Betty Carter (1929–1998) was a prominent U.S. jazz singer, renowned for her… Read Full Bio ↴Betty Carter (1929–1998) was a prominent U.S. jazz singer, renowned for her improvisational technique and idiosyncratic vocal style. Carter expanded the role of the vocalist in jazz, to a full, improvising member of the band. Although her voice was not as admired by the public as such vocalists as Sarah Vaughan or Ella Fitzgerald, many consider her to have exercised mastery of the human voice previously unheard in jazz. Carmen McRae once claimed that "there's really only one jazz singer - only one: Betty Carter."

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.

Heart and Soul
Betty Carter Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Heart and Soul,
I fell in love with you.
Heart and soul,
The way a fool would do:
Madly
Because, you held me tight...
And stole a kiss in the night.
Heart and Soul,

I begged to be adored.
I lost control and stumbled overboard,
Gladly...
That magic night we kissed.
There, in the moon mist.
Oh, but your lips were thrilling,
much too... thrilling.
Never before were mine so strangely willing
But now, I see what one embrace can do
Look, look at me
It's got me loving you
Madly
That little kiss you stole held all my heart and soul.
Oh, but your lips were thrilling,
much too, much too thrilling
Never before were mine so strangely willing
But now, I see what one embrace can do
Look at me, it's got me loving you
Madly

That little kiss you stole held all my heart and soul
Held all my heart and soul

Overall Meaning

Heart and Soul by Betty Carter is a classic love song that explores the depth and passion of romantic love. The song starts with the singer confessing that they have fallen in love madly, just like a fool would do, with Heart and Soul. The next lines reveal why the singer has fallen in love with Heart and Soul - he held her tight and stole a kiss in the night. That one little gesture has stirred the singer's emotions and sent her tumbling overboard, losing control over her feelings for him.

The singer reflects on how thrilling that one kiss was, and how it has left her strangely willing to embrace love with Heart and Soul. She acknowledges that this sudden attraction is the power of one embrace, and how it can transform one's outlook towards love. The song ends with the singer exclaiming how that little stolen kiss held all her heart and soul. With this declaration of love, the singer has surrendered herself to the power of love and desire.

Line by Line Meaning

Heart and Soul,
My emotions and core are strongly invested in you

I fell in love with you.
I have developed profound feelings of admiration towards you

The way a fool would do:
I have fallen for you foolishly and unconditionally

Madly
My love for you is extreme and uncontrollable

Because, you held me tight...
Your physical embrace had a strong, emotional effect on me

And stole a kiss in the night.
Your passionate kiss was so powerful it captured my heart

I begged to be adored.
I longed for your affection and approval

I lost control and stumbled overboard,
I became overwhelmed with my feelings for you and became careless

Gladly...
I was happy to take a risk by giving in to my feelings for you

That magic night we kissed.
That unforgettable moment when we shared a romantic kiss

There, in the moon mist.
In the dimly lit, atmospheric setting of the moonlight