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.
Never Never
Dinah Washington Lyrics
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Love me much too much
If you let me go
Life would lose its touch
What would I be without you?
There's no place for me without you
I'd be so lost if you went away
There'd be a thousand hours in the day
Without you I know
Because of one caress my world was overturned
At the very start, all my bridges burned
By my flaming heart you'd never leave me, would you?
You couldn't hurt me, could you?
Never let me go
Never let me go
Never let me go
I'd be so lost if you went away
There'd be a thousand hours in the day
Without you I know
Because of one caress my world was overturned
At the very start all my bridges burned
By my flaming heart you'd never leave me, would you?
You couldn't hurt me, could you?
Never let me go
Never let me go
The song "Never Let Me Go" by Dinah Washington is a plea to a lover not to abandon the singer, for fear that life without the lover would be meaningless. The lyrics convey the depth of the singer's love for the object of her affection, conveying that they are completely dependent on the person they love. Without them, their world would be completely overturned, all bridges burned, and there would be no place for them. The singer is deeply afraid of being left alone, and the idea of losing their lover terrifies them because they would be "lost" without them.
The lyrics convey the singer's desperation and fear, as they are asking for reassurance that they will not be abandoned. They ask their lover to hold them and love them "much too much" and to never let them go. The song conveys a strong message about how much love can mean to us, how much we depend on it, and how much we fear losing it. It's an all-encompassing plea to be loved deeply and to know that no matter what happens, their lover will always be there.
Overall, "Never Let Me Go" is a deeply emotional and intense song, conveying a message of love and fear of abandonment. It's a song that speaks to the human heart and the universal fear of losing someone we love.
Line by Line Meaning
Never let me go
I plead with you never to let me go
Love me much too much
Love me excessively
If you let me go
If you let me go, I will lose my essence
Life would lose its touch
My life would be incomplete without you in it
What would I be without you?
I cannot imagine my life without you in it
There's no place for me without you
Without you, I feel like I do not belong anywhere
I'd be so lost if you went away
If you left me, I would be lost and directionless
There'd be a thousand hours in the day
Time would seem to stretch endlessly without you
Without you I know
As much as I hate to admit it, I feel incomplete without you
Because of one caress my world was overturned
Your touch changed my world completely
At the very start all my bridges burned
The moment I met you, everything else seemed to fade away
By my flaming heart you'd never leave me, would you?
My love for you is so strong that I cannot imagine you ever leaving me
You couldn't hurt me, could you?
I hope and pray that you will never cause me any pain
Never let me go
Please promise me that you will never leave me
Lyrics © O/B/O DistroKid, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Ray Evans, Jay Livingston
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind