McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in 1933. He took up the tenor saxophone at the age of eleven, when he was a pupil at the Alpha School, and eventually joined Eric Dean’s Orchestra.
In 1954 he left for an engagement in Nassau, Bahamas, after which he ended up in Miami, Florida, and it was here that McCook first heard John Coltrane and fell in love with jazz. McCook returned to Jamaica in early 1962, where he was approached by a few local producers to do some recordings. Eventually he consented to record a jazz session for Clement "Coxson" Dodd, which was issued on the album as "Jazz Jamaica". His first ska recording was an adaptation of Ernest Gold’s "Exodus", recorded in November 1963 with musicians who would soon make up the Skatalites.
During the 1960s and 1970s McCook recorded with the majority of prominent reggae artists of the era, working particularly with producer Bunny Lee and his house band, The Aggrovators, as well as being featured prominently in the recordings of Yabby You and the Prophets (most notably on version sides and extended disco mixes), all while still performing and recording with the variety of line ups under the Skatalites name.
McCook died of pneumonia and heart failure, aged 71, on 5 May 1998.
The Shadow of You Smile
Tommy McCook Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When you have gone
Will color all my dreams
And light the dawn
Look into my eyes my love and see
All the lovely things you are to me
It was far, too high
A teardrop kissed your lips
And so did I
Now when I remember spring
All the joys that love can bring
I will be remembering
The shadow of your smile
Tommy McCook's song The Shadow Of Your Smile is a wistful ballad that talks about how the memory of a loved one can color all of your dreams and light the dawn even when the person is not around anymore. The lyrics communicate the feelings of a person who is reminiscing about their love and remembering all the lovely things about them. The lyrics convey that the writer is deeply in love and that their love has an indelible effect on them. The lyrics paint a picture of someone who is so in love that they can see nothing but the beauty in their loved one.
The lyrics also share the story of a wistful little star that was far too high, and how a teardrop kissed your lips, and so did I. This could be interpreted as the writer being unable to attain the height of their partner, but still, their love was strong enough to reach the same heights. The writer is incredibly sentimental, and even the memory of spring or joys that love can bring, they will always remember the shadow of their love's smile. The song uses musical imagery to evoke a feeling of nostalgia or longing and could be described as an ode to the power of love and the effect it can have on us.
Line by Line Meaning
The shadow of your smile
The memory of your smile
When you have gone
After you have left
Will color all my dreams
Will fill all my dreams with the memory of your smile
And light the dawn
And bring light to the morning
Look into my eyes my love and see
Look into my eyes and see how much I love you
All the lovely things you are to me
See all the wonderful things you mean to me
Our wistful little star
Our small, sad star
It was far, too high
It was too distant and unreachable
A teardrop kissed your lips
I kissed your lips with a teardrop
And so did I
Because I was also crying
Now when I remember spring
When I think back to springtime
All the joys that love can bring
All the happiness that love can bring
I will be remembering
I will recall and think of
The shadow of your smile
The memory of your smile
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Johnny Mandel, Paul Webster
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
George Rubio
What A Song!! Years without hearing of such a lovely creation! 😍😍😍😍
Alejandro Sotelo
Beatiful!
Daniel Gray Garrison
Truly a transcending interpretation of this song
JEFFA
Good!!
Laura Ginocchio
Poetry
ScarfaceTKJ
Back in the day at Copa
Dave Phillips
It's a cabana that's made from copha!
Karla Perrichon
What a meolody..
durango lately
Adverts????? You ruin it, so upset you make a mockery of this sound
Trasimedia
This song got copyright. Who has the copyright put the ADV not me, I dont see any dollar / euro from this channel. Maybe you dont know how it works youtube. And so all the internet. Try some ADblock