Carter was born Lillie Mae Jones on 16th May 1929 in Flint, Michigan and grew up in Detroit, where her father led a church choir. She studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory. She won a talent contest and became a regular on the local club circuit, singing and playing piano. When she was sixteen, she sang with Charlie Parker. She later performed with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis and toured with Lionel Hampton (from whom she received the nickname "Betty Bebop"), when she perfected her scat singing of bebop.
Her career was eclipsed somewhat during the 1960s and 1970s, though a series of duets with Ray Charles in 1961, including the R&B-chart-topping "Baby, It's Cold Outside", brought her a measure of popular recognition. She recorded for various labels during this period, including Peacock, ABC-Paramount, and Atco, but was rarely satisfied with the resulting product. An episode in which a record company A&R man tried to abscond with a set of her master recordings led her to establish her own record label, Bet-Car, in 1970. Some of her most outstanding recordings were first issued on Bet-Car, including the double album The Audience with Betty Carter (1980). She was well-received at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1977 and 1978. In 1987 Carter signed with Verve Records. She won a Grammy in 1988 for her album Look What I Got! and sang in a guest appearance on The Cosby Show in that year.
She died on 26th September 1998.
Gone with the Wind
Betty Carter Lyrics
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Just like a leaf that has blown astay
Gone with the wind,
My lover has flown away.
Yesterday′s kisses are still on my lips
I found a lifetime of heaven at my fingertips.
But now all is gone,
Gone is the rapture that thrilled my heart,
The gladness that stilled my heart.
Just like a flame, love burned brightly,
Then became an empty smoke dream that has gone,
Gone with the wind.
In Betty Carter's song, "Gone with the Wind," the singer laments the loss of her lover who has "flown away" like a leaf blown away by the wind. The memories of their passionate romance are still fresh on her lips, but all she is left with now is emptiness and heartache. She describes how their love burned brightly like a flame, but it eventually became a smoke dream that dissipated into nothingness. The singer is left with a sense of sadness and loss, mourning the rapture and gladness that once filled her heart.
Line by Line Meaning
Gone with the wind,
My lover has left me and is gone just like the wind that blows leaves away.
Just like a leaf that has blown astay
My lover has left me suddenly and without warning, just like a leaf that is blown away by the wind.
Gone with the wind,
My lover has left me and is nowhere to be found, just like the wind that can't be seen or caught.
My lover has flown away.
My lover has left me and flown away like a bird, leaving me behind.
Yesterday′s kisses are still on my lips
I remember the kisses we shared yesterday and they still linger on my lips, even though my lover is gone now.
I found a lifetime of heaven at my fingertips.
When my lover was with me, I felt like I had everything I ever wanted and needed, like I held heaven in the palm of my hands.
But now all is gone,
All the happiness and joy that my lover brought into my life is now gone, leaving me with nothing.
Gone is the rapture that thrilled my heart,
The feeling of intense pleasure and excitement that my lover brought me is now gone and my heart aches for it.
Gone with the wind,
My lover's departure has taken away all the happiness and contentment that I felt with them.
The gladness that stilled my heart.
The happiness and contentment that my lover brought into my life was so strong that it calmed my heart and now it's all gone.
Just like a flame, love burned brightly,
Our love was burning brightly and intensely, just like a flame that illuminates everything around it.
Then became an empty smoke dream that has gone,
But just like a dream that turns into smoke and disappears, our love has ended and is now nothing but a memory.
Gone with the wind.
Just like the wind that blows everything away, my lover and the love we shared is now gone and I am alone.
Writer(s): Wrubel Allie, Magidson Herbert
Contributed by Aiden S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.