A String of Pearls is a 1942 song recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on RCA Bluebird, composed by Jerry Gray with lyrics by Eddie DeLange. The song is a big band and jazz standard.
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded "A String of Pearls" on November 8, 1941, which was copyrighted and published by The Mutual Music Society, Inc., ASCAP. It was released as an RCA Bluebird 78 single, B-11382-B, backed with "Day Dreaming", in 1942 by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
The record was ranked #1 in the US for two weeks on the Billboard Best Sellers chart.
The song was also recorded by Benny Goodman,, Harry James, Woody Herman, Ritchie Lee, and Narciso Yepes, among others.
The song was featured in the 1953 Glenn Miller biopic The Glenn Miller Story starring James Stewart.
This song featured in Mike Nichol's 1971 film Carnal Knowledge
String of pearls may refer to:
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – missing in action December 15, 1944) was an American jazz musician (trombone), arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known Big Bands. Miller's notable recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", and "Little Brown Jug". While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Glenn Miller disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. The Glenn Miller Orchestra was re-formed after the war and continues to record and perform to this day.
Miller was born on a farm in Clarinda, Iowa, to Lewis Elmer Miller and Mattie Lou (née Cavender). He went to grade school in North Platte in western Nebraska. In 1915, Miller's family moved to Grant City, Missouri. Around this time, Miller had finally made enough money from milking cows to buy his first trombone and played in the town orchestra. In 1918, the Miller family moved again, this time to Fort Morgan, Colorado, where Miller went to high school. During his senior year, Miller became very interested in a new style of music called "dance band music." He was so taken with it that he formed his own band with some classmates. By the time Miller graduated from high school in 1921, he had decided he wanted to become a professional musician.
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".
In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America. His January 16, 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."
Goodman's bands launched the careers of many major names in jazz, and during an era of segregation, he also led one of the first well-known racially-integrated jazz groups. Goodman continued to perform to nearly the end of his life, including exploring his interest in classical music.
Goodman was born in Chicago, the ninth of twelve children of poor Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire, who lived in the Maxwell Street neighborhood. His father was David Goodman, a tailor from Warsaw; his mother was Dora Grisinsky (from Kaunas, Lithuania). His parents met in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Chicago before Benny was born.
Larry Elgart (born March 20, 1922) is an American jazz bandleader, who with his brother, Les, recorded the original rendition of "Bandstand Boogie", theme to the long-running teen dance show, American Bandstand.
Larry Elgart was born in 1922 in New London, Connecticut, four years younger than his brother, Les. Their mother was a concert pianist; their father played piano as well, though not professionally. Both brothers began playing in jazz ensembles in their teens, and while young Larry played with jazz musicians such as Charlie Spivak, Woody Herman, Red Norvo, Freddie Slack, and Tommy Dorsey.
In the mid-1940s, Les and Larry started up their own ensemble, hiring Nelson Riddle, Bill Finegan, and Ralph Flanagan to arrange tunes for them. Their ensemble was not successful, and after a few years they scuttled the band and sold the arrangements they had commissioned to Tommy Dorsey. Both returned to sideman positions in various orchestras.
In 1953, Larry met Charles Albertine and recorded two of his experimental compositions, "Impressions of Outer Space" and "Music for Barefoot Ballerinas". Released on 10" vinyl, these recordings became collector's items for fans of avant-garde jazz, but they were not commercially successful at the time. Larry and Albertine put together a more traditional ensemble and began recording them using precise microphone placements, producing what came to be known as the "Elgart sound". This proved to be very commercially successful, and Larry enjoyed a run of successful albums and singles in the 1950s.
I'm a bit like a soldier
In the way I wear no uniform
And choose not to fight
And fight all night
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the grave digger
Who wields no shovel
And digs no hole
But leaves the bodies to rot
In the places that they stand
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the pack mule
Carrying no load
Into the canyons of your jive
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the freelance fence painter
Then eyes your backside as you leave
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the peephole
That falls in love with all the eyes
That look through
Watching major things unfold
From minor flaws
For some other cause
do you remember when we met i was so intrigued you were so intrigued we spent our time telling our sides of our excitement of insecurities moving far away and from that moment on we were inseperable a vivid image of ecstasy it's been a long time and things i see well they remind me well they remind me they take me to that age moving far away moving far away in time but everyday that goes by your further from my mind try to rememebr lies i know i trasure things too much instead of pushing them aside still i tell lies try to turn around and face it
Song, music that seemed to blur
All that my heart would say
Song, you didn't change our tune
You didn't end too soon
Love is forever, still you play on in my heart
Each note really tears me apart
How could a love so right go wrong?
How can I learn to let go?
Your words keep on haunting me so
Love is forever, love is forever
Song, tell her and make her see
She is my life to me
And all that is left of a beautiful love
Is a beautiful love song
Still you play on in my heart
Each note really tears me apart
How could a love so right go wrong?
How can I learn to let go?
Your words keep on haunting me so
Love is forever, love is forever
Song, tell her and make her see
She is my life to me
And all that is left of a beautiful love
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
(Verlaine)
I think of you, I think of you.
I had this friend who told me that
Coincidence cannot articulate the best
Events. She said she'd rather think of
Everything as accident, after all, it's
All heaven-sent. She said I don't think
Good but i know how to wait as if when
You wait it is not hours but some forgotten
Sense of time. It's very kind of all those
Powers to feature love without design.
Letters arrive, spelling out the wish so
Clear, making a language of desire and fear.
You said it's not that way... God is not the
Name of God... you'll send a drawing of the heart
I don't draw well but i know how to wait as if...
I think of you listening to your father's voice...
Those endless speeches on 'The Gift of Choice'.
Love's not a story I could ever read or write...
I guess you'd say I'm not so bright. Show me
How you wait... as if...
I am so fond of you, so fond of you.