Black was born as Solomon Schwartz on 14 June 1913 in Whitechapel, England. His parents were Polish and Romanian Jews.[1] 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.[2]
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.[3]
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.
Theme
Stanley Black and His Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mysterious and spooky
They're all together ooky
The Addams family
Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams family
Neat
Sweet
Petite
So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams family
The lyrics of Stanley Black and His Orchestra's song "Theme" talk about the peculiar and eccentric Addams family. The family is described as being creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky, but also very united, indicated by the line "They're all together ooky." The family's house is so unusual that it is a museum, where people come to see them. The Addams Family is more of a thriller and comedy that peculiarly captures the oddities of the family, and their way of living in perfect harmony with their unusual surroundings. The song is written in such a way that when you listen to it, you'll immediately experience the feeling that this is exactly the theme song for an odd yet lovable family.
The second stanza describes the members of the family as "neat, sweet, and petite," giving an interesting insight into the writer's perception of the family. The final stanza is an invitation to the listener to come and join the family, asking them to don a witch's shawl, grab a broomstick, and pay a call on the Addams family.
Line by Line Meaning
They're creepy and they're kooky
The members of the Addams family are eerie and strange.
Mysterious and spooky
The family is shrouded in mystery and eeriness.
They're all together ooky
Despite their unusualness, the family is tight-knit and supportive of one another.
The Addams family
This line serves as a chorus to the song, reinforcing the focus on the family.
Their house is a museum
The home of the Addams family is filled with strange and unusual artifacts.
Where people come to see 'em
The Addams family is well-known and attracts visitors to their home.
They really are a scream
The Addams family is entertaining and amusing to those who encounter them.
Neat
The Addams family is tidy and organized.
Sweet
Despite their eerie exterior, the Addams family has a gentle and caring nature.
Petite
The Addams family is small in stature.
So get a witches shawl on
The singer is encouraging the listener to prepare themselves to be in line with the strange and eerie surroundings of the Addams family.
A broomstick you can crawl on
In keeping with a witch's costume, the listener is encouraged to use a broomstick as a prop.
We're gonna pay a call on
The singer and listener are going to visit the Addams family.
The Addams family
Once again, this line serves as a chorus to the song and reinforces the focus on the family.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Vic Mizzy
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@deedoyle4069
Magical. Thank you!
@guadalupeferrer5064
Qué arreglos tan buenos para la bellísima música de un excepcional compositor latinoamericano. ¡Gracias! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@anilucecita
Gracias por compartir tan maravillosa música selecta. Espero que se encuentre bien pues hace un año que no sube nuevos vídeos (Octubre 2020). Un Saludo y felicidades por su colección musical
@guillermo1699
Tengo este disco muy bueno
@glory210
Nº 3 "Jungle Drums", it's me!!!! 😜👈 💚💜🌴🌴🐒🐆🌛✨🔥
@dr.timothyn.shieldsesq.5587
🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤😊😊😊
@MarcioSilva-mt3bp
00:00 01 Siboney
03:12 02 Danza Lucumi
06:42 03 Jungle Drums (Canto Karabali)
09:36 04 Gitanarias
11:50 05 Maria, My Own (Maria La O)
14:50 06 Malagueña
18:49 07 Always In My Heart
21:49 08 Andalucia
24:27 09 La Comparsa
26:58 10 High In Sierra (Cordoba)
@wabcito1
gustavo , no has subido nuevos videos ? saludos desde mexico abril/2023
@bentebeukel
<3