Anita O'Day (October 18, 1919 - November 23, 2006) was an American jazz sin… Read Full Bio ↴Anita O'Day (October 18, 1919 - November 23, 2006) was an American jazz singer.

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!.

Lullaby of the Leaves
Anita O'Day Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Rustling of the leaves used to be my lullaby
In the sunny South when I was a tot so high
And now that I have grown
And myself alone

Cradle me where Southern skies
Can watch me with a million eyes
Sing me to sleep

Lullaby of the leaves

Cover me with heaven's blue
And let me dream a dream or two
Sing me to sleep
Lullaby of the leaves

I'm breezing along, along with the breeze
I'm hearing a song, a song thru the trees
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh
That fine melody caressing the shore
Familiar to me, I've heard it before
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, that's Southland

Don't I feel it in my soul
And don't I know I've reached my goal

Sing me to sleep
Lullaby of the Leaves

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Anita O'Day's "Lullaby of the Leaves" speak of the nostalgic memories the singer has of her childhood in the South. She describes how, as a child, the rustling of the leaves in the sunny South used to be her lullaby, soothing her to sleep when she was just a little tot. Now that she has grown and finds herself alone, she longs for that comfort once again. She asks to be cradled where the Southern skies can watch over her with a million eyes and sing her to sleep with the lullaby of the leaves. She imagines herself covered with heaven's blue and dreaming a dream or two as the leaves sing her to sleep.

The second verse of the song continues with Anita O'Day's dreamy vision of the Southland, where she is breezing along with the breeze and hearing a song through the trees. She describes the melody as familiar, caressing the shore, and recalls feeling it in her soul. To her, this song represents the Southland, where she has reached her goal. In this way, "Lullaby of the Leaves" is a song about the longing for a sense of comfort and familiarity, as well as the idea of returning to one's roots.

Line by Line Meaning

Rustling of the leaves used to be my lullaby
When I was little, I used to sleep with the sound of leaves rustling in the wind as my lullaby.

In the sunny South when I was a tot so high
When I was a little child in the South, the sound of rustling leaves would put me to sleep.

And now that I have grown
As I have grown up,

And myself alone
And now that I'm by myself,

Cradle me where Southern skies
I want to be in a place where the sky is the blue of the South,

Can watch me with a million eyes
And the stars can watch over me as if they were a million eyes.

Sing me to sleep
Let the sound of nature's song put me to sleep,

Lullaby of the leaves
Like the lullaby of the leaves.

Cover me with heaven's blue
Surround me with sky so blue, it feels like heaven,

And let me dream a dream or two
And let me fall asleep and dream a few dreams,

I'm breezing along, along with the breeze
I'm moving along, carried by the wind,

I'm hearing a song, a song thru the trees
I can hear a song flowing through the trees,

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh

That fine melody caressing the shore
That sweet melody is gently flowing against the shore,

Familiar to me, I've heard it before
It's a familiar melody that I have heard before,

Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, that's Southland

Don't I feel it in my soul
I feel it in my heart and soul,

And don't I know I've reached my goal
And I know that I have found what I was searching for,

Sing me to sleep
Let the sound of nature's lullaby put me to sleep,

Lullaby of the Leaves
Like the lullaby of the leaves.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Bernice Petkere, Joseph Young

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

Steven Hartman

10y↑10

Anita's trademark scat and bop singing at up tempos I hear so often that's it's a pleasure to be reminded of what a gifted performer of songs at slower tempos she was. Thanks much.

Jerry Probst

9y↑3

Such a lovely and imaginative artist. Always a pleasure to hear her.

Rufus Milch

13y

Thank you for posting this! If one ever wonders what an angel looks and sounds like the answer is in the song and the beautiful, gifted woman who is singing it.