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!.
Don't Explain
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I know you raise Cain
I'm glad you're back
Don't explain
Quiet, don't explain
You mixed with some dame
Skip that lipstick
You know that I love you and what love endures
All my thoughts are of you
For I'm so completely yours
Cry to hear folks chatter, and I know you cheat
But right and wrong don't matter when you're with me sleep
Hush now, don't explain
You're my joy and pain
My life's yours love
Don't explain
Anita O'Day's song "Don't Explain" is a poignant exploration of a complicated relationship. The lyrics speak to a lover who is full of excuses and apologies, begging their partner not to ask questions or demand explanations for their indiscretions. The singer of the song seems to be torn between the pain caused by their lover's infidelity and a deep and abiding love for them. This is the central conflict of the song: the tension between the desire for emotional transparency and the fear that this honesty will destroy the relationship.
The lyrics use repetition to drive home the idea that the singer is willing to forgive and forget, urging their partner to "hush now" and "quiet" their questions and concerns. The line "you raised Cain" references the biblical story of Cain and Abel, suggesting that the lover has caused trouble or brought strife into their lives. Nevertheless, the singer is "glad" that they are back, and is prepared to overlook their faults in the interest of preserving the relationship.
The final lines of the song are a declaration of love and commitment, despite the complications and challenges that their relationship presents. The singer acknowledges that they know their lover has cheated, but insists that "right and wrong don't matter when you're with me." This line encapsulates the sense that the relationship is a private and intimate affair, beyond the judgment of outsiders. The repetition of the line "don't explain" reinforces the idea that there are things that are better left unsaid, and that true love is capable of enduring even the most difficult and painful moments.
Line by Line Meaning
Hush now don't explain
Please, be quiet and don't bother explaining
I know you raise Cain
I am aware that you can be a troublemaker
I'm glad you're back
I'm happy that you returned
Don't explain
Please, don't tell me anything
Quiet, don't explain
Be calm and don't bother explaining
You mixed with some dame
You spent time with another woman
Skip that lipstick
I don't want to know about her appearance
Don't explain
Please, don't tell me anything
You know that I love you and what love endures
I love you, no matter what happens
All my thoughts are of you
You're always on my mind
For I'm so completely yours
I'm yours and yours alone
Cry to hear folks chatter
It hurts me to hear people gossiping
And I know you cheat
I'm aware that you are unfaithful
But right and wrong don't matter when you're with me sleep
What's important is that we are together
Hush now, don't explain
Please, be quiet and don't bother explaining
You're my joy and pain
You are the source of my happiness and sorrow
My life's yours love
You are everything to me
Don't explain
Please, don't tell me anything
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Arthur Jr. Herzog, Billie Holiday
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)