BENNY
[1] ONLY TRUST YOUR HEART
DIANNE REEVES
[2] ALL THAT JAZZ
CARMEN BRADFORD AND KENNY RANKIN
[3] I WAS WRONG
JOE WILLIAMS
[4] RAIN
MARLENA SHAW
[5] COW-COW BOOGIE JON HENDRICKS
[6] FRESH OUT OF LOVE
DIANA KRALL
[7] SPEAK NOW
BILLY STRITCH
[8] A KISS FROM YOU
SHIRLEY HORN
[9] YOU BRING OUT THE BEST IN ME BOBBY SHORT
[10] MY KIND OF TROUBLE IS YOU RUTH BROWN
[11] WHEN LIGHTS ARE LOW WESLIA WHITFIELD
[12] LONELY WOMAN
NANCY MARANO
[13] KEY LARGO CARMEN BRADFORD
[14] WE WERE IN LOVE
DIANNE REEVES AND JOE WILLIAMS
[15] I SEE YOU PEGGY LEE
PERSONNEL’S TRACKS
[1]-[14]
BENNY CARTER -Alto Sax
WARREN VACHE -Comet
( except tracks 4, 8, 10, 12)
CHRIS NEVILLE -Piano
STEVE LASPINA -Bass
SHERMAN FERGUSON -Drums
(tracks 1, 3-9, 11, 12, 14)
ROY MCCURDY -Drums (tracks 2, 10, 13)
TRACK [15]:
BENNY CARTER -Alto Sax
GENE DINOVI -Piano
JOHN HEARD -Bass
SHERMAN FERGUSON -Drums
Produced by ED BERGER & DANNY KAPILlAN
Production assistance: Lany Berger
Tracks 1-4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14 recorded at Group IV Studios, Hollywood, July 26, 27 and 28, 1995
Track 15 recorded at Group IV Studios, Hollywood, August 26, 1995
Engineer: Angel L. Balestier
Second Engineer: Eric Cowden
Tracks 5, 7, 9, 11, 12 recorded at Master Sound Astoria, NYC, June 26, 27 and 28, 1995
Engineer: Ben Rizzi
Assistant Engineer: David Merrill
All tracks mixed at Group IV Studios, Hollywood.
Mastered by Allan Tucker at Foothill Digital, NYC.
Front and back cover photos by Henry Diltz
CD booklet art & layout by Audrey L. Verso and Amy Yanoschak
CARMEN BRADFORD appears courtesy of Evidence Music
SHIRLEY HORN appears courtesy of Verve Records
DIANA KRALL appears courtesy of GRP Records
KENNY RANKIN appears courtesy of Private Music
DIANNE REEVES appears courtesy of Blue Note Records, a division of Capitol Records, Inc.
WARREN VACHE appears courtesy of Muse Records.
SHERMAN FERGUSON uses Sonor drums, Paiste cymbals, and Vic Firth drumsticks.
BENNY CARTER IN HIS OWN WORDS
I would like to thank Jeffrey Nissim and MusicMasters for bringing this project to fruition. Over the years, some or my songs have been recorded by vocalists I admire and respect but to have so many artists of this caliber come together to interpret my music was a special treat. I was delighted by the way the diverse personalities and styles of these talented performers came through in their interpretations. I was also flattered by their enthusiasm for my songs and was particularly pleased that so many of the artists seemed to respond to the material I heard them singing in my own mind. Thanks to all of them for taking time out from their busy schedules to take part. I hope you will find this collection as enjoyable to listen to as it was to record.
Benny Carter
MEETING AN OLD FRIEND FOR THE FIRST TIME
Toward the end of 1994, MusicMasters president Jeffrey Nissim approached me with a new challenge. "The legendary jazz altoist and arranger Benny Carter," Jeff said to me, "is an underappreciated songwriter. Would you like to help bring together appropriate
singers to record Benny's songs live in the studio with Benny and his group?" This was apparently a project that had been discussed for some time. I was then completing work on the album "For The Love Of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson," an appreciation of a very different style of songwriter. I had worked with some of the best pop music songwriters, and I also had a background presenting many jazz greats in concert. I'd never met Benny, though. Indeed, I was shamefully unfamiliar with his history. Jeff filled me in somewhat, and in early January '95, I visited Benny at his home in Los Angeles for the first time.
Most of us have had the experience at least once in our lives of meeting a person for the first time and immediately feeling at ease, comfortable and familiar. To my delight, I felt exactly that way with Benny from the start. Here was a real musical giant, and though I had a lot to learn about his life and music, I was welcomed warmly and enthusiastically. This was plainly a project very close to Benny's heart. Together with his longtime friend and producer Ed Berger, and with assistance from Benny's wonderful wife Hilma, we started in earnest the task of shedding new light on some classic American popular music -- the songs of
Benny Carter. Benny was helpful with all of my questions, and always patient with me during my many brain-picking phone calls to him. My requests for lead sheets of his songs yielded new ones which had never been put on paper, a few that had never been recorded, and others for which Benny wrote new lyrics.
I think Benny was skeptical about whether his songs would provide enough of a lure for the vocalists I was contacting. This was classic Carter humility. "If you write them, they will come," I could have stated. For the guest vocalists, it was as if they had been waiting for the chance to do this. Most of them first worked out their arrangements with Benny just minutes before going into the studio. The album captures that genuine spontaneous spirit and warmth. The tracks were recorded live, and many are first takes. Some of the singers Benny had met or known before, and in some instances, they hadn't seen each other in many years. Those sessions were particularly emotional. Read what Ed Berger writes in his notes about the session for "I Was Wrong," recorded here by Joe Williams. Jon Hendricks indeed gave new life to what was Benny's biggest commercial hit back in the 1940s, "Cow-Cow Boogie."
Rock'n Roll Hall of Farner Ruth Brown flew in from Las Vegas bringing sass and class to "My Kind Of Trouble Is You." The album features a few firstever recordings of new Benny Carter compositions. One of them is Bobby Short's Carlyle ballroom rendition of "You Bring Out The Best In Me," which the singer acknowledged was a perfect choice. Benny knew what he was talking about when he asked that Marlena Shaw be included. She came in and just nailed Benny's ballad of loss, "Rain," with a powerhouse vocal performance. He was just as right about Nancy Marano, who wanted the opportunity to make "Lonely Woman" her own, and does it here. And Peggy Lee, one of Benny's oldest friends, made it to the studio last of all to deliver the most fragile version imaginable of Benny's "I See You."
I had the privilege of bringing aboard other singers whom Benny had either only heard of, or wasn't really familiar with before. Carmen Bradford, singer with the Count Basie Orchestra, and Kenny Rankin both made themselves available on less than a day's notice and tore the roof off, sharing the spotlight in "All That Jazz." I'd approached Dianne Reeves in New York a
few months earlier at a Blue Note gig, and ... well, her brilliant "Only Trust Your Heart" opens this album. Diana Krall's got a good manager - I got a thorough education on Diana's formidable talent and was convinced how right Diana was for this project. She sings "Fresh Out Of Love" with just the right combination of innocence and weariness. Billy Stritch I'd met in 1990 when he was in Montgomery, Plant and Stritch, before his years performing with Liza Minelli. His "Speak Now" is filled with yearning and honesty. One of the very special moments came after Benny and Shirley Horn gave each other a big hug when she arrived at the recording studio, and I learned that they were meeting for the first time! Shirley seemed to make time stand still, almost breathing the words to "A Kiss From You." I have John Schreiber to thank for turning me (and now Benny) on to San Francisco's Weslia Whitfield, who performs a wonderful gently swinging version of Benny's classic "When Lights Are Low." We ended up cutting so many great numbers that there will be a second CD collection soon with more of Benny's songs that couldn't fit on this recording. Additional tracks were cut with the singers Lainie Kazan and Barbara Lea, and those will be heard along with others by some of the artists on this
record soon on the Benny Carter Songbook, Volume 2.
I am indebted to Jeffrey Nissim, to Ed Berger, to all of the guest singers, and to Benny and Hilma Carter for this gift of music and friendship. My thanks also to the musicians in Benny's ensemble, particularly Chris Neville, Warren Vache, Steve LaSpina, and Sherman Ferguson ("Sherman - SIT DOWN!"). I hope you all enjoy this transcendent collection of old and new songs that sound as if you've heard them many times before. No surprise, because they are a part of Benny Carter, and now you, too, get to meet a great old friend and his music for the first time.
- Danny Kapilian
BENNY CARTER THE SONGWRITER
Benny Carter's legacy as a songwriter has been eclipsed by his vast accomplishments as soloist and arranger. Yet he has been writing songs as long as he has been arranging and almost as long as he has been playing. The first recording of a Carter song dates back to January 1928 when a vocalist named Johnny Thompson recorded "Nobody Knows How Much I Love You" for Columbia. "Johnny Thompson" turned out to be a
pseudonym for the distinguished lyricist Andy Razaf. The 20-year-old Carter had a collaborator on that piece: none other than Fats Waller (Bud Allen wrote the lyric).
Since that modest beginning, Carter has turned out hundreds of songs in every conceivable idiom: from ballads to blues bossa novas to waltzes, love songs to novelties. This facet of his talent has not received the attention it deserves, with a few notable exceptions. Even when his songs did occasionally catch the public's ear they were not always associated with Carter. For example, for contractual reasons, Carter's name did not originally appear on the huge wartime hit "Cow-Cow Boogie." During the bossa nova craze in the mid-1960s, Carter's name was mistakenly left off the label copy of the oriinal Getz-Gilberto album on which his "Only Trust Your Heart" appears. And even Carter's most frequently recorded composition, "When Lights Are Low," was occasionally misattributed, not to mention frequently performed without the composer's original bridge.
audience and sidemen alike. In addition, a streak of perfectionism mitigates against his committing a song to paper (or disc) without careful consideration and frequent revision and refinement. Musicians have been known to pursue Carter for months for a lead sheet. In spite of the composer's reluctance, over the past seven decades Carter's melodies have inexorably and without fanfare been woven into the tapestry of American music. The sheer melodic appeal of his writing has attracted an astonishingly diverse array of singers and instrumentalists: from Eubie Blake to Kenny Barron, Guy Lombardo to Eric Dolphy, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald to the Judds.
Granted, Carter has never made it easy for his songs to become popular. In concert or club appearances he will perform his own pieces only after relentless coaxing by
The all-star cast of the Benny Carter Songbook, Volume I brought this same diversity, as well as great dedication and enthusiasm, to the project. No one "phoned in" his or her vocal; all tracks were done "live" in the studio with Carter and his group. Egos were checked at the studio door; each vocalist strove to do justice to the song and the composer. Carter in turn wanted these stylists to interpret his work as they felt it. Consequently, after establishing a key he left matters of phrasing and even tempo entirely up to the singers. This process resulted in some dramatic reinterpretations
Pieces originally conceived as swing songs were magically transformed into ballads; a bridge was effectively used as a verse. On several occasions when a singer turned to the composer to ask how he wanted a particular passage phrased, Carter would simply answer, "I wrote it, but it's yours now!" Those words took on special meaning in the case of "I Was Wrong," a song Carter had written some 20 years ago with Joe Williams in mind. Carter was visibly moved during the playback of Joe's heartfelt rendition; as the two embraced, Carter exclaimed, "I wrote the song for this man!"
Perhaps the greatest revelation of this set may be the unveiling of Benny Carter, lyricist. Of the 15 songs included here, Carter is solely responsible for the lyrics to six and collaborated on three more. He is as meticulous in his selection of words as he is in his placement of notes. After working with many distinguished lyricists (note the collaborations with Johnny Mercer, Sammy Kahn, and Spencer Williams, among others), Carter, in recent years, has been concentrating on his own lyrics. He has been encouraged in this pursuit by his wife Hilma, a former teacher and linguist in her own right. This set (and Volume 2) represents a cross-
section of the vast oeuvre of Benny Carter, song-writer. The songs' vintages range from the 1930s ("When Lights Are Low," "Lonely Woman") to the present ("Speak Now," "You Bring Out the Best In Me," and "Fresh Out of Love").
And there is more to come, for a cursory glance around Carter's studio shows that his songwriting activity continues unabated. In addition to completed works (many of which have yet to be heard), there are dozens of new songs in various stages of development: melodies awaiting lyrics; lyrics awaiting melodies; even a collection of intriguing titles awaiting both.
The accompanying musicians must be singled out for their extraordinary contribution to the success of this project. The core rhythm section of Chris Neville, Steve LaSpina, and Sherman Ferguson spent a week with Carter in a New York club immediately before embarking on the East Coast sessions and developed great musical and personal rapport. Warren Vache was originally scheduled as one of several instrumental guest soloists but after the first day it was clear that no one else was needed! So compatible was this unit that it was decided to fly the whole group to Los Angeles for the West Coast dates. Because
of the singers' busy schedules there were no rehearsals. Although constantly confronted with new material requiring frequent transposition and instant arrangement, the band members not only adapted to the varied needs of each guest with great sensitivity, patience, and humor, but also made their own brilliant solo contributions. Finally, Danny Kapilian worked wonders in lining up this galaxy of vocal talent; he said they would come, and they came!
Carter's own playing here is the icing on the cake. The quintessential alto statements and sublime fills on each track rank with any in his 65-year-plus discography.
-Ed Berger
THANKS FROM THE PRODUCERS TO:
Gena Rankin, Lynn Coles, John Levy, Mary Ann Topper and Anna Sala, Abby Hoffer, John Nugent, Howell Begle, Sheila Mathis, Christina Wyeth, and Robert Paul ... Larry Berger for his generous time, diligent ears, and invaluable all-around assistance ...
Maxine Chrein and Ben Rizzi . . . Angel Balestier ... Henry Diltz for his usual intelligent and sensitive work done on short notice ... John Schreiber ... Rob Gibson and April Smith ... Jon Brion ... Robin Feiger ... John Chiodini ... Frank Military ... David Abell ... Lou Levy and Don Shelton ... Allan Tucker ... and Sandy Sawotka.
Benny for his songs and boundless spirit and musicianship ... Hilma Carter for her kindness and assistance ... All of the guest vocalists for their enthusiasm, cooperation and great talent ... The musicians, particularly Chris, Steve, Sherman and Warren ... Jeffrey Nissim for putting this dream project in motion ... The staff at MusicMasters/BMG - Arlene Hodder, Steve Schoen, Rick Leclercq, Maryann Mills, and Amy Yanoschak ... The following individuals for their help and cooperation in delivering the great performances by the guest vocalists on this album: Tiffany Barsotti, David Pack, Mike Stoller, Karen Johnson,
[1] ONLY TRUST YOUR HEART
DIANNE REEVES
Words by Sammy Kahn; music by Benny Carter (Northern Music Co., ASCAP)
First recording: Stan Getz with Astrud Gilberto (1964). NOTE: This performance was included in the film The Hanged Man (1966). Also recorded by: Houston Person (1987); Toots Thielemans (1988); Loren Schoenberg with Barbara Lea (1988); Ernestine Anderson with the ClaytonHamilton Orch. (1989); Mary Stallings (1994); Diana Krall (1994).
Never trust the stars when you're about to fall in love,
Look for hidden signs before you start to sigh.
Never trust the moon when you're about to taste his kiss, He knows all the lines and he knows how to lie.
Just wait, for a night, When the skies are all bare, Then if you still care. Never trust your dream when you're about to fall in love, For your dream will quickly fall apart. So if you're smart, really smart, Only trust your heart.
[2] ALL THAT JAZZ
CARMEN BRADFORD AND KENNY RANKIN
Words by Al Stillman; music by Benny Carter (Diplomat Music, ASCAP)
First recording: Soundtrack album, A Man Called Adam (1966); it was sung in the film by Mel Torme. Also recorded by: Benny Carter (1985, 1990); Ella Fitzgerald (1989).
I'm in love with you, And all that jazz. You're my dream come true, And all that jazz. Baby, you're too much, You've got the skin I love to touch, The skin I love to touch too much, And all that jazz.
You have got the lips, That suit my taste, And your fingertips, Can't be replaced.
Oh baby, what you've got, Nobody has, And I've got you, And all that jazz.
[3] I WAS WRONG
JOE WILLIAMS
Words and music by Benny Carter
(Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
First recording: Benny Carter with Hank Jones (1992).
Also recorded by: Daryl Sherman (1995).
I thought that I could do without you, And never ever think about you, It didn't take me very long, To find out I was wrong.
We had a good thing and I knew it, And like a silly fool I blew it, I thought that life was just a song, I was wrong all along.
If you can forgive and forget now, As long as you live you can bet now, I'm gonna make it up to you
For all the pain I've put you through.
I've tried to put the past behind me, But oh so many things remind me, I'm still in love with you, And if you love me too, Let me come back home where I belong, And let me prove to you I'm sorry I was wrong.
MARLENA SHAW
[4] RAIN
Words and music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
Debut recording.
Rain -- it's always rainin',
Don't do no good complainin ' ,
Ain't seen the sun since the day
My baby left town, He's been gone so long.
When those April showers, Came down to feed the flowers, He went away and the rain, Just keeps hangin' 'round, Ev'rything seems wrong.
Day after day,
I spend ev'ry heartbreakin' moment alone, Day after day, I live with a mis'ry like you've never known.
Lord, please make this rain go, Just let me see that rainbow, Then if it turns out my prayers
Are only in vain, I'll know
'Cause all it's gonna do is rain.
[5] COW-COW BOOGIE
JON HENDRICKS
Words and music by Benny Carter, Gene De Paul and Don Raye (MCA Inc., ASCAP)
First recording: Freddie Slack with Ella Mae Morse (1942).
Also recorded by: Ella Fitzgerald with the Ink Spots (1943); Mel Torme (1986); The Judds (1986).
Out on the plains down near Santa Fe, I met a cowboy ridin' the range one day, And as he jogged along I heard him singing a most peculiar cowboy song. It was a ditty
He learned in the city, "Cum-a-tee yi-yi ay,
Cum-a-tee-yip-it-tl-ee-yi-ay."
Git hip little dogies -- git along, Better be on your way, Git along -- git hip little dogies
And he trucked 'em on down the ol' fairway, Singin' his cow-cow boogie in the strangest way,
"Cum-a-tee yi-yi ay,
Cum-a-tee-yip-it-ti-ee-yi-ay."
Singin' his cowboy songs he's just too much, He's got a knocked out western accent with a Harlem touch. He was raised on loco weed, He's what you call a swing half-breed, Singin' his cow-cow boogie in the strangest way,
"Cum-a-tee yi-yi ay,
Cum-a-tee-yip-it-tl-ee-yi-ay."
[6] FRESH OUT OF LOVE
DIANA KRALL
Words and music by Benny Carter
(Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
Debut recording.
I'm fresh out of love again, He's breaking my heart again, I knew all the signs and still, I kept hangin' on until He told me goodbye again, He didn't say why again, Like so many times before, I begged him to stay But he went away, And it's a blue day.
Love is like a game of chance, Some you win and some you lose, But when you gamble with romance, You could wake up alone with the blues.
For all of the pain I've shown, He must have a heart of stone, And now I'm alone once more, As sad as a dove And fresh out of love again.
[7] SPEAK.NOW BILLY STRITCH
Words and music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
Debut recording.
Speak now, while the stars are shining bright, You can't be weak now, Feel the magic in the night, Hold her close and look into her eyes, If you love her swear by all the stars above her.
Speak now, whisper softly in her ear, You're cheek to cheek now Say the words she waits to hear Moments fade and time can fly so fast, So speak now -- she'll be yours at last.
[8] A KISS FROM YOU
SHIRLEY HORN
Words by Johnny Mercer; music by Benny Carter (Northern Music Co., ASCAP)
NOTE: Originally written for TV production, Chrysler Theatre under title "Lydia." First recording: Stanley Wilson (as "Lydia") (1963).
Also recorded by: Billy Eckstine with Benny Carter (1986); American Jazz Orchestra with Benny Carter (1987); Marian McPartland (1990); Mel Martin (1994).
A kiss from you Means more to me, Than any thrill That there could ever be. The very thought Of your lips on my own, Opens the door to worlds I've never known.
A kiss from you, And there I stand, Stars at my feet, Tomorrow in my hand. A glimpse of heaven Is given to few, But I've known more than this I've known a kiss from you.
[9] YOU BRING OUT THE BEST IN ME BOBBY SHORT
Words and music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP) Debut recording.
You bring out the best in me, How can I fail to see that you hold the key to my destiny?
You, when you're abreast of me, Darling you guarantee the epitome of propriety.
Do come build a nest with me, Just think what we'd conceive to leave posterity.
Won't you think it over?
We could be in clover, 'Cause you bring out the best in me.
[10] MY KIND OF TROUBLE IS YOU
RUTH BROWN
Words by Paul Vandervoort II; music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
First recording: Helen Carr (1955).
Also recorded by: Felicia Sanders (1959); Milt Jackson (1976); Ella Fitzgerald with Count Basie (1979).
Some folks have trouble gettin' money they need, Others have nothin' in view, Some are just weary, Of livin' lives that's dreary, But my kind of trouble is you.
Some gals got worries 'bout the lives that they lead, They can't decide what to do, They're so discontented, In mind and soul tormented, But my kind of trouble is you.
Oh yes I know what it means to be lonely, And oh how the heartaches can start, But tell me why must it be my misfortune, To not be the one in your heart?
I got no mis'ry like the man on the street, My life is easy, that's true, But the blues still haunt me, 'Cause, baby, you don't want me, So my kind of trouble is you.
[11] WHEN LIGHTS ARE LOW
WESLIA WHITFIELD
Words by Spencer Williams; music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co./Colgems, EMl Music Inc., ASCAP)
First recording: Benny Carter with Elisabeth Welch (1936).
Also recorded by: Lionel Hampton (1939); George Shearing (1952); Miles Davis (1953, 1956); Cal Tjader (1957); June Christy (1958); Oscar Peterson (1958); Eric Dolphy (1961 ); Vic Damone (1961 ); Tony Bennett (1963); Sarah Vaughan (1963); Bobby Hackett (1973); Pharoah Sanders (1981); Helen Merrill (1986); and many others.
Verse:
Listen to the melody entrancing, Blending in a soft and sweet refrain, As around the floor, dear, we are dancing, Swaying to a fascinating strain.
Chorus: Sweet music soft and mellow, Soothing and slow, Strains of a mellow cello, When lights are low.
Dear, we're so close together, I love you so, Why think about the weather When lights are low?
Two hearts revealing,
Music hath charms, Life's so appealing, With inspiration in your arms.
Our lips meeting soft and tender, Love's all aglow, Why shouldn't we surrender When lights are low?
[12] LONELY WOMAN
NANCY MARANO
Words by Ray Sonin; music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co./Chappell & Co. Inc., ASCAP)
First recording: Stan Kenton with June Christy (1947).
Also recorded by: Charlie Ventura with Jackie Cain (1948); Sylvia Syms (1952, 1976); Sarah Vaughan (1956); Chris Connor (1962); Marian McPartland (1990).
Verse
I've never heard a lover's word in my ear, The life l 've known has been so lonely and drear,
In dreams men's eyes assume a gay light That with the daylight disappear. The time is fleeting - fate is treating me wrong, Why must I wait so long?
Chorus:
Lonely woman, lonely woman, Craving love and slaving to forget, A life of torture this is, To yearn for someone's kisses
With lips you've wasted, untasted yet.
Lonely woman, only woman Understands the pain I've plainly shown, What trick can fate have done me
That men must spurn and shun me?
My only crime is I'm alone.
As I cross the street the men I meet Have eyes of fun for ev'ryone but me.
In my room I pass the looking glass And see the bloom of girlhood waning, Killed by all my heart's complaining, Lonely woman, lonely woman, As I sleep I weep in misery. Oh stars that shine above me, Please send someone to love me And take my loneliness from me.
[13] KEY LARGO
CARMEN BRADFORD
Words and music by Benny Carter, Karl Suessdorf and Leah Worth (Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
First recording: Anita O'Day (1947).
Also recorded by: Arne Domnerus (1955); Cal Tjader (1960); Sarah Vaughan (1963); Jackie Cain/Roy Kral (1986); Nick Brignola (1989); Marian McPartland (1990).
Key Largo, alone on Key Largo, How empty it seems With only my dreams.
Strange cargo may come to Key Largo, But where is the face My heart won't erase?
The moontide rolling in from the sea Is lonely and it always will be 'Til you're with me,
And I know I'll stay in Key Largo, Just watching the shore To find you once more.
[14] WE WERE IN LOVE
DIANNE REEVES AND JOE WILLIAMS
Words and music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co.,ASCAP)
First recording: Irma Curry (1966).
Also recorded by: Benny Carter with Phil Woods (1989).
A thousand angels
Sang a serenade, A thousand violins
Joined the sound they made, And as we listened To the song they played, We were in love, we were in love, we were in love.
The stars were sparkling Like a bubbling wine, I heard a rhapsody, Music so divine, And when I kissed you All the world was mine, We were in love, we were in love, we were in love.
'Twas like a garden of Eden, a paradise, And I was a queen on a throne, But when I opened my eyes in my paradise You'd vanished and I was alone.
If I could hold you
In my arms again, I'd never let you go From my arms again, But meanwhile, darling, I'll remember when We were in love, we were in love, we were in love.
[15] I SEE YOU
PEGGY LEE
Words by Benny Carter and Kaye Parker; music by Benny Carter (Bee Cee Music Co., ASCAP)
Debut recording.
I see you, everywhere, You're a flower blooming, a rose perfuming the air.
When I hear music played There you are in every soothing serenade.
Like a star shining bright, Near or far you're never out of my sight. From the sea to the sky above, I see you through the misty eyes of love.
