Nat King Cole

Straighten up and fly right
Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top.

I … started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.

Nat "King" Cole (born Nathaniel Adams Coles; 17 March 1919 – 15 February 1965) was an American singer and jazz pianist.

Quotes

• I felt something impossible for me to explain in words. Then when they took her away, it hit me. I got scared all over again and began to feel giddy. Then it came to me— I was a father."
  • Ebony (March 1950)

• Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark.
  • Comment on why his hit NBC TV show couldn't get a national sponsor. (1956) Quoted in article at the Songwriters Hall of Fame

• I … started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out.
  • Spoken in VOA interview (c. 1956) broadcast on Pop Chronicles Show 22 - Smack Dab in the Middle on Route 66: A skinny dip in the easy listening mainstream.
  • Also on cassette 3, side B of Gilliland, John (1994) (audiobook). Pop Chronicles the 40's: The Lively Story of Pop Music in the 40's. Mind's Eye. ISBN 978-1-55935-147-8. OCLC 31611854.  Pop Chronicles Interviews #131 - Nat "King" Cole.

• I'm a businessman. I work for business people. The kind of thing they say is: Now we've sold a lot of records, let's sell some more.
  • British interview (1963)

• I'm a musician at heart, I know I'm not really a singer. I couldn't compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it.
  • As quoted in Nat King Cole (1990) by James Haskings

• Critics don't buy records. They get 'em free.
  • As quoted in Nat King Cole (1990) by James Haskings

• «There's just one thing I can't understand. My income tax!”».

Lyrics

• A buzzard took the monkey for a ride in the air
  The monkey thought that everything was on the square
  The buzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back
  But the monkey grabbed his neck and said — "Now listen, Jack..."
  "Straighten up and fly right
  Straighten up and fly right
  Straighten up and fly right
  Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top."
  • "Straighten Up And Fly Right" (1937) written with Irving Mills.

• The buzzard told the monkey "You're chokin' me
  Release your hold and I'll set you free"
  The monkey looked the buzzard right dead in the eye and said
  "Your story's touching but it sounds like a lie."
  • "Straighten Up And Fly Right" (1937) written with Irving Mills.

External links

• Nat King Cole, The Early Years
• Songwriters Hall of Fame
• All Things Considered (18 December 1999) NPR soundfile (Realplayer)