A jazz standard by Toots Thielemans is "Bluesette," where he used whistling and guitar in unison. He worked both as a bandleader and as a sideman, including many projects with composer/arranger Quincy Jones. He performed on many film soundtracks, such as Midnight Cowboy, Cinderella Liberty, Jean de Florette, The Sugarland Express, The Yakuza, Turkish Delight, the 1972 version of The Getaway, French Kiss, Dunderklumpen!, and in various television programs, including Sesame Street, whose closing credits (which did not list him accordingly) featured his performance, on harmonica, of the show's theme, the Belgian television series Witse, and in the Netherlands, for the Baantjer series.
Thielemans started his career as a guitar player. In 1949 he joined a jam session in Paris with Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and others. In 1951 he went on tour with Bobbejaan Schoepen.
He moved to the United States in 1952 where he was a member of Charlie Parker's All-Stars. He played and recorded with names like Ella Fitzgerald, The George Shearing Quintet, Quincy Jones, Bill Evans, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Astrud Gilberto, Elis Regina and others.
A jazz standard by Toots Thielemans is "Bluesette" where he used whistling and guitar in unison. Bluesette became a major 1962 world-wide hit for him and this still much beloved and requested piece has been re-recorded by him and commercially released on records/CDs many times over both in various studio versions and live on-stage performances performed in several different countries. His trademark harmonica playing can also be heard in movie scores such as Breakfast at Tiffany's (where his plaintive "Moon River" solo in the opening scene brilliantly establishes the film's mood of romance noir), Midnight Cowboy, Bagdad Café, French Kiss, and in various TV programs like Sesame Street, the Belgian TV series Witse and the Dutch TV series Baantjer. His professional whistling and harmonica playing can be heard on Old Spice radio and TV commercials that have been made over the years. In 1983 he contributed to Billy Joel's album An Innocent Man, and his trademark harmonica can be heard on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone."
In the 90s Thielemans embarked on theme projects that included world music. In 1998 he released the a French flavoured album titled "Chez Toots" that included the Les Moulins De Mon Coeur (The Windmills of My Heart) featuring guest singer Johnny Mathis. This CD continues to sell well.
Today Jean "Toots" Thielemans remains a strong favorite among jazz aficionados and professional critics alike. His music CDs continue to delight (many of which were recorded in the 2000s) and have introduced him to entire new generations of keen fans.
Apart from his popularity as an accomplished musician, he is well liked for his modesty and kind demeanor. In his native Belgium, he is also popular for describing himself as a Brussels "ket", which means "street kid" in old Brussels slang. He received a joint honorary doctorate from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) and in 2001 Thielemans was ennobled a baron by King Albert II of Belgium.
In 2005 he was nominated for the title of De Grootste Belg (The Greatest Belgian). In the Flemish version he ended 20th place, in the Walloon version he ended 44th place.
Thielemans may have had a significant impact on The Beatles, (John Lennon in particular), during the group's pre-fame formative years. When performing in a 1959 Hamburg Germany with the pre-fame Beatles, John Lennon (sometimes with fellow Beatle George Harrison in tow) would often go over to the club where Toots was performing (at a noontime venue) as a member of The George Shearing Quintet. Lennon evidently was taken with Toot's harmonica playing and also for the guitar Toots was playing, an electric American made Rickenbacker with a short play neck. Based on the sound Lennon heard, he decided to purchase a natural alder wood "alderglo" colored three pickup Rickenbacker 1958 model 325 Capri guitar with a short scale as former Beatle and friend, George Harrison would recall to various interviewers many years later. (This iconic famous guitar often fondly referred to as the "Holy Grail" of all guitars, which was customized and tinkered with many times over the years by Lennon including being re-painted to jetglo black in September 1962, is the very same guitar that he played on The Beatles first and third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show during February 1964).
Toots Thielemans died peacefully in his sleep on August 22, 2016 after being hospitalized for a fall a month earlier.
You Stepped Out of a Dream
Toots Thielemans Lyrics
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You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
Could there be eyes like yours,
Could there be lips like yours
Could there be smiles like yours,
Honest and truly?
You stepped out of a cloud
I want to take you away, away from the crowd
Alone and apart out of a dream,
Safe in my heart
You stepped out of a dream
You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
Could there be eyes like yours,
Could there be lips like yours
Could there be smiles like yours,
Honest and truly?
You stepped out of a cloud
I want to take you away, away from the crowd
And have you all to myself,
Alone and apart out of a dream,
Safe in my heart
The song "You Stepped Out of a Dream" by Toots Thielemans is a romantic ballad that expresses the awe and wonder that one feels upon encountering someone extraordinary, someone who seems too wonderful to be real. The opening lines capture this sentiment perfectly: "You stepped out of a dream / You are too wonderful to be what you seem!" The singer marvels at the beauty of the person before him or her, and wonders if there could really be eyes, lips, and smiles like theirs.
The second verse continues in this vein, with the singer expressing a desire to be alone with this special someone, to have them all to themselves and to keep them safe in their heart. The imagery of stepping out of a cloud adds a surreal, dreamlike quality to the song, suggesting that the person in question is otherworldly or beyond mortal comprehension.
Overall, the song is a tribute to the power of love and the way it can make even the most ordinary moments feel like something out of a fairytale. The lyrics are simple and heartfelt, expressing a sentiment that is easy to relate to and that many of us have felt at some point in our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
You stepped out of a dream
You appeared in my life as if from a fantasy or an ideal world.
You are too wonderful to be what you seem!
You are so incredible and perfect that it seems impossible to be true.
Could there be eyes like yours,
I can't believe that there are eyes like yours in this world.
Could there be lips like yours
It's hard to imagine anyone having lips as beautiful as yours.
Could there be smiles like yours,
I can't believe someone could smile as genuinely and beautifully as you do.
Honest and truly?
Are you really this wonderful, or is it just my imagination?
You stepped out of a cloud
You came into my life as if descending from a romantic or mysterious atmosphere.
I want to take you away, away from the crowd
I desire to have you all to myself and to protect you from the chaos and noise of the outside world.
And have you all to myself,
I want to have you all to myself, without anyone else interfering or getting in the way.
Alone and apart out of a dream,
Together, we are in a dream-like state, removed from reality, and truly connected.
Safe in my heart
I will protect you and keep you close to me, where you belong.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management
Written by: GUS KAHN, NACIO HERB BROWN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind