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!.
Waiter Make Mine Blues
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Our old rendevior
The table is set dear, it lacks only you
Oh what am I having
Waiter just makes mine blues
I can't realize, our romance is through
Whatever I think of reminds me of you
Oh didn't I order?
Got the blues so bad I could cry
Got the blues so bad I could die
What's the use
All I see is you sweet
I can't drink, I can't eat, I can't think, I can't sleep
So let's have a song and let's have it loud
The louder the better, to drown out the crowd
Oh here is my order
Waiter please make mine blues
I've got the blues so bad I could cry
I've got the blues so bad I could die
What's the use
All I see is you sweet
I can't drink, I can't eat, I can't think, I can't sleep
So let's have a song, let's have it loud
The louder the better to drown out the crowd
Oh here is my order
Waiter just make mine blues
Let's have a song
Let's make it loud
The louder the better, to drown out the crowd
Bleedeblee do doo
Bleedeblib doo da
Waiter please make mines blues!
The song "Waiter Make Mine Blues" by Anita O'Day is an intense and poignant representation of a woman's sorrow after separating from her lover. The lyrics describe a woman who is unable to eat, drink, sleep or think, and is constantly reminded of her lost romance by anything and everything around her. Despite the presence of others, she feels alone and isolated, surrounded only by her own pain. The title is a metaphor for the singer's emotional state. When she asks for the waiter to make her blues, she wants a drink that reflects her sadness and despair.
Throughout the song, the singer is asking the waiter for her blues to be delivered to her, as if this will offer her some solace. The song builds up to the final verse, where the singer finally receives her order. The inclusion of "Bleedeblee do doo, Bleedeblib doo da" at the end of the song adds a sense of urgency and desperation to the lyrics, as if the singer's emotions are too intense for her to express in actual words.
Overall, "Waiter Make Mine Blues" is a deeply personal and moving representation of heartbreak and the mourning process that follows. The singer's desperation for comfort and relief is palpable and relatable, making the song a powerful and emotional experience for listeners.
Line by Line Meaning
The time is the same
Despite the passage of time, nothing has changed in terms of our rendezvous.
Our old rendevior
We are meeting at the same place where we used to meet before.
The table is set dear, it lacks only you
Everything is ready for our meeting, the only thing missing is you.
Oh what am I having
I am uncertain what I want to have.
Waiter just makes mine blues
I want the waiter to bring me blues music to listen to.
I can't realize, our romance is through
I am having a hard time comprehending that our relationship has ended.
Whatever I think of reminds me of you
Everything I see or think about reminds me of you.
Oh didn't I order?
I am confused if I already placed my order or not.
Waiter please make mine blues
Once again, I am requesting the waiter to bring me blues music to listen to.
Got the blues so bad I could cry
I am feeling really low and sad, enough to make me cry.
Got the blues so bad I could die
I am feeling so down that I feel like I might die.
What's the use
All I see is you sweet
I can't drink, I can't eat, I can't think, I can't sleep
I am so consumed by thoughts of you that I cannot bring myself to do anything else. It feels pointless to even try.
So let's have a song and let's have it loud
The louder the better, to drown out the crowd
To distract myself from my thoughts, I want to hear some loud music that will overpower any noise from the surroundings.
Oh here is my order
Waiter please make mine blues
Once again, I am placing my order for blues music.
Let's make it loud
The louder the better, to drown out the crowd
I really want the music to be loud so that it will distract me from everything else.
Bleedeblee do doo
Bleedeblib doo da
Waiter please make mines blues!
A nonsensical verse, but still reiterating the request for blues music from the waiter.
Writer(s): Remu Biondi, Bessie Brown
Contributed by Dominic I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@johnjorgensen1636
My favorite song
@mznyc1
Greatest white jazz singer,ever,...no one close...
@Soulless.Solace
Man, surprised there isn't more views/comments