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.
Miss You
Dinah Washington Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Miss you more than I can say dear
Day time night time nothing I do
Can make me forget that I still love you
Kiss you, in my dreams I kiss you
Whisp'ring darling how I miss you.
Tell me do you ever miss me
Miss you since you went away dear
Miss you more than I can say dear
Day time night time nothing I do
Can make me forget that I still love you
Kiss you, in my dreams I kiss you
Whisp'ring darling how I miss you.
Tell me do you ever miss me
As I miss you.
The song is called "Miss You" by Dinah Washington, and it is a reflection of the universal feeling of loneliness and heartbreak that comes from losing someone you love. The first two lines of the song, "Miss you since you went away dear, Miss you more than I can say dear" convey the depth of the singer's longing and desire for the person she has lost. The third and fourth lines, "Day time night time nothing I do, Can make me forget that I still love you," reveal the singer's struggle to overcome her feelings of emptiness and sadness.
In the next verse, the lyrics become more romantic and bittersweet: "Kiss you, in my dreams I kiss you, Whisp'ring darling how I miss you. Tell me do you ever miss me, As I miss you." The singer is imagining the moments when she is able to be with her lover again, even if only in her dreams. She is desperate to know if he feels the same way she does, if he longs for her the way she longs for him.
The repetition of these lines throughout the song emphasizes the singer's despair and grief, and her inability to move on. The vulnerability in her voice and the simplicity of the lyrics make the song relatable and haunting.
Line by Line Meaning
Miss you since you went away dear
I have been missing you since the time you went away my dear.
Miss you more than I can say dear
I cannot express in words how much I miss you, my dear.
Day time night time nothing I do
Whether it's day or night, I can't help but think of you. There's nothing I can do to stop it.
Can make me forget that I still love you
I still love you and nothing can make me forget that.
Kiss you, in my dreams I kiss you
Even in my dreams, I long to kiss you.
Whisp'ring darling how I miss you.
I whisper, 'Darling, I miss you so much.'
Tell me do you ever miss me
I wonder, do you also miss me, like I miss you?
As I miss you.
As much as I miss you.
Contributed by Aria K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.