Ruth Lee Jones (born August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; died December … Read Full Bio ↴Ruth Lee Jones (born August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; died December 14, 1963 in Detroit, Michigan), better known by her stage name Dinah Washington and also as the Queen of the Blues, was an American Grammy award winning jazz singer best known for singing classic torch songs and her hit single What a Diff'rence a Day Makes. Her penetrating voice, excellent timing, and crystal-clear enunciation added her own distinctive style to every piece she undertook. While making extraordinary recordings in jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and light pop contexts, Washington refused to record gospel music despite her obvious talent in singing it, as she believed it wrong to mix the secular and spiritual.

Washington was born Ruth Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As she was growing up in Chicago, she played piano and directed her church choir. Later, she studied in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School. For a while, she split her time between performing in clubs as Dinah Washington while singing and playing piano in Salle Martin's gospel choir as Ruth Jones.

Washington began performing in 1942 and soon joined Lionel Hampton's band. In 1943, she began recording for Keynote Records and released "Evil Gal Blues", her first hit. By 1955, she had released numerous hit songs on the R&B charts, including "Baby, Get Lost", "Trouble in Mind", "You Don't Know What Love Is" (arranged by Quincy Jones), and a cover of "Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams. In 1958 she made a well-received appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival.

With "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" 1959, Washington won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance; the song was her biggest hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The commercially driven album of the same name, with its heavily reliance on strings and wordless choruses, was slammed by jazz and blues critics as being far too commercial, not keeping with her blues roots. Despite this, the album was a huge success and Washington continued to favor more commercial, pop-oriented songs rather than traditional blues and jazz songs. She also dealt in torch songs; her rendition of The Platters' "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was well-regarded.

She was married seven times, and divorced six times while having several lovers, including Quincy Jones, her young arranger. She was known to be imperious and demanding in real life, but audiences loved her. In London she once declared, "...there is only one heaven, one earth and one queen...Queen Elizabeth is an impostor", but the crowd loved it.

Dinah Washington died from an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol at the age of 39 in 1963.

Fool That I Am
Dinah Washington Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Fool that I am,
For falling in love with you.
And, fool that I am,
For thinking you loved me, too.
You took my heart,
Then played the part of little coquette.
And, my dreams just disappeared
Like the smoke from a cigarette.

Fool that I am,
For hoping you'd understand.
And thinking you
Would listen, too,
And, oh, the things I had planned.
But we couldn't see eye to eye
So, darling, darling, darling,
This is goodbye.
But I still care, but I still care,
And oh, fool that I am.

Oh, but I still care,
Fool that I am.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Dinah Washington's song "Fool That I Am" describe the emotions of a person who has fallen in love and been betrayed by the one they love. The singer is full of regret for foolishly believing that their love was reciprocated. They feel like a fool for opening their heart and putting their trust in someone who did not deserve it. The line "you took my heart, then played the part of little coquette" suggests that the person they were in love with was using their affection for their own amusement, and did not take their feelings seriously. The metaphor of dreams disappearing "like the smoke from a cigarette" further emphasizes the sense of loss and disappointment.

The singer also expresses frustration at not being able to communicate with their former lover. They had hoped to make them understand their perspective and their plans for the future, but ultimately the relationship is too damaged to be salvaged. The repetition of the phrase "fool that I am" throughout the song underlines the sense of self-blame and regret that the singer is experiencing. Despite all of this, at the end of the song, they reveal that they still care for the person who hurt them, even though they recognize that it is foolish to do so.

Overall, "Fool That I Am" is a powerful exploration of the pain of unrequited love and the difficulty of moving on from a broken relationship. Dinah Washington's soulful voice and the melancholy instrumentation help to convey the deep emotions of the lyrics.

Line by Line Meaning

Fool that I am,
I am ashamed for being foolish

For falling in love with you.
I regret that I fell in love with you

And, fool that I am,
In addition to my previous foolishness

For thinking you loved me, too.
I was foolish to think that you loved me back

You took my heart,
You captured my affection

Then played the part of little coquette.
You acted flirtatious and insincere

And, my dreams just disappeared
My aspirations vanished

Like the smoke from a cigarette.
As quickly as smoke dissipates

Fool that I am,
I was foolish yet again

For hoping you'd understand.
I was naive to expect you to empathize

And thinking you
I foolishly assumed that you