wonderful
In every way, so they say
The lyrics to Stanley Black & The Kingsway Promenade Orchestra's song "They Say It's Wonderful" speak of the wonderfulness of falling in love, the beauty of the moon, and the grandness of romance. The opening lines that "they say that falling in love is wonderful" suggest that the singer has heard from others that love is a great feeling, and they want to experience it. The repetition of "It's wonderful, so they say" throughout the song emphasizes that the singer is taking the word of others, rather than understanding firsthand.
The lines "I can't recall who said it, I know I've never read it" indicate that the singer has taken in what others have said about falling in love, rather than encountering the idea themselves. The idea that the singer may not have experienced love themselves but still finds it wondrous is an interesting take on the usual love song trope. The final verse explores the idea of suddenly being overcome with love for a person, and the physical sensation of holding someone in their arms. Overall, the song speaks to the idea of the beauty of love as purported by others and the desire to experience it for oneself.
Line by Line Meaning
They say that falling love is wonderful
Love is said to be an amazing experience when two people fall in love.
It's wonderful, so they say
According to others, love is indeed a great experience.
And with the moon up above, it's wonderful
Love is especially great when you're with someone you love under the moonlight.
It's wonderful, so they tell me
I've been told repeatedly that love is wonderful.
I can't recall who said it
I don't remember who told me that love is wonderful.
I know I've never read it
I'm not sure if I ever came across this idea while reading.
I only know they tell me that love is grand, and
I only know that people claim that love is a grand experience.
The thing that's known as romance
Romance is a known concept.
Is wonderful, wonderful
Romance is described to be an incredibly wonderful experience.
In every way, so they say
According to popular belief, romance is a fantastic experience in every aspect.
To leave your house some morning
To randomly go out of your house one morning.
And without any warning, you're stopping people,
You start telling people without any prior notice.
Shouting that love is grand, and
You shout that love is magnificent.
To hold a man in your arms is wonderful, wonderful
Holding a man that you love is an incredibly wonderful experience.
In every way, so they say
As people say, holding someone that you love is wonderful in every way.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: IRVING BERLIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind