Few female jazz singers matched the hard-swinging and equally hard-living Anita O'Day for sheer exuberance and talent in all areas of jazz vocals. Her improvising, wide dynamic tone, and innate sense of rhythm made her more than just another big-band canary. At a time when most female vocals tended to emphasize the sweet timbres of their voice, she chose to emphasize a path blazed by the one major jazz singer who emphasized message over medium - Billie Holiday. Like Holiday, O'Day combined the soaring freedom of jazz instrumentalist with the storytelling lyricism of a poet.
After making her solo debut in the mid-'40s she incorporated bop modernism into her vocals and recorded over a dozen of the best vocal LPs of the era.
During the late Forties, she recorded two dozen sides, mostly for small labels. The quality of these singles varies: O'Day was trying to achieve popular success without sacrificing her identity as a jazz singer. Among the more notable recordings from this period are "Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip", "Key Largo", "How High the Moon", and "Malaguena". O'Day's drug problems began to surface late in 1947, when she and husband Carl Hoff were arrested for possession of marijuana and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Her career was back on the upswing in September of 1948, when she sang with Count Basie at the Royal Roost in New York City, resulting in five airchecks. What secured O'Day's place in the jazz pantheon, however, are the seventeen albums she recorded for Verve between 1956 and 1962.
Her first album, Anita O'Day Sings Jazz (reissued as The Lady Is a Tramp), was recorded in 1956 for the newly established Verve Records (it was also the label's first LP). The album was a critical success and further boosted her popularity. In October of 1952 O'Day was again arrested for possession of marijuana, but found not guilty. The following March, she was arrested for possession of heroin. The case dragged on for most of 1953; O'Day was finally sentenced to six months in jail. Not long after her release from jail on February 25, 1954, she began work on her second album, Songs by Anita O'Day (reissued as An Evening with Anita O'Day). She recorded steadily throughout the Fifties, accompanied by small combos and big bands. In person, O'Day was generally backed by a trio which included the drummer with whom she would work for the next 40 years, John Poole.
As a live performer O'Day also began performing in festivals and concerts with such musicians as Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Dinah Washington, George Shearing, Cal Tjader, and Thelonious Monk. She appeared in the documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival which increased her popularity. The following year O'Day made a cameo appearance in The Gene Krupa Story , singing "Memories of You". Late in 1959 she toured Europe with Benny Goodman; according to her autobiography, when Goodman's attempts to upstage her failed to diminish the audience's enthusiasm, he cut all but two of her numbers from the show.
After the Goodman fiasco, O'Day went back to touring as a solo artist. She recorded infrequently after the expiration of her Verve contract in 1962 and her career seemed over when she nearly died of a heroin overdose in 1968. After kicking the habit, she made a comeback at the 1970 Berlin Jazz Festival. She also appeared in the films Zig Zag (1970) and The Outfit (1974). She resumed making live and studio albums, many recorded in Japan, and several were released on her own label, Emily Records.
O'Day spoke candidly about her drug addiction in her 1981 memoir, High Times, Hard Times.
Her version of the standard, "Sing, Sing, Sing" was remixed by RSL and was included in the compilation album Verve Remixed 3 in 2005.
2006 saw her first album release in 13 years, entitled Indestructible!.
Can't We Be Friends?
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now it seems this is how the story ends
He's gonna turn me down and say
Can't we be friends?
I thought for once it couldn't go wrong
Not for long, I can see the way this ends
He's gonna turn me down and say
Never again, through with love, through with men
They play the game without shame, and who's to blame?
I thought I'd found a man I could trust
What a bust, this is how the story ends
He's gonna turn me down and say
Can't we be friends?
Why should I care?
Though he gave me the air
Why should I cry, heave a sigh and wonder why?
I should have seen the signal to stop
What a flop, this is how the story ends
I'll let him turn me down and say
Can't we be friends?
The lyrics to Anita O'Day's "Can't We Be Friends?" speak to the heartbreak of unrequited love. The singer thought she had found the man of her dreams and trusted him fully, only to have him turn her down and suggest that they just be friends. She reflects on the fact that she's been through this before, and she's had enough of playing the game of love with men who betray her trust.
The lyrics convey a deep sense of disappointment, but also a resignation to the situation. The singer knows that she should have seen the signs and stopped things before they got too far. But she's also tired of feeling hurt and wondering why things didn't work out. Instead, she decides to let him turn her down and move on, perhaps hoping that they can still salvage a friendship from the wreckage of their failed romance.
Line by Line Meaning
I thought I'd found the man of my dreams
I believed I had finally discovered my ideal partner
Now it seems this is how the story ends
However, it appears that our time together is over
He's gonna turn me down and say
He will reject my advances and propose
Can't we be friends?
that we should maintain a platonic relationship
I thought for once it couldn't go wrong
I believed things were going to work out for once
Not for long, I can see the way this ends
However, it quickly became apparent that it would not last long
Never again, through with love, through with men
I have decided to give up on love and relationships altogether
They play the game without shame, and who's to blame?
Men play games in relationships, and no one is held accountable
I thought I'd found a man I could trust
I believed I had found someone I could rely on
What a bust, this is how the story ends
What a disappointment, things have ended sourly
Why should I care?
I see no reason to be upset
Though he gave me the air
Despite him rejecting me
Why should I cry, heave a sigh and wonder why?
There is no point in being sad or questioning why this happened
I should have seen the signal to stop
I should have recognized the signs that things were not working out
What a flop, this is how the story ends
What a disaster, our story has come to a conclusion
I'll let him turn me down and say
I will accept his rejection and move on
Can't we be friends?
rather than cutting ties completely
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Kay Swift, Paul James
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Aceiseverywhere
on Who Cares?
Let it rain and thunder
Let a million firms go under
I am not concerned with, stocks and bombs that I've been burned with
I love you and you love me
And that's how it will always be
And nothing else can ever mean a thing
Who cares what the public chatters?
Love's the only thing that matters
Who cares if the sky, cares to fall
in the sea
Who cares how history rates me?
As long as your kiss intoxicates me
Oh why should I care?
Life is one long jubilee
As long as I care for you
And you care for me!
Who cares if the sky, cares to fall
in the sea
Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers?
As long as you've got a kiss that conquers!
Oh why should I care?
Life is one long jubilee
So long as I care for you
and you care for me!
(These lyrics might be wrong, sorry)