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!.
Senor Blues
Anita O'Day Lyrics
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You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea
I forgive you, 'cause I can't forget you
You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea
[Repeat: x2]
I ought to cross you off my list
But when you come a-knocking at my door
And I come running back for more
I should hate you, but I guess I love you
You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea
You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea
The devil and the deep blue sea
In Anita O'Day's song "Señor Blues," the lyrics express a classic dilemma of being in love with someone who consistently gives mixed messages. The singer states that she does not want or need the person, yet she would hate to lose them. The line "You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea" emphasizes the choice that the singer must make - to continue with this person and deal with their unpredictability or to cut ties and lose them for good.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't want you, but I'd hate to lose you
I have mixed feelings about you - I don't actually want you, but the thought of losing you bothers me.
You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea
I'm stuck in a difficult situation - caught in between two unfavourable choices.
I forgive you, 'cause I can't forget you
Although you've hurt me, I find it hard to let go of you and hold a grudge.
I ought to cross you off my list
I know I should forget about you and move on.
But when you come a-knocking at my door
However, whenever you come back into my life,
Fate seems to give my heart a twist
It seems like the universe is playing tricks on me and causing my emotions to be stirred up.
And I come running back for more
I end up giving in and allowing you back into my life despite knowing it will cause more heartache.
I should hate you, but I guess I love you
Intellectually, I know I should hate you for hurting me, but emotionally, I still love you.
You've got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea
I'm caught in a never-ending cycle with you, where I'm stuck between two difficult choices.
The devil and the deep blue sea
It feels like I'm facing the most difficult decision of my life.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, S.A. MUSIC
Written by: HAROLD ARLEN, TED KOEHLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gary Soucie
Only Horace Silver himself can compete with this version.