Cole, Nat King - Lush Life Lyrics

Intro sampled by Living Colour on Love Rears It's Ugly Head.

Well, Billy Strayhorn, your life was short; too short. The arc of history is long, sometimes too long--but it bends toward justice. That this brilliant composition, commenced in your teens, is now a jazz standard, is justice. Rest in splendid and harmonious peace.

Gay places?

Alexa Moonlight Back in the days when this was recorded “Gay” referred to happy, carefree. Not so much ones lifestyle or preference or identity. A different time and place for many.

why did they take this off spotify :/

Masterful a very difficult song to sing Sinatra struggled with it thanks for the song

Best version I’ve heard.

*Arranger: Pete Rugolo!!!* … please add this to your description, thank you!

Here's the initial performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqTDm34vyj0

-- Here's more information, especially on "Lush Life":


Quotes:

"Ellington stepped to the microphone and announced: "Have a seat, Mr. Strayhorn. Of course you know Billy Strayhorn wrote our radio theme, 'Take the A Train.' And now the purpose, of course, of him appearing on tonight's program which is a little extra added thought. I should say is that I'd like for him to play for Kay Davis to introduce a new tune of his called Lush Life."

"As played at the 1948 concert the first documented recording Lush Life is a theatrical song to be sung dramatically. It seems as though Strayhorn's lyrics carry the melody. Duke must have also understood the nature of the piece as neither he nor Strayhorn ever arranged Lush Life for the Ellington orchestra. Occasionally, Duke invited Strayhorn to perform the song on stage, but it never became an official part of the working repertoire. To add further confusion as to the song's origins, Lush Life was not copyrighted until 1949 by Duke's publishing company Tempo Music. Live at Carnegie Hall, New York City. November 13, 1948."

*LUSH LIFE*
Words & music by Billy Strayhorn
Kay Davis sings "The guys I knew"; the words in brackets are Nat King Cole's altered lyrics from 1949.

Verse:

I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis
Of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingué traces
That used to be there
You could see where
They'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales

Then you came along
With your siren (of) song
To tempt me to madness
I thought for awhile
That your poignant smile
Was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me
Ah, yes, I was wrong
Again, I was wrong

Refrain:

Life is lonely again
And only last year everything seemed so sure
Now life is awful again
A troughful of hearts could only be a bore

A week in Paris will ease the bite of it
All I care is to smile in spite of it
I'll forget you I will
While yet you are still
Burning inside my brain

Romance is mush
St(r)ifling those who strive
I'll live a lush life
In some small dive

And there I'll be
While (where) I rot with the rest
Of those whose (who) lives are lonely, too.

http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/lushlife.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lush_Life_(jazz_song)

“I made two records of only versions of Lush Life! Eventually there will be seven records, yeah.”
- Tony Scott

"In 1933 a teenage Billy Strayhorn started work on “Lush Life.” He would fine-tune his composition over the next few years and in 1938, at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, Strayhorn played the piano and sang for Duke Ellington. Ellington’s son, Mercer, would later recall that “Lush Life” and “Something to Live For” were responsible for Ellington hiring Strayhorn in early 1939. It would mark the beginning of their legendary collaboration."

"In 1939 “Lush Life” could boast lyrics but no title. Strayhorn frequently played the song at parties but it was a pet project and was not intended for publication. On November 13, 1948, however, Billy Strayhorn (piano) with vocalist Kay Davis performed “Lush Life” in the last of seven Ellington Carnegie Hall concerts. The difficult-to-find Duke Ellington-Carnegie Hall, November 13, 1948, released in 1991 on Vintage Jazz Classics, contains the first documented performance of “Lush Life” with Billy Strayhorn on piano and Kay Davis singing."

"Recording by other artists began soon after that. An initial Nat “King” Cole B-side, rearranged in a Latin impressionistic style, infuriated Strayhorn. To make matters worse, Cole’s misreading of the lyrics irked the usually unflappable Strayhorn and resulted in an angry phone call. (...)"

Happy 100th Birthday, Mr Cole! Rip

The best singer ever

I love this song, I like the franked Sinatra cover but it’s unfinished:(

This is the stereo rerecording from 1960 for this massive three-record set. Nat is ten times a better singer than he was in 1951 on the original. The orchestra sounds more assured, relaxed. This is the definitive version. No wonder Sinatra just walked away!

Yeah, I agree. I think the arrangement did not suit Frank in particular though. He never got to feel it. I would have liked to hear him sing this arrangement. Not saying it would have been better than Nat's though :)

Darren Gauthier ...This stereo version was recorded on March 22nd, 1961 for the the three-LP set entitled THE NAT "KING" COLE STORY, which was released in mono and stereo in July, 1961. Ralph Carmichael handled the Pete Rugolo arrangement. The original version was recorded on March 29th, 1949 and released in May 1949 (Capitol 57-606) with the music of Pete Rugolo.

donna summers version is amazing

Billy Strayhorn reportedly hated this recording , especially the liberties Pete Rugolo took in his arrangement: "Why the fuck couldn't they leave it alone?" he (uncharacteristically) screamed. Strayhorn's long-time lover Aaron Bridgers said that this was "the only time I ever, ever heard him really upset"; Strayhorn was "snorting, he was so angry". (source is David Hajdu's biography of Strayhorn)

The overblown arrangement interferes with both the elegant beauty of the song and with Mr. Cole's beautiful voice, especially in the introductory verse.

Shit arrangement.

Vocal majesty unmatched!!!
The original version before Johnny Hartman.
The King putting it down!!!

Basil Shahid ...This is the newly recorded stereo version, 1961.

end of lyrics - While I rot

With the rest.. of those whose life are lonely, too................

henry kissinger documentary

I really loved this man

Twelve O'Clocktails

Twelve O'clock tales

delve a block scale

double meaning

I do what I want.

Sorry;)

Gag me with that lady gaga crap.

headass

Her album with Tony Bennett is pretty damn good. I'm not a fan but she is a very talented musician.

Fix the lyrics to reflect what he sang.

Wonderful!!!

Nat king cole the king of class.

I can't help but to go

"I always thought that our relationship was cool
You played the rule of having sense, I always played the fool."

After that intro.

Christopher hitchens brought me here

I dont know how Hitchens brought you here. But it makes sense O.O

@MARK ROLAN MARAVILLA It's on his Henry Kissinger documentary.

"Lady Gaga" belted out the lyrics. This wonderful song calls for a softer, more intimate, poignant interpretation. Johnny Hartman has no peer.

I absolutely love Gaga's version, never heard of Hartman or his version, just listened to it now, absolutely fantastic, what a voice he has!

+Nadezhda A-yep. Hartman sings it with such understatement and control, almost like he's tackling a Schubert lieder. There's a performance of him in 1983 singing it live on a NYC television show, and even Johnny Hartman (circa 1983) pales in comparison with Johnny Hartman. Too bad Frank Sinatra gave up on it during his "Only the Lonely" sessions...he and Nelson Riddle might have made a definitive version of it.

Jesus O'Nazareth - yeah, too bad Sinatra - Riddle backed off this on Only the Lonely...it would have been nice, but it would have been difficult even for those greats to top Nat's version. Incredibly, I believe Sinatra recorded less than five songs from the Ellington songbook over his career. Hard to believe, especially since he did a great job with all of them. Makes you wonder why he never sang more Duke. His Mood Indigo is memorable.

This is one of the hardest standards , melody-harmony-character-wise - Sinatra couldn't quite hit the fourths so important in this song so he chose not to record it. It would have been great of course, also Nat King Cole's version is a little bit too sweet for the songs' message, but still the orchestation - incredible.. It's a song that is so perfect in itself there is no definitive version really, except maybe Hartman's.. Anyway, my fave is Blossom Dearie.This is not Duke's composition, nor lyrics.. the mastermind behind many of the most popular tunes like Chelsea Bridge, Take the A train and & Duke's orchestrations come from a humble black gay man called Billy Strayhorn.. The lyrics he wrote at 17, astonishingly , actually say all about his life..

Strays was something else! Sadly unknown to many outside of musician circles. I've heard some of his songs called Ellington compositions so many times, especially The A Train, but I guess that's just the way the cookie crumples.

Lady Gaga took this song and turned it into one tearful ballad.

She truly made it her own.

+BananaSquid Well said, my friend.

is it a joke?

Has to be!

Lady gagas music can never be compared to a jazz masterpiece

I hope this is a joke. I seriously hope this is a joke my friend. https://youtu.be/0izjSUqCcSQ
There's a real version of the song

Great song and great production

un chef d'œuvre ! Gershwin aurait pu l'écrire.. The tune is right !

yep, Pete Rugolo

Wonderful arrangement-