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!.
Limehouse Blues
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never go away
Sad, mad blues
For all the while they seem to say
Oh, Limehouse kid
Oh, oh, Limehouse kid
Goin' the way
Poor broken blossom
And nobody's child
Haunting and taunting
You're just kind of wild
Oh, Limehouse blues
I've the real Limehouse blues
Can't seem to shake off
Those real China blues
Rings on your fingers
And tears for your crown
That is the story
Of old Chinatown
Rings on your fingers
And tears for your crown
That is the story
Of old Chinatown
The song Limehouse Blues, written by Douglas Furber and Phillip Braham in 1922, is a melancholic reflection on the titular Limehouse district of London, which was known for being a rough area frequented by sailors, gangsters and opium dens, and for its Chinese community. The singer compares the feeling of the "weird China blues" he experiences to the inhabitants of Limehouse, whom he calls "poor broken blossom" and "nobody's child". These people, who are "haunting and taunting", are portrayed as being wild and lost, much like the singer is feeling. The repetition of the name "Limehouse kid" could be interpreted as the singer trying to identify with the locals or as a way of acknowledging his outsider status.
Line by Line Meaning
And those weird China blues
The feeling of sadness around Chinatown is unique and indescribable.
Never go away
The sadness lingers and never seems to dissipate.
Sad, mad blues
The blues are a mixture of sorrow and anger.
For all the while they seem to say
The blues seem to speak to you and tell you their story.
Oh, Limehouse kid
The song is addressing a person from Limehouse, London.
Oh, oh, Limehouse kid
The repetition emphasizes the importance of this person's identity.
Goin' the way
This person is following the same path as others from Limehouse.
That the rest of them did
This person's life is not unique and is following the typical pattern of others from Limehouse.
Poor broken blossom
This person is damaged, fragile, and vulnerable.
And nobody's child
This person does not have a family or support system to rely on.
Haunting and taunting
This person is haunted by the past and bothered by the present.
You're just kind of wild
This person is unruly, unconventional, and unpredictable.
Oh, Limehouse blues
The song is once again referring to the melancholic feeling experienced around Chinatown.
I've the real Limehouse blues
The singer is claiming to know and understand the true essence of the blues felt in Limehouse.
Can't seem to shake off
The blues are difficult to overcome or ignore.
Those real China blues
The blues are directly linked to the struggles and hardships experienced by the Chinese community.
Rings on your fingers
This is a symbol of wealth and status.
And tears for your crown
Despite this person's position of power, they are still overcome with sorrow.
That is the story
This is the story that the song is trying to convey.
Of old Chinatown
This refers to the struggles and hardships experienced by the Chinese community in a specific location.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Douglas Furber, Philip Braham
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)