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!.
Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pay no attention to what's said.
Why people tear the seams of anyone's dreams
Is over my head.
Do nothing till you hear from me,
At least consider our romance.
If you should take the words of others you've heard,
True, I've been seen with someone new,
But does that mean that I've been untrue?
When we're apart,
The words in my heart
Reveal how I feel about you.
Some kiss may cloud my memories,
And other arms may hold a thrill,
But please, do nothing till you hear it from me
And you never will.
Some kiss may cloud my memories,
And other arms may hold a thrill,
But please, do nothing till you hear it from me
And you never will.
Baby
, don't jump to conclusions or believe what others say until you hear directly from me. I want you to pay no attention to the rumors and gossip surrounding us because I am genuinely puzzled by why people would try to sabotage anyone's dreams or relationships.
I implore you to hold off on making any decisions until you hear from me. Please consider the love we share and don't let the words of others influence your judgment. Just because I have been seen with someone new does not mean I have been unfaithful to you. When we are apart, the words in my heart speak volumes about how deeply I feel for you.
Line by Line Meaning
Do nothing till you hear from me
Don't make any decisions or judgments until you have heard directly from me
Pay no attention to what's said
Ignore the gossip or rumors that you may hear
Why people tear the seams of anyone's dreams is over my head
I don't understand why people try to destroy others' dreams or happiness
At least consider our romance
At the very least, think about our relationship
If you should take the words of others you've heard, I haven't a chance
If you believe what others say about me, then I don't stand a chance
True, I've been seen with someone new, but does that mean that I've been untrue?
Yes, I have been seen with someone else, but does that automatically mean that I have been unfaithful?
When we're apart, the words in my heart reveal how I feel about you
When we are not together, my true feelings for you are expressed through my thoughts and emotions
Some kiss may cloud my memories, and other arms may hold a thrill
I may have shared intimate moments with others, and these experiences may temporarily cloud my mind and bring excitement
But please, do nothing till you hear it from me and you never will
But I urge you to wait for my side of the story, and you will never hear it from me
Baby
End of the song, a term of endearment
Lyrics © Freibank Musikverlags und vermarktungs GmbH, MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DUKE ELLINGTON, BOB RUSSELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@stephenrad
Love it! Really great work!
@powenmoore
Bobu's slide shows are genuinely creative and go well with O'Day's vocals.