Merrill's recording career has spanned six decades and she is popular with fans of jazz in Japan and Italy (where she lived for many years) as well as in her native United States. She has recorded and performed with some of the most notable figures in the American jazz scene.
Youth and early career in the states
Merrill was born in 1930 to Croatian immigrant parents. She began singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx at the age of fourteen. By the time she was sixteen, Merrill had taken up music full time. In 1952, Merrill made her recording debut when she was asked to sing "A Cigarette For Company" with the Earl Hines Band; the song was released on their Xanadu album. Etta Jones made her debut on the same album.
At this time she was married to musician Aaron Sachs. They divorced in 1956.
As a result of the exposure she received from "A Cigarette for Company" and two subsequent singles recorded for the Roost record label, Merrill was signed by Mercury Records for their new EmArcy label.
In 1954, Merrill recorded her first (and to date most acclaimed) LP, an eponymous record featuring legendary jazz trumpet player Clifford Brown and bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford, among others. It was to be one of Brown's last recordings, as he was killed in a car accident just two years later. The album was produced and arranged by Quincy Jones, who was then just twenty-one years old. The success of Helen Merrill prompted Mercury to sign her for an additional four-album contract.
Merrill's follow-up to Helen Merrill was the 1956 LP, Dream of You, which was produced and arranged by bebop arranger and pianist Gil Evans. Evans' work on Dream of You was his first in many years. His arrangements on Merrill's laid the musical foundations for his work in following years with Miles Davis.
Success abroad
After recording sporadically through the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent much of her time touring Europe, where she enjoyed more commercial success than she had in the United States. She settled for a time in Italy recording an album there, and doing live concerts with jazz notables Chet Baker, Romano Mussolini, and Stan Getz. Merrill returned to the U.S. in the 1960s, but moved to Japan in 1967 after touring there. Merrill developed a following in Japan that remains strong to this day. In addition to recording while in Japan, Merrill became involved in other aspects of the music industry, producing albums for Trio Records and hosting a show on a Tokyo radio station.
Later career
Merrill returned to the US in 1972 and has continued recording and regular touring since then. Her later career has seen her experiment in different music genres. She has recorded a bossa nova album, a Christmas album and a record's worth of Rodgers and Hammerstein, among many others.
Two albums from Merrill's later career have been tributes to past musical partners. In 1987, Merrill and Gil Evans recorded fresh arrangements of their classic Dream of You; the new recordings were released under the title Collaboration and became the most critically acclaimed of Merrill's albums in the 1980s.
In 1987 she co-produced a CD "Billy Eckstine sing with Benny Carter" and sing in duet with Mr.B two ballads.
In 1995 she recorded Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown as a tribute to the late trumpeter.
One of Merrill's millennium released recordings draws from her Croatian heritage as well as her American upbringing. Jelena Ana Milcetic, a.k.a. Helen Merrill (2000), combines jazz, pop and blues songs with several traditional Croatian songs sung in Croatian.
Helen Merrill has been married three times, first to musician Aaron Sachs, second time to UPI vice president the late Donald J Brydon, and third to arranger-conductor the late Torrie Zito. She has one child, a son, Allan P Sachs, also a singer, who is professionally known as Alan Merrill.
You'd Be so Nice to Come Home To
Helen Merrill Lyrics
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You'd be so nice by the fire
While the breeze on high, sang a lullaby
You'd be all my heart could desire
Under stars chilled by the winter
Under an August moon shining above
You'd be so nice, you'd be paradise
To come home to and love
Under stars chilled by the winter
Under an August moon burning above
You'd be so nice, you'd be paradise
To come home to and love
The song "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To" by Helen Merrill is a love ballad that expresses the comfort and joy that the persona will feel upon coming home to their loved one. The persona expresses the idea that their loved one would be so nice to come home to and how they would feel by the fire, while the breeze outside sings them a lullaby. This creates a picture of warmth, comfort, and happiness that comes with the idea of coming home, especially to someone who is loved and dear.
The second stanza of the song describes the various situations under which the persona imagines their loved one to be nice to come home to. Be it under the stars, in the winter's chill, or under the blazing heat of the August moon; their loved one would still be Paradise for them, a perfect place to come home to and love. The repetition of the line "You'd be so nice to come home to" in both stanzas of the song helps to reinforce the central idea of the song - that the loved one would be the perfect partner and home for the persona.
Line by Line Meaning
You'd be so nice to come home to
It would be comforting to return home to your presence
You'd be so nice by the fire
Your company would enhance the cozy atmosphere of a Fire
While the breeze on high, sang a lullaby
The wind will hum a soothing melody while we spend time together
You'd be all my heart could desire
Being with you would fulfill all the cravings of my heart
Under stars chilled by the winter
Beneath the piercing starry sky, during a freezing winter night
Under an August moon shining above
In the presence of a radiant full moon, during the month of August
You'd be so nice, you'd be paradise
Your company would create an idyllic environment
To come home to and love
A place to return to and share affection
Lyrics © DistroKid, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Sentric Music, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind