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!.
How High the Moon
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
There is no moon above
When love is far away too
Till it comes true
That you love me as I love you
Somewhere there's music
How near, how far
Somewhere there's heaven
It's where you are
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon
Somewhere there's music
How faint the tune
Somewhere there's heaven
How high the moon
The darkest night would shine
If you would come to me soon
Until you will, how still my heart
How high the moon
The lyrics to Anita O'Day's song "How High the Moon" are a poignant description of the yearning and longing that can exist in a relationship. The song describes the idea that despite being physically far apart from one another, there is a connection that exists between two people that is symbolized by the music and heaven that exists somewhere out in the world. The use of the moon as a metaphor for this idea is particularly effective, as it conjures up images of something remote and unattainable, yet compelling and powerful at the same time.
The first two lines of the song set the tone for the rest of the lyrics, describing how the music of this connection is faint and distant. This is followed by the description of heaven, which is described as being high in the sky, a place that can only be reached by the most committed and loving of souls. The third line brings home the reality of distance, with the acknowledgment that there is no moon above when love is far away. Despite this, the lyrics are hopeful, suggesting that love will one day come true and that the two people will be united in their love for one another.
The second verse continues the theme of distance, emphasizing the idea that there is a vastness to the world that separates the two people, yet acknowledging that heaven is wherever the other person happens to be. The repeated lyrical phrase about the darkest night shining is particularly effective, again drawing on the powerful image of the moon to drive home the idea that even in the darkest of times, love can shine like a beacon. The final verse repeats the opening lines of the song, suggesting a circularity to the lyrics that underscores the idea that the cycle of longing and hoping for love is a never-ending one.
Line by Line Meaning
Somewhere there's music
There exists music somewhere
How faint the tune
The melody is barely audible
Somewhere there's heaven
There exists paradise somewhere
How high the moon
The level of ecstasy is astronomical
There is no moon above
The celestial body is absent from the sky
When love is far away too
Distance separates the affectionate emotions
Till it comes true
Until the dreams become real
That you love me as I love you
That your feelings mirror mine
Somewhere there's music
There exists music somewhere
How near, how far
The distance of melody is variable
Somewhere there's heaven
There exists paradise somewhere
It's where you are
Paradise is where you exist
The darkest night would shine
Even in the dark, radiance is present
If you would come to me soon
If you would arrive in my presence instantly
Until you will, how still my heart
My heart will remain tranquil until then
How high the moon
The level of ecstasy is astronomical
Somewhere there's music
There exists music somewhere
How faint the tune
The melody is barely audible
Somewhere there's heaven
There exists paradise somewhere
How high the moon
The level of ecstasy is astronomical
The darkest night would shine
Even in the dark, radiance is present
If you would come to me soon
If you would arrive in my presence instantly
Until you will, how still my heart
My heart will remain tranquil until then
How high the moon
The level of ecstasy is astronomical
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Morgan Lewis, Nancy Hamilton
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)