Joseph Raymond "Ray" Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.
Conniff was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and learned to play the trombone from his father. He studied music arranging from a course book.
After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II (where he worked under Walter Schumann), he joined the Artie Shaw big band and wrote many arrangements for him. After his stint with Shaw, he was then hired by Mitch Miller, then head of A&R at Columbia Records, as their home arranger, working with several artists including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and Johnnie Ray. He wrote a top 10 arrangement for Don Cherry's "Band of Gold" in 1955, a single that sold more than a million copies. Among the hit singles he backed with his orchestra (and eventually with a male chorus) were "Yes Tonight Josephine" and "Just Walkin' in the Rain" by Johnnie Ray; "Chances Are" and "It's Not for Me to Say" by Johnny Mathis; "A White Sport Coat" and "The Hanging Tree" by Marty Robbins; "Moonlight Gambler" by Frankie Laine; "Up Above My Head," a duet by Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray; and "Pet Me, Poppa" by Rosemary Clooney. He also backed up the albums Tony by Tony Bennett, Blue Swing by Eileen Rodgers, Swingin' for Two by Don Cherry, and half the tracks of The Big Beat by Johnnie Ray.
"I Concentrate on You" is a song written by Cole Porter for the 1940 film Broadway Melody of 1940, where it was introduced by Douglas McPhail.
Whenever skies look gray to me
And trouble begins to brew
Whenever the winter winds become too strong
I concentrate on you
When fortune cries "Nay, nay" to me
And people declare "You're through"
Whenever the blues become my only songs
I concentrate on you
On your smile, so sweet, so tender
When at first my kiss you do decline
On the light in your eyes when you surrender
And once again our arms intertwine
And so when wise men say to me
That love's young dream never comes true
To prove that even the wise men can be wrong
I concentrate on you
Frosty the snowman
Was a jolly happy soul
With a corn cop pipe
And a button nose
And two eyes
Made out of coal
Frosty the snowman
Is a fairy tale they say
He was made out of snow
But the children know how
He came to life one day
There must of been
Some magic in
That ol' silk cap
They found
For when they placed it
On his head
He began to dance around
Frosty the snowman
Was alive as he could be
And the children say
He could laugh and play
Just the same
As you and me
Frosty the snowman
Knew the snow
Was hot that day
So he said lets run
And have some fun
Before I melt away
Down to the village
With a broom stick
In his hand
Runnin' here and there
All around the square
Sayin' catch me
If you can
He led them down
The streets of town
Right
To the traffic cop
And he only
Paused a moment
When he heard him
Holler stop
Frosty the snowman
Had to hurry on his way
But he
Waved goodbye sayin'
Please don't cry
I'll be back again