Anita O'Day (October 18, 1919 - November 23, 2006) was an American jazz sin… Read Full Bio ↴Anita O'Day (October 18, 1919 - November 23, 2006) was an American jazz singer.

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!.

Fly Me to the Moon
Anita O'Day Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words hold my hand
In other words darling kiss me
Fill my life with song
And let me sing forevermore

You are all I hope for
All I worship and adore
In other words please be true

In other words I love you
repeat 2nd verse, then repeat 1st verse

Overall Meaning

In "Fly Me To The Moon," Anita O'Day is expressing a longing to leave earth and escape into space, to not only observe the stars, but also to be among them. She desires to experience the wonders of other planets and galaxies, to see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars. Yet, amid this immense yearning for the beyond, she doesn't want to be alone. She wants someone to share this wild adventure with, someone to hold her hand, and kiss her, someone on whom she can rely to be true, and whom she truly loves. In this song, O'Day uses metaphors to express a deep and intense desire to explore life with a companion.

At its core, "Fly Me To The Moon" is not only about adventure and exploration but also about trust and vulnerability with a loved one. The singer's request to fill her life with song and sing forevermore evocatively suggests her love for the significant other. Life becomes more poetic with the significant other in her life. The lyrics of the song communicate a deeply heartfelt message, celebrating love and connection, unified by the idea of reaching for the stars.

Line by Line Meaning

Fly me to the moon
Take me on an adventure to distant places

And let me play among the stars
Let me explore the universe and all its wonders

Let me see what spring is like
Let me experience the different seasons on other planets

On Jupiter and Mars
Two of the many planets that I would like to visit

In other words hold my hand
Help me feel safe and secure while we explore together

In other words darling kiss me
Show me that you care for me deeply and passionately

Fill my life with song
Make my life a melodic and harmonious journey

And let me sing forevermore
Allow me to express my feelings and emotions through music

You are all I hope for
You are the one I've been searching for all my life

All I worship and adore
You are the only one who truly captivates my heart

In other words please be true
Promise me that you will always be honest and faithful to me