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!.
Georgia Of My Mind
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That I'd be playing solitaire
Uneasy in my easy chair
It never entered my mind
And once you told me I was mistaken
That I'd awaken with the sun
And ordered orange juice for one
You had what I lack, myself
Now I even have to scratch my back myself
Once you warned me that if you scorned me
I'd say a lonely prayer again
And wish that you were there again
To get into my hair again
It never entered my mind
Once you warned me that if you scorned me
I'd say a lonely prayer again
And wish that you were there again
To get into my hair again
It never entered my mind
The lyrics of Georgia On My Mind by Anita O'Day is a reflective piece on the folly of taking things for granted in a relationship. The song is a conversation between two people, and the lyrics suggest a lack of appreciation and acknowledgement between them. The singer reflects on the moments when her lover told her that she would be playing solitaire and be uneasy in her easy chair, which she now realizes to be true. Similarly, she remembers when her lover ordered orange juice for just herself, and she acknowledges her careless nature that made her take such moments for granted. She never thought about the consequences, and now she misses the comfort of having her lover around.
The lyrics also hint that the relationship was not a smooth one, with the singer confessing that her partner had warned her about the possibility of them parting ways, and she would be left alone, yearning for her lover's return. Despite the warning, the reality of losing her lover never entered her mind. The song touches on the theme of regret and lamenting, giving a glimpse into the aftermath of a failed relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Once I laughed when I heard you saying
I laughed when I heard you warn me about something that I thought could never happen.
That I'd be playing solitaire
That I would be alone, without anyone to play cards with or without companionship.
Uneasy in my easy chair
Feeling uncomfortable and restless while sitting in my comfortable chair.
It never entered my mind
I never considered or thought about the possibility of being alone or feeling lonely.
And once you told me I was mistaken
You disagreed with me and said I was wrong about something.
That I'd awaken with the sun
That I would wake up early in the morning, as soon as the sun was up.
And ordered orange juice for one
And only ordered juice for myself, without thinking about whether anyone else would want any.
You had what I lack, myself
You possessed what I lacked in myself. You had a sense of independence and self-reliance that I did not have.
Now I even have to scratch my back myself
Now I have to take care of myself and do things that I used to rely on someone else for, like scratching my own back.
Once you warned me that if you scorned me
You once warned me that if you ever rejected me or treated me poorly, I would feel very alone and wish for your company.
I'd say a lonely prayer again
I would pray alone, without anyone to pray with or to share my thoughts and feelings with.
And wish that you were there again
And wish that you were with me again, either physically or emotionally.
To get into my hair again
To live with me again, to be part of my life again and influence my thoughts and emotions.
It never entered my mind
Again, I never considered or thought about the possibility of feeling so alone and isolated without you.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@3001st
Gene Krupa and his orchestra.