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!.
Easy Living
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's easy to live when you're in love
And I'm so in love
There is nothing in life but you
I never regret the years that I'm giving
They're easy to give when you're in love
I'm happy to do whatever I do for you
For you maybe I'm a fool
But it's fun
People say you rule me with one wave of your hand
Darling, it's grand
They just don't understand
Living for you is easy living
It's easy to live when you're in love
And I'm so in love
There's nothing in life but you
In this song, Anita O'Day describes the feeling of being truly in love with someone. She sings that living for this person is easy because love makes everything else in life pale in comparison. The lyrics discuss how giving time and energy to this person is joyful, and she is happy to do anything for them. The singer admits that others may view her love as foolish, but she finds it fun to be wholly devoted to someone. The chorus repeats the sentiment that loving this person is effortless and fills her entire life with meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
Living for you is easy living
It's effortless to live life when you are in love with someone.
It's easy to live when you're in love
Being in love often makes life less challenging or complicated compared to when you're not in love.
And I'm so in love
I have strong feelings of love for you.
There is nothing in life but you
You are everything to me, and I cannot imagine living without you or doing anything that isn't related to you.
I never regret the years that I'm giving
I don't have any remorse about spending time with you because being in love with you is fulfilling.
They're easy to give when you're in love
It's not hard to devote time and affection to someone when you're in love with them.
I'm happy to do whatever I do for you
I'm contented to do anything that makes you happy, especially because I love you.
For you, maybe I'm a fool
Some people may judge me harshly for being so devoted to you, but I don't care.
But it's fun
Being in love with you is exciting and enjoyable.
People say you rule me with one wave of your hand
People think you have complete control or power over me, merely by a simple gesture from you.
Darling, it's grand
I don't mind it at all because being in love with you is amazing.
They just don't understand
Others may not comprehend the depth of my love for you, but that's okay.
There's nothing in life but you
You occupy my thoughts and heart, and nothing else matters as long as I have you.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LEO ROBIN, RALPH RAINGER
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)