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!.
September in the Rain
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In September in the rain
The sun went out just like a dying ember
That September in the rain
To every word of love I heard you whisper
The raindrops seemed to play a sweet refrain
Though spring is here, to me it's still September
That September in the rain
To every word of love I heard you whisper
The raindrops seemed to play a sweet refrain
Though spring is here, to me it's still September
That September in the rain
That September in the rain
The lyrics of Anita O'Day's song September in the Rain vividly describe a nostalgic mood where the singer reminisces about a past love that happened in September, a time when it was raining and the leaves were falling off the trees. As she walks down memory lane, the singer mentions how her love used to whisper sweet words to her, and how the sound of the raindrops falling reminded her of a sweet melody. The change of weather is compared to a dying ember, perhaps signifying the end of the love affair.
The second verse repeats the first one, emphasizing how vivid the memory still is in her mind. She compares the coming of spring to her past love, acknowledging that while life moves on, her memories hold her back to that moment of passion and affection. The use of the refrain at the end of the verse reinforces the idea that, to her, it will always be September in the rain.
The song's lyrics invoke the feeling of a melancholic love story that has passed, which is beautifully complemented by Anita O'Day's soulful and jazzy vocals. The song's theme, melody, and vocals have made it a timeless classic that has been covered by many artists over the years and is still appreciated by music enthusiasts today.
Line by Line Meaning
The leaves of brown came tumblin' down, remember
I remember the leaves falling from the trees, turning brown and falling down during September in the rain.
The sun went out just like a dying ember
The sun appeared to slowly fade away and die out like an ember during September in the rain.
To every word of love I heard you whisper
You whispered words of love to me during September in the rain.
The raindrops seemed to play a sweet refrain
The sound of the raindrops hitting the roof and the streets created a sweet melody during September in the rain.
Though spring is here, to me it's still September
Even though it's currently spring, to me it still feels like September in the rain because of the memories and emotions associated with that time.
That September in the rain
The memories and feelings of that particular September when it rained and we shared our love are still vivid and present in my mind.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Harry Warren, Al Dubin
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)