THE NEARNESS OF YOU

NORA JONES
SONGWRITERS: HOAGY CARMICHAEL & NED WASHINGTON
CONTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: BLUE NOTE NOW
LABEL: EMI RECORDS JAPAN
GENRE: JAZZ
YEAR: 2013
 
       Norah Jones (born Geethali Norah Jones Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. She has won multiple awards and has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000s decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.
         In 2002, Jones launched her solo music career with the release of Come Away with Me, which was a fusion of jazz with country, blues, folk and pop. It was certified diamond, selling over 27 million copies. The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her subsequent studio albums—Feels Like Home, released in 2004, Not Too Late, released in 2007, and 2009's The Fall all gained platinum status, selling over a million copies each. They were also generally well received by critics. Jones's fifth studio album, Little Broken Hearts, was released on April 27, 2012; her sixth, Day Breaks, was released on October 7, 2016. Her seventh studio album, Pick Me Up Off the Floor, was released on June 12, 2020. Jones made her feature film debut as an actress in My Blueberry Nights, which was released in 2007 and was directed by Wong Kar-Wai.
         Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar master and composer Ravi Shankar and concert producer Sue Jones, and is the half-sister of fellow musicians Anoushka Shankar and Shubhendra Shankar.
           "The Nearness of You" is a popular song written in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Ned Washington. The song debuted in the 1939 recording In the Mood by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ray Eberle. 

It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
 
It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
 
When you're in my arms and I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams came true
 
I need no soft lights to enchant me
If you'll only grant me the right
To hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you.

INTO THE DARKNESS

CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
SONGWRITER: GRAHAM NASH
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: DAYLIGHT AGAIN
LABEL: ATLANTIC RECORDS
GENRE: ROCK
YEAR: 1982
 
         Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills, and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, they are called Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies, often tumultuous interpersonal relationships, political activism, and lasting influence on American music and culture.
           CSN formed in 1968 shortly after Crosby, Stills and Nash performed together informally in July of that year, discovering they harmonized well. Crosby had been asked to leave The Byrds in late 1967, and Stills' band Buffalo Springfield had broken up in early 1968; Nash left his band The Hollies in December, and by early 1969 the trio had signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Their first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash, was released in May 1969, from which came two Top 40 hits, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Marrakesh Express". In order to tour the album, the trio hired drummer Dallas Taylor and session bassist Greg Reeves, though they still needed a keyboardist; Ahmet Ertegun suggested Neil Young, who had played with Stills in Buffalo Springfield, and after some initial reluctance, the trio agreed, signing him on as a full member. The band, now named Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, started their tour, and played their second gig at Woodstock Festival in the early morning hours of August 18, 1969. The first album with Young, Déjà Vu, reached number one in several international charts in 1970, and remains their best selling album, going on to sell over 8 million copies with three hit singles. Four singles were released from the album including "Woodstock", "Teach Your Children", and "Our House". The group's second tour, which produced the live double álbum 4 Way Street(1971), was fraught with arguments between Young and Taylor, which resulted in Taylor being replaced by John Barbata, and tensions with Stills, which resulted in his being temporarily dismissed from the band. At the end of the tour the band split up. The group have since reunited several times, sometimes with and sometimes without Young, and have released eight studio and four live albums.
         Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and all three members were also inducted for their work in other groups (Crosby for the Byrds, Stills for Buffalo Springfield and Nash for the Hollies). Neil Young has also been inducted as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield but not as a member of CSN. They have not made a group studio album since 1999's Looking Forward, and have been inactive as a performing unit since the end of 2015. Whether or not this break is permanent remains to be seen, as the group has often been inactive for years at a time.
           Daylight Again is the seventh album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, and their fourth studio album comprising original material. It peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the final time the band has made the top ten to date. Three singles were released from the album, all making the Billboard Hot 100: "Wasted on the Way" peaked at Nº. 9, "Southern Cross" at No. 18, and "Too Much Love to Hide" at Nº. 69. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA with sales of 1,850,000.

[Intro. (Electric Guitars)]
 
Into the darkness soon you'll be sinking
What are you doing? What can you be thinking
All of your friends have been trying to warn you
That some of your demons are dying to drag you
 
Away (Into the darkness) into the darkness
Into the darkness away
 
All of your life you've been making your payments
Alone on the phone with your business arrangements
No wonder no one could ever get near you
You're screaming too loud no one can hear you
 
I see you coming to the end of the day
And was it worth it? No one can say
I see your face it is ghostly pale
Into the sunset we are watching you sail
 
[Instrumental (Electric Guitar)]
 
Temperature's rising over the rainbow
What are you hiding? Afraid of your shadow
We have been trying, trying to find you
There's no use denying our love is behind you
Stay out of the darkness
Out of the darkness stay
 
[Ending (Electric Guitar)].

YOU STEPPED OUT OF A DREAM

JULIE LONDON
SONGWRITERS: KAHN GUS & BROWN NACIO HERB
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: JULIE… AT HOME
LABEL: LIBERTY RECORDS
GENRE: JAZZ
YEAR: 1960
 
         Julie London (née Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch singer noted for her sultry, languid contralto vocals, London recorded over thirty albums of pop and jazz standards between 1955 and 1969. Her recording of "Cry Me a River", a track she introduced on her debut album, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. In addition to her musical notice, London was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 1974 for her portrayal of nurse Dixie McCall in the television series Emergency!.
       Born in Santa Rosa, California to vaudevillian parents, London was discovered while working as an elevator operator in downtown Los Angeles, and began her career as an actress. London's 35-year acting career began in film in 1944, and included roles as the female lead in numerous westerns, co-starring with Rock Hudson in The Fat Man (1951), with Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes in Saddle the Wind (1958), and opposite Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country (1959).
          In the mid-1950s, she signed a recording contract with the newly established Liberty Records, marking the beginning of her professional musical career. She released her final studio album in 1969, but achieved continuing success playing the female starring role of nurse Dixie McCall, in the television series Emergency! (1972–1979), in which she appeared opposite her real-life husband, Bobby Troup. The show was produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb.
          A shy and introverted woman, London rarely granted interviews, and spent the remainder of her life out of the public sphere. In 1995, she suffered a stroke, which left her with permanent health problems. In 1999, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, but forewent treatment due to her already compromised physical state. She died of cardiac arrest the following year in Los Angeles, aged 74.
          Julie...At Home is an LP album by Julie London, released by Liberty Records under catalog number LRP-3152 as a monophonic recording in 1960, and later in stereo under catalog number LST-7152 the same year.
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
 
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.

RAMBLIN' ROSE

NAT KING COLE
SONGWRITERS: JOE SHERMAN & NOEL SHERMAN
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: RAMBLIN’ ROSE
LABEL: CAPITOL RECORDS
GENRE: JAZZ
YEAR: 1962
 
           Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer and jazz pianist. He recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. His trio was the model for small jazz ensembles that followed. Cole also acted in films and on television and performed on Broadway. He was the first African-American man to host an American television series. He was the father of singer-songwriter Natalie Cole(1950–2015).
          Ramblin' Rose is a Nat King Cole album. It was released by Capitol Records in 1962, and features the popular title track. The LP peaked at #3 on Billboards album chart where it remained for more than a year. It was Nat's second gold album.

Ramblin' rose, ramblin' rose
Why you ramble, no one knows
Wild and wind-blown, that's how you've grown
Who can cling to a ramblin' rose?
 
Ramble on, ramble on
When your ramblin' days are gone
Who will love you with a love true
When your ramblin' days are through?
 
Ramblin' rose, ramblin' rose
Why I want you, heaven knows
Though I love you with a love true
Who can cling to a ramblin' rose?
One more time, everybody, now
 
Ramblin' rose, ramblin' rose
Why I want you, heaven knows
Though I love you with a love true
Who can cling to a ramblin' rose?