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).
My Ship
Dee Dee Bridgewater Lyrics
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The decks are trimmed with gold
And of jam and spice there's a paradise in the hold
My ship's aglow with a million pearls
And rubies fill each bin
The sun sits high in a sapphire sky when my ship comes in
Till it appears
One fine day one spring
But the pearls and such
They won't mean much if there's missing just one thing
I do not care if that day arrives
That dream need never be
If the ship I sing doesn't also bring
My own true love to me
If the ship I sing doesn't also bring my own true love to me
In Dee Dee Bridgewater's song "My Ship," the singer poetically describes a ship of her own. She paints a picture of a majestic vessel with sails made of silk, decks trimmed with gold, and a hold filled with jam and spice. The ship is further embellished with a million pearls and rubies, all while the sun shines high in a vibrant blue sky as it arrives in port. The singer acknowledges that although she can wait until this marvelous ship arrives one day, it won't mean much if that one special thing is missing, which is her one true love.
Despite the ship's opulent display of wealth and extravagance, it cannot complete our protagonist’s happiness without the presence of her beloved. As she looks forward to the day this dreamy ship arrives, she realizes that nothing will have any significance unless it brings together her and her soulmate. The song conveys her unyielding desire for love and companionship, emphasizing that the materialistic aspects of life need to be complemented with good company.
Overall, Dee Dee Bridgewater's "My Ship" is a song about hope, aspirations, and longing. It reflects the feelings of someone who has everything and longs for something that cannot be bought - true love.
Line by Line Meaning
My ship has sails that are made of silk
My ideal life is luxurious and comfortable, represented by the sail of silk
The decks are trimmed with gold
My surroundings are opulent and lavish, even the decks are decorated with gold
And of jam and spice there's a paradise in the hold
My journey is filled with excitement and pleasure, like a paradise with various flavors and fragrances in the hold
My ship's aglow with a million pearls
My life is glittering and glamorous, symbolized by the million pearls on my ship
And rubies fill each bin
My possessions are valuable and precious, just like the rubies filling each bin
The sun sits high in a sapphire sky when my ship comes in
My life is victorious and glorious, represented by the image of the sun shining high in a sapphire sky when my ship arrives
I can wait the years
I am patient enough to wait for my dreams to come true, even though it may take years
Till it appears
I am waiting for my ideal life to appear and materialize
One fine day one spring
The arrival of my ideal life is unpredictable, it could happen one fine day in spring
But the pearls and such
Even though my life is filled with extravagant possessions like pearls and rubies
They won't mean much if there's missing just one thing
Without the love of my life, all the riches and luxuries will be meaningless
I do not care if that day arrives
I am not concerned about the day when my ideal life arrives
That dream need never be
My dream of an ideal life may never become a reality
If the ship I sing doesn't also bring
However, my dream will never come true if the ship I have been dreaming of does not also bring
My own true love to me
The love of my life, the missing piece to make my ideal life complete
Lyrics © T.R.O. INC., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: IRA GERSHWIN, KURT WEILL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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