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!.
Yesterdays
Anita O'Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Days I knew as happy
Sweet sequester days
Olden days, golden days
Days of mad romance and love
Then gay youth was mine, truth was mine
Joyous free and flaming life
Sad am I, glad am I
For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays
Yesterdays, yesterdays
Days I knew as happy
Sweet sequester days
Olden days, golden days
Days of mad romance and love
Then gay youth was mine, truth was mine
Joyous free and flaming life
Forsooth, was mine
Sad am I, glad am I
For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays
Yesterdays, yesterdays
Days I knew as happy
Sweet sequester days
Olden days, golden days
Days of mad romance and love
Then gay youth was mine, truth was mine
Joyous free and flaming life
Forsooth, was mine
Sad am I, glad am I
For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays
Yesterdays
, yesterdays...
Anita O'Day's song "Yesterdays" is a nostalgic ode to the past, to a time of happiness and youthful love. The lyrics conjure up images of fond memories and lost love. The singer reflects back on her "happy" days, her "sweet sequester" days, and her "olden days, golden days." She recalls the days of "mad romance and love," where "gay youth was mine, truth was mine" and life was "joyous free and flaming." The singer's use of repetition emphasizes the yearning for what was lost, as she repeatedly refers to "yesterdays," those days when life was good and love was pure.
The lyrics of "Yesterdays" suggest that the present holds sadness and longing for the past. The singer is both "sad" and "glad," as she dreams of returning to those bygone days. The use of past tense also serves to underscore the nostalgia of the song, as the singer speaks of these happy times as if they're gone forever. Overall, the lyrics create a bittersweet tone, one of longing and regret, but also a sense of joy in remembering what once was.
Line by Line Meaning
Yesterdays, yesterdays
Reflecting on the past, specifically on the happy memories of days gone by.
Days I knew as happy
Recalling days that were filled with joy and contentment.
Sweet sequester days
Memories of times when one could retreat to a peaceful and secluded place, away from the bustle of the world.
Olden days, golden days
Remembering a time long ago when life seemed more precious and valuable.
Days of mad romance and love
Thinking back on a time when the heart was full of passion and desire, and love seemed wild and exciting.
Then gay youth was mine, truth was mine
Recalling a time when one was young and carefree, and life seemed full of possibilities and opportunities.
Joyous free and flaming life
Reminiscing about a life full of vitality and energy, where the world was bright and full of promise.
Forsooth, was mine
Affirming the truth of these memories, and asserting how much they mean to the person remembering them.
Sad am I, glad am I
Feeling a mixture of emotions as one remembers the past, both sorrow for what has been lost and joy for what was experienced.
For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays
Acknowledging that while the past cannot be relived, one can still treasure these memories and long for the good times that have passed by.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing
Written by: JEROME KERN, OTTO HARBACH
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)