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!.
Lovesick Blues
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm in love,
I'm in love with a girl,
That's what's the matter with me
I'm in love,
I'm in love, with a beautiful girl,
But she don't give a darn about me
to make her love me I tried,
But she just refused
And ever since she's gone away,
I've got those lovesick blues
Got the feeling called the "blue hoo's,"
since my sweetie said "Good Bye"
Seems I don't know what to "Do Hoo"
All day long I sit and cry
That last long day we spent alone
I'm yearning for it yet
She thrilled me, filled me,
with a kind of lovin',
I never will forget, the way she called me sweet daddy"
Twas just a beautiful dream
I hate to think that it's all over I lost my heart it seems
I got so used to her somehow
But I'm no body's baby
Now, gee it's awful when you're lonesome
and get those lovesick blue-oo-oo-oo-oo's
Got the feeling called the "blue hoo's,"
since my sweetie said "Good Bye"
Seems I don't know what to "Do Hoo"
All day long I sit and cry
That last long day we spent alone
I'm yearning for it yet
She thrilled me, filled me,
with a kind of lovin',
I never will forget, the way she called me sweet daddy
Twas just a beautiful dream
I hate to think that it's all over I lost my heart it seems
i got so used to her somehow
But I'm no body's baby
Now, gee it's awful when you're lonesome
and get those lovesick blue-oo-oo-oo-oo's
The song "Lovesick Blues" by Anita O'Day is about the singer being deeply in love with a woman who does not feel the same way about her. The lyrics are anguished, and the singer is portraying the pain of unrequited love. She has tried everything to win her love, but her efforts have been in vain. The woman she loves has left her, and now she is left with the "love blues." The lyrics talk about the feeling of being alone and yearning for the love of the person who has abandoned her.
As the song progresses, the singer remembers the memories of the time she has spent with the woman she loves. She longs for the sweet memories and the love that she once shared with her darling. But now, all that it has been reduced to is just a beautiful dream. The song ends with the singer feeling sad and lonely, unable to forget the love of her life, and left with nothing but the "love blues."
Line by Line Meaning
I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a girl, That's what's the matter with me
I am deeply in love with a girl and that's causing me trouble
I'm in love, I'm in love, with a beautiful girl, But she don't give a darn about me
I am in love with a pretty girl, but she does not care about my feelings
to make her love me I tried, How I sighed and I cried But she just refused And ever since she's gone away, I've got those lovesick blues
I have attempted to make her love me, but she declined and has now left me, causing me to feel lovesick and blue
Got the feeling called the "blue hoo's," since my sweetie said "Good Bye" Seems I don't know what to "Do Hoo" All day long I sit and cry That last long day we spent alone I'm yearning for it yet She thrilled me, filled me, with a kind of lovin', I never will forget, the way she called me sweet daddy Twas just a beautiful dream
I am feeling sad and lonely since my sweetie said goodbye, I cry all day and long for the last day we spent together, wishing for it to come back. Her love was so fulfilling but now it seems like it was just a beautiful dream.
I hate to think that it's all over I lost my heart it seems i got so used to her somehow But I'm no body's baby Now, gee it's awful when you're lonesome and get those lovesick blue-oo-oo-oo-oo's
I am sad to think that our relationship is over, I have gotten so attached to her, but I need to move on. I am nobody's baby now, and it is terrible to feel lonesome and lovesick.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Cliff Friend, Irving Mills
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)