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!.
Here’s That Rainy Day
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Funny, but here's that rainy day.
Here's that rainy day they told me about,
And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way.
Oh, where's that worn out wish that I threw aside,
After it brought my lover near?
Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day,
Where's that worn out wish that I threw aside,
After it brought my lover near?
Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day,
Funny, that rainy day is here.
The lyrics to Anita O'Day's song Here's That Rainy Day talk about the unexpected arrival of a gloomy day, that the person singing was warned about, but didn't take seriously. The first verse starts with a hint of regret as they contemplate the possibility of having saved some leftover dreams. The singer then addresses the rainy day that they laughed off when others warned them about it. The second verse talks about a wish that was once tossed aside after love had been achieved, and now that same love has turned into a cold and stormy day. The song's lyrics are about the irony of how things that were once taken for granted, now seem more precious when they are gone.
The tone of the song is melancholic and nostalgic, and it conveys a sense of regret over the loss of something that was once cherished. The way the singer repeats the lines 'Here's that rainy day they told me about' and 'Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day' create a kind of symmetry to the song, where the listener can feel the sadness and disappointment of the singer in a subtle way.
Line by Line Meaning
Maybe I should have saved those leftover dreams,
Perhaps I should have held onto my unfulfilled aspirations
Funny, but here's that rainy day.
It's ironic that the day I was warned about has arrived
Here's that rainy day they told me about,
The day I was cautioned of is now present
And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way.
I found it amusing that such an event could occur
Oh, where's that worn out wish that I threw aside,
Where is my abandoned desire that brought me love?
After it brought my lover near?
After fulfilling its purpose of bringing me love
Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day,
It's strange how love can turn into a dismal and gloomy day
Funny, that rainy day is here.
Ironically, that unpleasant day is now happening.
Where's that worn out wish that I threw aside,
Where is my abandoned desire that brought me love?
After it brought my lover near?
After fulfilling its purpose of bringing me love
Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day,
It's strange how love can turn into a dismal and gloomy day
Funny, that rainy day is here.
Ironically, that unpleasant day is now happening.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ROBERT REYNOLDS, SCOTTY HUFF
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)