Baltimore Oriole

About Baltimore Oriole

"Baltimore Oriole" is a 1942 song written by American composer Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster and Carmichael. Carmichael said it was his favorite of all the songs he had written. Like those of Carmichael's composition "Skylark", the lyrics of "Baltimore Oriole" convey a love affair in terms of a bird–in this case the Baltimore oriole. In the description of his biographer Richard Sudhalter, the song is "one of Carmichael's most evocative of the time" and addresses "the effects of a wayward eye on an avian love relationship". The song was one of three Carmichael compositions due to be featured in the 1944 film To Have and Have Not, starring Humphrey Bogart, Carmichael and Lauren Bacall. According to Bacall, Howard Hawks, the film's director, envisioned the song becoming her signature tune. Instead, Bacall sang the less vocally demanding "How Little We Know", and "Baltimore Oriole" was relegated to serving as background music in the film. Carmichael recorded the song for his 1956 album Hoagy Sings Carmichael and again for his final album, Ole Buttermilk Sky. Australian composer Andrew Ford, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald in 2002, said that "Baltimore Oriole" was his personal favorite of Carmichael's songs. Regarding the lyrics, he added: "I am delighted to report ... [that] my favourite line turns out to be by Hoagy himself: 'Forgivin' is easy, it's a woman-like now-and-then-could-happen-to thing.'"A jazz instrumental version was released in 1964 by Maynard Ferguson on The Blues Roar. more »

Year:

2004

3:59

106 Views

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Baltimore Oriole
Took one look at that mercury, forty below
No life for a lady
To be draggin' her feathers around in the snow
Leaving me blue, off she flew
To the Tangipaho, down in Louisiana
Where a two, timin' Jaybird
Met the divine Miss O

I'd like to ruffle his plumage
That Baltimore Oriole
Messed around with that big guy
Till he singed her wings
Forgivin' is easy, it's a woman like, now and then
Could happen to thing
Send her back home
Home ain't home without her warbling
How she can sing
Make a lonely man happy, Baltimore Oriole
Come down from that bough
Fly to your daddy now.

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George Harrison

George HarrisonMBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Often referred to as the "quiet Beatle", Harrison over time became an admirer of Indian culture and mysticism, introducing it to the other Beatles, as well as to their Western audience. Following the band's break-up, enjoyed a successful solo career, and in 1988 he co-founded the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Harrison number 11 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". more »

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