#23: Time And The River by Nat “King” Cole

City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: February 1960
Peak Position in Hull ~ #5
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #44
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #30
YouTube: “Time And The River”
Lyrics: “Time And The River”

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama. His family headed by his Baptist minister father, moved to Chicago in 1923. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. Coles first performance was the Billy Jones chart-topping 1923 hit, “Yes! We Have No Bananas”, at the age of four. Cole began formal piano lessons at 12, learning jazz, gospel, and classical music. As a youth, Cole joined the news delivery boys’ “Bud Billiken Club” band for an African-American newspaper called The Chicago Defender. At the age of 15, Nat Cole left school to follow a path in music. In 1936, with his bassist brother Eddie, Nat Cole became part of a sextet named Eddie Cole’s Swingsters. Cole was married in 1937 and moved to Los Angeles. He formed a band called the King Cole Swingsters. They were named after the British nursery rhyme Old King Cole (was a merry old soul…). ” The name next was changed to the King Cole Trio in anticipation of making radio transcriptions, and recording for small record labels.

In 1940, Nat “King” Cole recorded “Sweet Lorraine”. Though it was a non-charting single, it helped word about him spread across America. In 1942, Cole had a #1 R&B hit with “That Ain’t Right”. This was matched in 1943 with another chart-topping R&B hit “All For You”. The King Cole Trio had their first Top Ten pop hit record in 1944 with “Straighten Up And Fly Right”, that became their third number-one R&B hit in a row. While “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good To You” became a fourth chart-topper on the R&B chart. A more enduring song, “It’s Only A Paper Moon”, stalled at #5 on the R&B charts and #27 on the pop charts in 1944. Cole was the original house pianist for Jazz at the Philharmonic starting in 1944.

In 1946, the trio broadcast King Cole Trio Time, a 15-minute radio program. This was the first radio program to be hosted by a black musician. That year, the King Cole Trio had a #11 pop hit with “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, which reached #3 on the R&B charts. As well, in 1946, the King Cole Trio had their second Top Ten pop hit with “You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)”. But the year exceeded expectations when the King Cole Trio had a number-one hit on the pop charts with “I Love You, For Sentimental Reasons”. And that winter, they had a #3 pop hit titled “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)”. With its familiar opening line, “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose,” the song returned to the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 at #9.

From 1946 to 1948, the trio recorded radio transcriptions for Capitol Records Transcription Service. They performed on the radio programs Swing Soiree, Old Gold, The Chesterfield Supper Club, Kraft Music Hall, and The Orson Welles Almanac. In 1948, Nat King Cole had another number-one hit with “Nature Boy”.

In 1950, Nat King Cole and Stan Kenton had a #5 hit with “Orange Colored Sky”. This was exceeded by his number-one hit that year titled “Mona Lisa”, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The next year, “Too Young” also shot to number-one. In 1952, Cole was featured with bandleader Billy May with a Top Ten hit titled “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home”. It was a cover of a pop standard first recorded in the 30s by Maurice Chevalier. In 1953, the #2 hit “Pretend” became one of his biggest sellers.

Into the mid-50s, Nat King Cole racked up more Top Ten pop hits that included “Answer Me, My Love”, “Smile”, “A Blossom Fell”, “Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup”, “Send For Me”, and “Looking Back”.

Into 1956, photographs of Cole with white female fans were circulated bearing such incendiary, boldface captions as “Cole and His White Women” and “Cole and Your Daughter.” At a concert on April 10, 1956, in Birmingham, Alabama, three men belonging to the North Alabama Citizens Council attacked Cole in an apparent attempt to kidnap him. When the incident happened, Nat “King” Cole had been singing “Little Girl” on stage with Britains’ Ted Heath Band.

“I can’t understand it,” Cole said afterwards. “I have not taken part in any protests. Nor have I joined an organization fighting segregation. Why should they attack me?” Cole wanted to forget the incident and continued to play for segregated audiences in the American South. He said he could not change the situation in a day. He contributed money to the Montgomery bus boycott and previously sued Northern hotels that had hired him but refused to serve him.

On October 14, 1956, Nat “King” Cole performed for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s birthday celebration. On November 5, 1956, The Nat ‘King’ Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was one of the first hosted by an African American. It ran until December 17, 1957. The program started at a length of fifteen minutes but was increased to a half-hour in July 1957. The show was never able to find a national commercial sponsor. Cole stated after the show was cancelled, “Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.”

By the late ’50s, with the advent of rock ‘n roll, Nat “King” Cole was often being elbowed down the Top 40 the by new upstarts: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Doggett, the Monotones, the Diamonds, the Dell-Vikings, the Rays, the Crickets, the Coasters, the Drifters, the Flamingoes, the Silhouettes, the Elegants, the Skyliners, the Platters, Ricky Nelson, Paul Anka, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, the Fleetwoods, Brook Benton, and others. In 1959, Nat “King” Cole received a Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Top 40 Artist for his recording of “Midnight Flyer”.

Between July 1958 and July 1962, Nat “King” Cole released 24 singles. Only two of these made the Top 40, with “Time And The River” being the only one to crack the Top 30, peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 at #30.  

“Time And The River” was written by Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold. In “Time And The River” a man has lost his love to a river and time. The “river” is a metaphor, perhaps for the flow and unfolding of life. By the river the couple love, laugh, and cry. However, “with time, my love, my darling, left my arms and was gone with the tide.” With these changed circumstances, the man vows to remain by the river until she returns to his arms. Even if it means “time stands still and the river runs dry.”

In 1928, Wally Gold was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. He formed the Four Esquires in 1956 who had a Top 30 hit with “Hideaway”. Gold wrote “Look Homeward, Angel”, a hit for Johnnie Ray in 1957. In the 1960’s he co-wrote Elvis Presley’s “Good Luck Charm” and “It’s Now Or Never”, “Because They’re Young” for Duane Eddy, “She Can’t Find Her Keys” for Paul Petersen, Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” and Gene Pitney’s “Half-Heaven, Half-Heartache.” He also wrote minor hits for Dodie Stevens, Frankie Avalon, Gene Vincent, Brook Benton, Pat Boone, Jackie De Shannon, Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, and the Diamonds. Later in the decade, he produced albums for Barbra Streisand, Jerry Vale, and Tony Bennett. In the 1970’s, he discovered the group Kansas, who had a Top Ten hit with “Dust In The Wind”. Gold was later the music coordinator for Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert television series. Wally Gold died at the age of 70 in 1998.

Aaron Schroeder was born in Brooklyn in 1926. He wrote “At a Sidewalk Penny Arcade” for Rosemary Clooney in 1948. Schroeder wrote 17 hit songs for Elvis Presley including five that topped the charts: “A Big Hunk o’ Love”, “Good Luck Charm”, “I Got Stung”, “It’s Now Or Never” and “Stuck On You”. He also wrote songs recorded by Chaka Khan, Roy Orbison, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Nat “King” Cole, Perry Como, Guy Mitchell, The Playmates, Barry White, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Pat Boone, “Bandit Of My Dreams” for Eddie Hodges, “I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door” for the Isley Brothers in 1959 which was successfully covered by Eddie Hodges, “First Name Initial” for Annette, “Cincinnati Fireball” for Johnny Burnette, “Rubber Ball”” for Bobby Vee, “Because They’re Young” for Duane Eddy, the Staple Singers and Paul McCartney. Schroeder also wrote “French Foreign Legion” for Frank Sinatra. Schroeder also produced numerous hits for Gene Pitney that included “I Wanna Love My Life Away”, “Town Without Pity”, “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance”, “Only Love Can Break A Heart” and “24 Hours From Tulsa”. Aaron Schroeder later became an international music representative for Hanna-Barbera Productions and provided music, singers and songs for “The Banana Splits” and “Scooby Doo, Where Are You!” Aaron Schroeder had a cameo appearance as a songwriter in the 1957 rock ‘n roll film Jamboree, and once appeared on the TV panel show To Tell The Truth. Schroeder died in 2009 at the age of 83.

“Time And The River” peaked at #1 in Sacramento (NY), Norfolk (VA), and Hollywood (CA), #3 in Louisville (KY) and Babylon (NY), #4 in New Britain (CT) and Burbank (CA), #5 in Hull (QC), #6 in Albany (NY), #7 in Salt Lake City and Lexington (KY), and #11 in Binghamton (NY).

In January 1961, Nat “King” Cole performed at the inaugural gala for President John F. Kennedy.

In the fall of 1962, Nat “King” Cole’s “Ramblin’ Rose” was edged out by The Four Seasons’ “Sherry” for the top spot on the pop charts. It spent three weeks at #2 on the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart, and eight weeks in the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Cole had several more notable hits in 1963: “Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer” and “That Sunday, That Summer”.

In the fall of 1964 it was discovered that Cole, a lifelong heavy smoker, had lung cancer. An operation to surgically remove his left lung was successful on January 25, 1965. However, his cancer was terminal. Nat “King” Cole died at the age of 45 on February 15, 1965. His funeral on February 18, 1965, included Honorary pallbearers included Robert F. Kennedy, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, George Burns, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante,  Capitol Record executive Alan Livingston, Frankie Laine, Steve Allen, and California Governor Pat Brown.

With the advent of television, Nat “King” Cole appeared on many TV programs between 1950 and 1964. This included The Ed Sullivan Show, the Texaco Star Theater hosted by Milton Berle, The Jackie Gleason Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Patti Page Show, The Perry Como Show, The George Gobel Show, The Steve Allen Show, This Is Your Life, The Garry Moore Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Jack Benny Program, and The Jack Paar Program. 

His 1957 recording of “When I Fall in Love” reached #4 in the UK charts in December 1987. In 1990, Cole was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. A United States postage stamp with Cole’s likeness was issued in 1994. And in 2000, Nat “King” Cole was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2020, Cole was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

October 7, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Paul Weeks, “From the Archives: Nat “King” Cole dies of Cancer, age 45,” Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1965.
“Wally Gold,” Discogs.com.
Dennis McLellan, “Aaron Schroeder Dies at 83; Prolific Songwriter for Elvis Presley and Others,” Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2009.
“Grammy Award 1959 Winners,” awardsandshows.com.
“Nat “King” Cole Attacked on Stage” Guardian, April 12, 1956.
Maura Reynolds, “It’s All Right to Still Like Ike : History: Once painted as a ‘distanced’ President, Dwight Eisenhower now is heralded for his strong sense of service,” Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1990.

CKCH 970-AM Hull (QC) Top Ten | February 27, 1960