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!.

Once in a While
Anita O'Day Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Once in a while will you try to give
One little thought to me
Though someone else may be
Nearer your heart?

Once in a while will you dream
Of the moments I shared with you
Moments before we two

Drifted apart?

In love's smoldering ember
One spark may remain
If love still can remember
That spark may burn again

I know that I'll be contented
With yesterday's memory
Knowing you think of me
Once in a while

In love's smoldering ember
One spark may remain
If love still can remember
The spark may burn again

I know that I'll be contented
With yesterday's memory

Knowing you think of me
Once in a while

Overall Meaning

The song Once in a While by Anita O'Day speaks to the feelings of someone who loves another but recognizes that they may not always be in their thoughts. The lyrics are searching and hopeful as the singer wonders whether their love interest ever thinks of them, even when they are with someone else. In the first verse, the singer asks the object of her affection to “give one little thought” to her, despite being with someone else. The second verse is more wistful as she asks if he ever dreams of the moments they shared when they were together, moments that are now mere memories due to their drifting apart.

The song's chorus acknowledges that the love they shared may still exist, albeit in a small way, as evidenced by the "smoldering ember" of love. The singer hopes that this ember can be reignited into a powerful flame once again. The final verse sees her accepting the present reality that their love is in the past, and that all she can hope for is the occasional thought from him. Even this, she goes on to say, will be enough to keep the memory of their love alive.

Overall, Once in a While is a beautiful expression of longing for a love that was lost. It is a testament to the power of memory and the hope that love can be rekindled, even if it is just for a moment. The emotive melody, poignant lyrics, and Anita O'Day's delivery create a hauntingly beautiful piece of art that speaks to anyone who has ever loved and lost.

Line by Line Meaning

Once in a while will you try to give
Can you spare a moment and think of me?

One little thought to me
I don't need much from you, just a tiny bit of remembrance

Though someone else may be
I know I'm not the center of your universe

Nearer your heart?
But maybe, just maybe, I can be in your thoughts every now and then

Once in a while will you dream
Can you look back and remember our past together?

Of the moments I shared with you
I cherish those memories and hope you do too

Moments before we two
The moments before we drifted away from each other

Drifted apart?
When we were no longer together

In love's smoldering ember
The remaining feelings of our love, diminished but not entirely gone

One spark may remain
Maybe there's still something left between us

If love still can remember
If there's still a glimmer of love for one another