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!.
Night and Day
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Of the tom-tom;
When the jungle shadows fall,
Like the tick, tick, tock
Of the stately clock,
As it stands against the wall,
Like the drip, drip, drip,
Of the raindrops,
So a voice within me
Keeps repeating,
You, you, you
Night and day
You are the one,
Only you
Beneath the moon
And under the sun.
Whether near to me or far,
It's no matter,
Darling, where you are
I think of you
Night and day.
Day and night
Why is it so,
That this longing for you follows
Where-ever I go?
In the roaring traffic's boom,
In the silence of my lonely room,
I think of you,
Night and day.
Night and day
Under the hide of me
There's an
Oh, such a hungry yearning,
Burning inside of me.
And its torment won't be through
Til you let me spend my life
Making love to you,
Day and night,
Night and day.
The song "Night and Day" by Anita O'Day is a classic love song that speaks to the feeling of being completely consumed by one's love for another person. The song starts off with a series of comparisons, comparing the feeling of being in love to the beat of a tom-tom, the tick of a clock, and the drip of raindrops. The repetition of the word "you" in the lyrics shows just how all-encompassing this love is - the singer thinks of this person all the time, "night and day."
The chorus of the song emphasizes this idea even further, as the singer proclaims that this person is the only one for her, no matter where she is or how far away they might be. The verses continue to describe the intensity of this feeling, with the singer saying that she thinks of this person "in the roaring traffic's boom" and "in the silence of [her] lonely room." She describes a "hungry yearning" that burns inside of her, and she knows that this torment won't be quelled until she can spend her life making love to this person "day and night, night and day."
Overall, "Night and Day" is a passionate love song that captures the all-consuming feeling of being in love with someone. The comparisons to natural rhythms and the repetition of the word "you" in the lyrics help to emphasize just how intense this feeling can be.
Line by Line Meaning
Like the beat, beat, beat,
Of the tom-tom;
The way my heart beats for you is like the sound of a tom-tom in a jungle.
When the jungle shadows fall,
Like the tick, tick, tock
Of the stately clock,
As it stands against the wall,
When the jungle shadows fall and the clock ticks, my love for you remains constant like the clock standing against the wall.
Like the drip, drip, drip,
Of the raindrops,
When the summer show'r is through;
My love for you is like the sound of raindrops that keep falling even after the summer shower has ended.
So a voice within me
Keeps repeating,
You, you, you
My heart keeps repeating your name, indicating that I can't stop thinking about you.
Night and day
You are the one,
Only you
You are the one I think of day and night, and I don't think of anyone else.
Beneath the moon
And under the sun.
Whether near to me or far,
It's no matter,
Darling, where you are
It doesn't matter where you are - whether near or far, beneath the moon or under the sun - my love for you will remain the same.
I think of you
Night and day.
I can't stop thinking about you - not just during the day, but also at night.
Day and night
Why is it so,
That this longing for you follows
Where-ever I go?
I don't understand why I keep longing for you wherever I go - day and night, but it's just the way it is.
In the roaring traffic's boom,
In the silence of my lonely room,
I think of you,
Night and day.
Whether I'm caught in busy traffic or all alone in my room, I still think of you constantly - day and night.
Night and day
Under the hide of me
There's an
Oh, such a hungry yearning,
Burning inside of me.
My desire for you is so strong and intense that it feels like a burning hunger deep inside of me - day and night.
And its torment won't be through
Til you let me spend my life
Making love to you,
Day and night,
Night and day.
My desire for you will continue to torment me until you let me make love to you - day and night, night and day, for the rest of my life.
Lyrics © Red Brick Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
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)