Born Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, she grew up in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, Denise was exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a rock and rhythm'n'blues trio, singing in clubs in Michigan. At 18, she studied at Michigan State University before she went to the University of Illinois. With their jazz band, she toured the Soviet Union in 1969. The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to New York City, where Cecil played in Horace Silver's band.
In 1971, Dee Dee Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra as the lead vocalist. The next years marked the beginning of her jazz career, and she performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, and others. In 1974, her first own album, entitled Afro Blue, appeared, and she also performed on Broadway in the musical The Wiz. For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a Tony Award in 1975 as "best-featured actress", and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
She subsequently appeared in several other stage productions. After touring France in 1984 with the musical Sophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986. The same year saw her in Lady Day as Billie Holliday, for which role she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she returned from the world of musical to jazz. She performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990, and four years later, she finally collaborated with Horace Silver, whom she had admired for a long time, and released the album Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver. Her 1997 tribute album Dear Ella won her the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and the 1998 album Live at Yoshi's was also worth a Grammy nomination. She has also explored on This is New the songs of Kurt Weill, and, on her latest album J'ai Deux Amours, the French Classics.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is the first American to be inducted to the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie. She has received the Award of Arts and Letters in France.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is mother to three children, Tulani Bridgewater (from her marriage to Cecil Bridgewater), China Moses (from her marriage to theater, film and television director Gilbert Moses) and Gabriel Durand (from her current marriage to French concert promoter Jean-Marie Durand).
Mon Homme
Dee Dee Bridgewater Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But there's one thing that I've got
It's my man
Cold and wet, tired you bet
But all that I soon forget
With my man
He's not much for looks
And no hero out of books
Two or three girls has he
That he likes as well as me
But I love him!
I don't know why I should
He isn't good, he isn't true
He beats me too
What can I do?
Oh, my man I love him so
He'll never know
All my life is just despair
But I don't care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright, all right
What's the difference if I say
I'll go away, When I know
I'll come back on my knees some day?
For whatever my man is
I am his forever more
Oh, my man I love him
Sometimes I say
If I could just get away
With my man
He'd go straight sure as fate
For it never is too late
For a man
I just like to dream
Of a cottage by a stream
With my man
Where a few flowers grew
And perhaps a kid or two
Like my man
And then my eyes get wet
I most forget till he gets hot
And tells me not to talk such rot
Oh, my man I love him so
He'll never know
All my life is just despair
But I don't care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright, all right
What's the difference if I say
I'll go away, When I know
I'll come back on my knees some day?
For what ever my man is
I am his forever more
The lyrics to Dee Dee Bridgewater's song "Mon Homme" are a complex mix of emotions, revealing the internal struggle of a woman who is deeply in love with a man who is not good to her. She begins the song acknowledging the high cost of being with this man, but she ultimately concludes that she doesn't care because she loves him. Although he may not be handsome or heroic, and he is known to have other women, she remains his faithful and devoted companion.
Despite the abuse she suffers at his hands, she cannot stay away from him because when he takes her in his arms, she feels as though the world is bright, and all of her troubles disappear. She dreams of a life with him, free from the pain of his physical abuse, and longs for a peaceful and loving home, where they can raise children together. Yet, even as she fantasizes about a better life, she knows that she will always return to him, no matter how badly he treats her.
Line by Line Meaning
It's cost me a lot
I have paid a high price for being with my man
But there's one thing that I've got
Despite the cost, I have something valuable - my man
Cold and wet, tired you bet
Even on unpleasant days, I forget my troubles when I'm with my man
But all that I soon forget
My man has a way of making me forget my worries
He's not much for looks
My man may not be conventionally attractive
And no hero out of books
He's not a hero from a storybook or legend
Is my man
But he's still my man
Two or three girls has he
He may have other romantic interests besides me
That he likes as well as me
He may also have feelings for these other girls
But I love him!
Despite his flaws and other potential partners, I still love him
I don't know why I should
Even though logically I shouldn't love him, I can't help it
He isn't good, he isn't true
My man is not a morally upright or honest person
He beats me too
My man has also physically harmed me in the past
What can I do?
Despite knowing all of this, I cannot bring myself to leave him
Oh, my man I love him so
Despite his flaws, I still deeply love my man
He'll never know
My man is oblivious to the depth of my affection for him
All my life is just despair
My life is filled with despair and sadness outside of my relationship with my man
But I don't care
Despite my struggles, my love for my man still persists
When he takes me in his arms
The one thing that brings me joy is being held by my man
The world is bright, all right
Even in darkness, being with my man brings light to my world
What's the difference if I say
It doesn't matter if I threaten to leave him
I'll go away, When I know
I may try to leave, but I always end up coming back to him
I'll come back on my knees some day?
I will beg him to take me back despite everything
For whatever my man is
Regardless of his flaws, I will always be committed to him
I am his forever more
My love for my man is eternal
Sometimes I say
Sometimes I dream and imagine a different life
If I could just get away
If I could escape with my man
With my man
I still cannot bear to be without him
He'd go straight sure as fate
Perhaps in this imagined life, my man would become a better person
For it never is too late
No matter what, there is always hope for change
I just like to dream
Despite the reality of my situation, I still like to fantasize
Of a cottage by a stream
My dream includes living in a peaceful, idyllic cottage with my man
Where a few flowers grew
And having a garden with some flowers in it
And perhaps a kid or two
I also imagine having children with him
Like my man
Our children would be the physical embodiment of our love for each other
And then my eyes get wet
My dreams always seem to bring me to tears
I most forget till he gets hot
But these dreams are fleeting and I quickly snap back to reality
And tells me not to talk such rot
My man is there to remind me of my current situation and that my dreams may never come to fruition
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOSE RAMON GARCIA FLOREZ, MARELLA CAYRE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
juan manuel granados davila
Beautiful version of the French classic song from 1927, which travels through Spanish flamenco, Argentine tango and Cuban salsa, all with that sweet and jazzy voice of Dee Dee. ¡¡¡Ole, ole.......like ma femme!!!.