Event created by richardmurray
This event began 03/17/2025 and repeats every year forever
These are all the songs in the Nat King Cole Trio recordings that were composed by black writers.
Easy Listening Blues
composed by Nadine Robinson [ nat king cole's first wife; they met on tour with the play "Shuffle Along" [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuffle_Along ]] ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1igAr1pY4
This way out
composed by Nat King Cole [ the first song he recorded that he composed]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_l3oDI3e7E
Honeysuckle Rose
written + composed by Fats Waller + Andy Razaf (Andriamanantena Paul Razafinkarefo) [for the off broadway play [["Load of Coal"]] at Connie's Inn]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Xcyvd5hpU
Lyrics
Waller + Razaff also did
Aint Misbehavin lyrics + composition from Razaf + waller
for a musical revue "Hot Chocolates" ... financed by dutch schultz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ8fWP6a3Q4
Razaf wrote this classic, originally for the musical revue "Hot chocolates" with music by fats waller
"(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHCPM7K0evc
LYRICS
NOTES to black and blue
He demanded a comedy song for a lady who says how tough it is to be black...He literally put a gun to Andy's head and told him that if he didn't write it he would never write again. The opening-night response to the song was silence -people were stunned. Then they went crazy. Andy hadn't written the comedy song Schultz wanted, but because it was a hit, Schultz left him alone.
— Barry Singer, author of "Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf
[Holden, Stephen (8 February 1989). "A Lot of Hit Songs from an Unsung Lyricist". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2024. ; https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/08/arts/a-lot-of-hit-songs-from-an-unsung-lyricist.html ]
And Edgar Sampson wrote Stompin at the Savoy
Straighten up and fly right
written by Nat King Cole + Irving Mills
Composed by Nat King Cole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-4VTlQlros
LYRICS
I Love You ( For sentimental reasons )
written by Ivory "Deek" Watson of the Ink Spots + William "Pat" Best of the Four Tunes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUnguqPxzNU
LYRICS
YOu know the Ink Spots
"Memories of You" written by Razaf and Eubie blake [ The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadway show Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930. ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg5Dv_QYwJI
Memories of YOu from Thelonius Monk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhxIIhA_JVk
From Eubie Blake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw9KzKJJjPs
You know the Four Tunes
"I Understand (Just How You Feel)" written by Pat Best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=achpJtgdDNk
LYRICS
You Are My Love (1955 song) written by Jimmie Nabbie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTqBYz5Rouo
LYRICS
Those who know me know I love Nat King Cole , and I can place all the music he made, remember, the song is a collaborative project, you can write a song, but can you sing it?
The Portrait of Jenny
lyrics J. Russel Robinson, Gordon Burdge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLTPhJMddxc
Fly Me To The Moon ( In Other Words )
lyrics+composition from George Shearing, Nat King Cole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rABO0_pvims
COMMENTARIES
03192026
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12600-happy-birthday-nat-king-cole/#findComment-80772
osted just now
@ProfD
On 3/18/2026 at 2:19 PM, ProfD said:
The late, great Nat King Cole was a real troubadour & excellent musician.
Colorism goes way back. They did this to Nat King Cole for a TV appearance:
I know, but I look at it another way. Black people like Nat King Cole, like Frederick Douglass, MLK jr, James Forten, Michelle side Barrack Obama have always existed in the usa or the white european colonies/dominions that proceded it.
Black people like Nat King Cole say to non blacks, non black dosers, that I will treat you with respect, with civility , even if you don't treat me the same. And not because I want to be humiliated or insulted or because I am weak, but because I treasure peace even amongst you... especially amongst you. I don't want to live my life fighting whites every day. That to me is what Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine (that whites treated sinfully) Nichelle Nichols (who suffered a lot of crow for the idea of Uhura who lives among the non black humans in the future:) far far future in peace, sorry non humans still a way to go for that) and other entertainers are saying. They fully know the Nat turners, the Jean Jacques Dessalines, the Quilombos are in the community, black people who don't trust the non black, don't want to live civilly among the nonblack, are willing to be armed and violent to uphold the way of life they want to have. But, Nat King Cole and other blacks like him, are willing to trust, live civilly with, willing to be unprotected around the non black, not naively or stupidly but with hope.
That is the real point. Frederick Douglass's composite nation speech isn't suggesting the enslaver becomes the friend easily or overnight or simply. The enslaver becomes the abuser, the abuser becomes the trickster, the trickster becomes the dour, the dour may one day become the kin, the kin becomes the ally, the ally becomes the friend, the friend becomes the lover. Cause all awhile from enslaver to lover, the other was always the neighbor, no segregation ever existed, it was always integrated ,in various forms. So, if the black is to embrace civility living aside the non black in various forms, it is a process, part of that process is being told to where white face paint and giving in sometimes and not giving in other times.
0322026
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12600-happy-birthday-nat-king-cole/#findComment-80826
osted just now
@aka Contrarian
is unforgettable your favrite nat king cole rendition?
@ProfD
a certain level of respect and admiration, interesting words you chose to describe levels that didn't include respect or admiration to nat king cole in his life from his enemies.
again, the issue isn't about black enemies, it is about black people gardless of their personal talents who are willing to live peacefully to the non black , it is that simple.
St patrick's day passed and I do like the film michael collins . Him and a few others in irish leadership really led to the movement that made a part of ireland free from england after 700 years, but the key moment was when he realized that the freedom the irish wanted the happiness the irish wanted as a people, not individuals, wasn't going to come through business ownership, marching, peitions, government engagement, they did all of that for centuries and it led to nothing. The only way ireland was going to be free, which is why irish in most of ireland today are truly free, is by killing english....
Agan, James Forten to NAt King Cole to various black folk today, live their lives to happiness in spite of the communities oppression. That to me is what warrants respect or admiration that is what nonblacks don't respect or admire. being entertaining doesn't grant you respect or admiration from the bully.
0322026
https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12600-happy-birthday-nat-king-cole/#findComment-80834
osted just now
@aka Contrarian Well from my assessment of history Douglass never left his black wife for his white mistress, whom if I am correct, killed herself...I checked, frederick douglass first wife died before he married his second wife. as for nat king cole, I knew he had cheated on his wife ,but I have never seen whom or any photos or anything. His wife I recall in some interview said he cheated and she went on tour in europe and came back and they continued their lives, he didn't have cancer when she came back but it started soon enough after. So in both cases, i wouldn't say as a male, they left their wives. Both men were always married to their black wives while having a white mistress.
@ProfD
yes, your correct, financial revenue, financial value for most , 99% , black folk in any industry in the usa historically is based on white dollars in the usa, always has been , i argue always will be based on the demographic reality. but financial revenue isn't respect or admiration. it is earned value labor something whites historically never want to give black people, and for the financial record, Nat King Cole was cheated money by whites. so earning money clearly doesn't yield respect or admiration, but if it is evenly done, it does pay the bills
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