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.
Good Morning Heartache
Dinah Washington Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You old gloomy sight
Good morning heartache
Thought we said goodbye last night
I turned and tossed until it seems you have gone
But here you are with the dawn
Wish I forget you, but you're here to stay
When my love went away
Now everyday I stop I'm saying to you
Good morning heartache, what's new?
Stop haunting me now
Can't shake you no how
Just leave me alone
I've got those Monday blues
Straight to Sunday blues
Good morning heartache
Here we go again
Good morning heartache
You're the one
Who knows me well
Might as well get used to you hanging around
Good morning heartache
Sit down
Good Morning Heartache by Dinah Washington is a poignant portrayal of the emotions one goes through after a heartbreak. The song begins with the singer greeting the heartache that has returned and laments that it is a "gloomy sight," indicating the dread that comes with thinking about the pain associated with heartache. She then expresses her surprise by saying that she thought she had said goodbye to it the night before. This could possibly signify that the singer had tried to overcome the feelings of heartbreak by sleeping on it, only to be woken up by the same negative feelings the next morning.
The singer expresses her experience of struggling to shake off the heartache, and how it seems like it won't go away. She says she tried to forget it but finds that it is there to stay. She mentions that the heartache came about when her love went away. She ends the verse expressing how she greets the heartache every day, almost like it is a regular occurrence. The singer pleads with the heartache to stop haunting her and leave her alone. She talks about how it has put her in a continuous state of sadness, which ranges from having Monday blues to full-blown Sunday blues, indicating how pervasive the heartache and sadness have become.
Line by Line Meaning
Good morning heartache
Opening line greeting the feeling of pain and sorrow that has come with the start of a new day
You old gloomy sight
Addressing heartache as an unwelcome lifelong companion known for bringing darkness and despair
Thought we said goodbye last night
Acknowledging the intent to move on from the pain of heartache but finding that it has returned yet again
I turned and tossed until it seems you have gone
Having tried to escape the pain, there is a momentary feeling of relief only to have the pain resurface with the arrival of a new day
But here you are with the dawn
The sorrow has remained and it greets her with the sunrise
Wish I forget you, but you're here to stay
Desiring to forget the pain but recognizing that it has become a constant presence in her life
It seems I met you when my love went away
Reflecting on how heartache appeared shortly after experiencing the loss of a loved one
Now everyday I stop I'm saying to you
Every day she acknowledges the presence of heartache and greets it as if it were a person
Good morning heartache, what's new?
Repeated greeting, almost sarcastic in tone, asking if anything has changed since the previous day's encounter with the pain.
Stop haunting me now
Commanding the pain to stop torturing her with its presence
Can't shake you no how
Admitting defeat in trying to rid oneself of the heartache
Just leave me alone
Expressing the desire to not be tormented by the pain any longer.
I've got those Monday blues
Comparing the feeling to a classic case of the typical sadness that comes with starting a new workweek
Straight to Sunday blues
Conveying that the sadness and pain are not simply relegated to a single day but are present always from the first day of the week to the last.
Here we go again
Sigh of defeat at the realization that the cycle of pain has begun again
You're the one who knows me well
Acknowledging that the heartache has become an intimate and all-knowing acquaintance with a deep understanding of her emotions
Might as well get used to you hanging around
Resigning oneself to the constant presence and unlikely departure of the pain
Good morning heartache, sit down
A greeting marking the start of another day of living with heartache
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Ervin Drake, Dan Fisher, Irene Higginbotham Padellan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Pamela Drake
God bless my uncle Ervin Drake, who co-wrote this one with Irene Higginbotham and Dan Fisher. I'm sure he's up in Heaven accompanying angels on a Steinway grand.
Thomas Lombardo
I love everything she did including this wonderful Ballard. 💛💛💛💛💛