… Read Full Bio ↴Blossom Dearie (1924-2009) was an American jazz singer and pianist.
Born on 28th April 1924 in East Durham, New York, of mixed Scottish and Norwegian ancestry, Dearie began her career in vocal groups in New York. In the early 1950s she moved to Paris, forming her own vocal group, The Blue Stars, later to become the Swingle Singers.
After signing to Verve, Dearie returned to the U.S. where, despite developing a successful career and achieving international fame, by 1974 the lack of interest from major labels led her to start her own label, Daffodil Records. She continued performing into her eighties.
Blossom Dearie died on 7th February 2009, at her apartment in Greenwich Village, New York City
Down with Love
Blossom Dearie Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Down with love the root of all midnight blues
Down with things that give you that well-known pain
Take that moon and wrap it in cellophane
Down with love let's liquidate all its friends
Moon and June and roses and rainbow's ends
Down with songs that moan about night and day
Take it away, take it away
Give it back to the birds and bees and the Viennese
Down with eyes romantic and stupid
Down with sighs and down with cupid
Brother, let's stuff that dove
Down with love
Down with love the flowers and rice and shoes
Down with love the root of all midnight blues
Down with things that give you that well-known pain
Take that moon and wrap it in cellophane
Down with love let's liquidate all its friends
The moons the June the roses and rainbow's ends
Down with songs that moan about night and day
Down with love, yes, take it away, away
Take it away, take it away
Give it back to the birds and bees and the Viennese
Down with eyes romantic and stupid
Down with sighs and down with cupid
Brother, let's stuff that dove
Down with love
Down, down, down with love
The song “Down With Love” by Blossom Dearie talks about a person's desire to eradicate the negative impacts of love, which include loneliness, sadness, pain, and heartbreak. The song starts with the lyrics, “Down with love the flowers and rice and shoes, Down with love the root of all midnight blues,” which implies that love, the very value that is supposed to bring joy and happiness in life, has ended up being the root of all sadness and unhappiness. The song goes on to describe the issues that love causes in life, including the agony and pain that people experience when they lose love, the false promises made by love, and the romanticized ideals that love perpetuates through culture and media.
Furthermore, the song highlights the need to eliminate all the symbols and metaphors that promote love, such as the moon, June, roses, and rainbows. The lyrics “Take that moon and wrap it in cellophane” suggests that love fades away over time, just like the phases of the moon, and needs to be preserved and protected from the harsh realities of life with a protective covering.
In conclusion, “Down With Love” by Blossom Dearie expresses the singer's wish to get rid of the negative impact of love on people's lives, highlighting the pain, loneliness, and heartbreak that love often brings. It's a sentiment that has been echoed in many other songs over the years, as love and heartache have always been a popular topic in music.
Line by Line Meaning
Down with love the flowers and rice and shoes
Let's reject symbols of love, such as flowers, rice, and even shoes.
Down with love the root of all midnight blues
Love is what causes all the pain and heartbreaks, especially at midnight when you tend to feel lonelier.
Down with things that give you that well-known pain
Anything that's related to love and causes you to feel pain must be rejected.
Take that moon and wrap it in cellophane
The artist is so weary of love that they believe that even the romantic imagery of the moon must be protected by being wrapped in a plastic film.
Down with love let's liquidate all its friends
Let's get rid of everything that has anything to do with love. Whatever is associated with love, even remotely, should be got rid of.
Moon and June and roses and rainbow's ends
Love is often over-romanticized by using poetic imagery. The singer is asking to do away with them all such as the moon, June, roses, and rainbows.
Down with songs that moan about night and day
It's high time we stopped listening to songs that highlight the misery caused by love around the clock.
Down with love, yes, take it away, away
The artist is tired of love and wants it to disappear from their life, no further questions asked.
Take it away, take it away
Reiterating the desire to have love taken away from their life.
Give it back to the birds and bees and the Viennese
Rather than have it interfere with human lives, it's better to leave love-related matters to animals, insects, and only in Vienna.
Down with eyes romantic and stupid
The singer is protesting against unrealistic romanticism and the stupidity that follows.
Down with sighs and down with cupid
The artist urges all romantics to take several seats and do away with their disapproving cupid sighs.
Brother, let's stuff that dove
Birds like doves symbolize love, and the singer asks for it to be stuffed and preserved in a museum, never to cause pain again.
Down with love
The singer is fed up with love in all its forms and wants to reject it from their life.
Down, down, down with love
The singer summarizes their desire to do away with love by loudly proclaiming it should go down, down, down.
Lyrics © S.A. MUSIC
Written by: E. Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Heather Collins
on Comment Allez Vous
(Parlez-vous Français?)
Mais oui, allons-y
(Parlez-vous chère madame?)
Comment allez vous? Fancy bumping into you
Comment allez vous? Tell me everything that's new
Are you happy are you sad?
Feeling good or feeling bad?
(and is there anything you're craving?)
(do you feel like misbehaving?)
Comment allez vous? Gee, it's nice to see you here
Comment allez vous? You look better every year
I was really on my way, but I had to stop and say:
Comment allez vous?
(Comment allez vous petit chou?)
Say it, it has 'savoir faire'
(Comment allez vous mon minou?)
Has a continental air
(once she heard it in the land, from a chinese laundry man)
Cloaks and suitors, by the oodles, say it to their cute french poodles
Comment allez vous?
Spaniards say it, so do Greeks
Comment allez vous?
In the desert, so do Sheiks
(show they know a thing or two)
(it's so easy, why can't you say?)
Comment?
Comment?
Comment allez vous?