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).
Speak Low
Dee Dee Bridgewater Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Our summer day withers away
Too soon, too soon.
Speak low when you speak, love,
Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
We're swept apart too soon.
Speak low, darling speak low,
Love is a spark lost in the dark,
I feel wherever I go
That tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here
And always too soon.
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late darling, we're late,
The curtain descends, ev'rything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.
The song "Speak Low" by Dee Dee Bridgewater is a jazz standard that speaks about fleeting moments of love, and the futility of trying to hold onto them. The first verse of the song talks about how quickly the summer day fades, and how the moment shared by two people is like ships drifting apart too soon. The chorus "Speak low when you speak, love" reiterates the need for secrecy and quiet to keep hold of these moments, and how love is like a spark, lost in the dark. The second verse delves deeper into the theme of time, of how it is so old and love so brief, and how love is pure gold, but time is a thief. The final chorus is perhaps the most poignant, as the singer notes that everything ends too soon, and she waits for someone to speak low and to speak love to her, even though she knows that it will be too late.
The song "Speak Low" was originally written by composer Kurt Weill and poet Ogden Nash for the 1943 musical One Touch of Venus, with Mary Martin in the lead role. The show was not a huge success, but the song went on to become a jazz standard, and has been covered by many artists over the years, including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Tony Bennett. The song has appeared in film soundtracks, including the 2013 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, and has been featured on television shows like Mad Men.
Line by Line Meaning
Speak low when you speak, love,
Be cautious with your words around me, my love.
Our summer day withers away
Our happy moments come to an end all too quickly.
Too soon, too soon.
It always feels like our time together is cut too short.
Speak low when you speak, love,
Keep your voice hushed when you talk to me, my dear.
Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
Our precious time together feels fleeting, like a ship aimlessly drifting away.
We're swept apart too soon.
Our time together always comes to an end before we're ready.
Speak low, darling speak low,
Please speak softly when you address me, my love.
Love is a spark lost in the dark,
Love is a bright light that can vanish all too quickly.
Too soon, too soon,
It always feels like love doesn't last long enough.
I feel wherever I go
I carry with me the sense that time is running out.
That tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here
The future feels like it's always just around the corner.
And always too soon.
And it always feels like it arrives before we're ready.
Time is so old and love so brief,
Time feels never-ending, while love feels like it's over almost as soon as it began.
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
Love is precious and valuable, while time seems to rob us of it.
We're late darling, we're late,
It feels like we don't have enough time together.
The curtain descends, ev'rything ends
Everything must come to a close eventually.
Too soon, too soon,
It always feels like it happens too early.
I wait darling, I wait
I yearn for more time with you, my love.
Will you speak low to me,
Can you talk to me in hushed tones, please.
Speak love to me and soon.
Tell me you love me, and quickly.
Lyrics © Music Hub O/B/O GEMA, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Denise Stardust
Speak low when you speak, love,
Our summer day withers away
Too soon, too soon.
Speak low when you speak, love,Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
We're swept apart too soon.
Speak low, darling speak low,
Love is a spark lost in the dark,
Too soon, too soon,
I feel wherever I go
That tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here
And always too soon.
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late darling, we're late,
The curtain descends, everything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.
...
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late darling, we're late,
The curtain descends, everything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.
joe almeida
What a fabulous voice. Wonderful, so soothing. Thanks.
Jazziz Café
Great rendition, love it! Thanks for share it! En 2002 Dee Dee Bridgewater incluía esta deliciosa versión de "Speak Low" en su álbum "This Is New" dedicado al compositor Kurt Weill, un trabajo con once de sus éxitos editado por Verve Records. En el caso de "Speak Low" la letra era de Ogden Nash que abría el tema con un juego de palabras inspirado por el texto del personaje de Don Pedro en "Mucho ruido y pocas nueces" de William Shakespeare... 'Speak low if you speak love'. #SmoothVocals
JSB103
SIMPLY WONDERFUL!!
Luiz Silva
Escutando essa cantora fabulosa em 24ago2021, em Caxias do Sul(RS)
Brittany Mosley
Love this.
Brittany Mosley
Love this
Green Visage
I caught a little of this on my car's radio when I was listening to a jazz station. I did not wait to hear who was singing this, but when I heard her scatting near the end, I thought that it was Dee Alexander as she prefers to scatt. The song sounds very much like the remixed version of Billie Holiday's version from "Verve Remix 4."
Antonio Betancourt
Esta mujer es amor...
Gus T
Beautiful....😘😘
Denise Stardust
Speak low when you speak, love,
Our summer day withers away
Too soon, too soon.
Speak low when you speak, love,Our moment is swift, like ships adrift,
We're swept apart too soon.
Speak low, darling speak low,
Love is a spark lost in the dark,
Too soon, too soon,
I feel wherever I go
That tomorrow is near, tomorrow is here
And always too soon.
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late darling, we're late,
The curtain descends, everything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.
...
Time is so old and love so brief,
Love is pure gold and time a thief.
We're late darling, we're late,
The curtain descends, everything ends
Too soon, too soon,
I wait darling, I wait
Will you speak low to me,
Speak love to me and soon.