James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California, on 25th January 1938, to an unmarried fourteen-year-old mother, Dorothy Hawkins. According to Etta, her mother claimed that her father was the white Rudolph "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, and that they received financial support from him on the condition that they keep his paternity a secret. This seems unlikely, though it has not been definitively disproved. Etta was born in Los Angeles in 1938. At the time, Wanderone was known to be managing a pool hall in Washington, D.C. and had not yet become known to be the cross-country traveller he later became.
She received her first professional vocal training at five years old from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at St Paul Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Her family moved to San Francisco in 1950, and she teamed up with two other girls to form a doo-wop singing group. When the girls were fourteen, band leader Johnny Otis had them audition. They sang an answer to Hank Ballard's "Work with Me, Annie" called "Roll Wwth Me Henry". Otis particularly liked the song, and against her mother's wishes, James and the trio went to Los Angeles to record the song in 1954. The song was recorded on the label Modern Records. By this time, the trio renamed the song "The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)" and released it in 1955. James named her vocal group The Peaches. Richard Berry, a Los Angeles doo-wop luminary, is featured on some of their records.
"The Wallflower" reached number two on the rhythm and blues charts in February 1955, but was undercut in the wider market by a rushed-out cover version by Georgia Gibbs on Mercury Records; in fact, the very first time Gibbs was recorded in studio, they used the first take recorded and it became number one on the top 100 songs nationally. The song's royalties were divided between Hank Ballard, Etta James, and Johnny Otis, and its huge success attracted the attention of the R&B world, resulting in James going on tour with Little Richard. On the tour, though, according to James, she witnessed and experienced situations to which minors are not usually privy, and she allegedly acquired a drug habit.
Soon after the success of "Wallflower", The Peaches and James parted company, but this did not halt her career. Shecontinued to record and release albums throughout much of the decade, and enjoyed more success. Her follow-up, "Good Rockin' Daddy", became another fifties hit. Other songs however, such as "Tough Lover" and "W-O-M-A-N" failed to gain any significant success. James toured with Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Otis Redding in the fifties, and has cited Watson as the most significant influence on her style..
In 1960, James signed a recording contract with Chess Records. She went on to have the biggest success of her career from this label, recording her biggest and most memorable hits. Chess went into high gear with James, releasing many duets with her then boyfriend, the married Harvey Fuqua, who was the lead singer of the Moonglows. One of her duets with Fuqua, "If I Can't Have You", became a hit on the R&B charts in 1960. As a solo artist however, she had more enduring success. One of her first singles released by Chess in 1960 was called "All I Could Do Was Cry"; this blues number became a big hit on the R&B charts in 1960. Leonard Chess, one of the founders of Chess Records, helped James along the way. He saw the potential for her to go in a more pop-oriented direction, and she started recording more pop tunes for the label.
The year 1961 became a year of great change for James. In 1961 came the release of one of her first pop-oriented tunes called "At Last". The song became a big hit in 1961, reaching number two on the R&B charts. The song even went as far as twenty-two on the pop charts that year. It became her signature song. Other songs, such as "Trust in Me", also became hits, and the 1962 tune "Something's Got a Hold On Me" showed more of James' gospel side, a genre she had sung since childhood.
She had other big hits in the 1960s, but mainly on the R&B charts: the song "Pushover" in 1963 and "Stop the Wedding", "Fool That I Am", and "Don't Cry Baby", were hits for her between 1961 and 1963. Her 1963 album Etta James Rocks the House, recorded at Nashville's "New Era" club, also gave her career a boost. James then became one of the most successful R&B artists of the 1960s, having many more top ten and top twenty hit singles. Performing in Memphis, Tennessee helped make her into a blues icon.
In 1967, James released her next hit single, "Tell Mama", and it became a top ten hit on the R&B charts. After a dry period of no hits for almost four years, the song once more made James a household name. The follow-up, "Security", was also a success, and proved that James had staying power on the charts again. Whilst less success came for James after this hit, she was still on the charts regularly and, despite the death of Leonard Chess, stayed with the Chess label into 1975. Towards the end of the Chess years though, she went into more rock-based songs. She recorded for many other labels, and continued to release albums, such as 1978's Deep In the Night on Atlantic Records.
Despite a dry period during the early to mid 1980s, James got back on track and began to record music again. She received accolades for her 1981 rendition of Randy Newman's "God's Song". Her 1988 album Seven Year Itch proved this comeback capability; the album showed more of her soul side. In 1989, she recorded the song "Avenue D" with David A. Stewart of Eurythmics. The song was featured on the soundtrack to the Robert Wise film Rooftops. She also performed with the Grateful Dead for two shows in 1982. In the 1990s she continued to record and perform. Her albums widely varied in styles and genres. Her 1992 album, The Right Time, was another soul album that was released by Elektra Records. She also began to record more jazz, which became the style for many of her 1990s albums.
Drug-related and romantic problems interfered with her career, but James managed to maintain a career throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. Later in life, she struggled with obesity, experiencing mobility and knee problems. In 2003, she underwent gastric bypass surgery.
In 2011, a vocal sample from Etta's "Something's Got a Hold on Me" was used in "Levels" by Avicii. "Levels" became a monster EDM hit, making Etta's "sometimes I get a good feeling" one of the most recognizable samples in 21st century music.
She died on 20th January 2012.
Prisoner Of Love
Etta James Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Doesn't belong to me
Someone who can't be faithful
Knows that I have to be
Wonder if I am wrong to give her my loyalty
Why should I be a lone soul
Why can't I be my own soul
Too weak to break the chains that bind me
I need no shackles to remind me
I'm just a prisner of love
For one comand I stand and wait now
From one who's master of my Fate now
I can't escape for it's too late now
I'm just a prisoner of love
What's the good of my caring if someone is sharing
Those arms with me
Although she has another
I can't have another
For I'm not free
She's in my dreams awake or sleeping
Up on my knees to her I'm creeping
My very life is in her keeping
I'm just a prisoner of love.
Love.
The lyrics to Etta James's song "Prisoner Of Love" convey the pain of loving someone who is not faithful but to whom one feels loyalty. The first two lines, "Someone that I belong to/Doesn't belong to me," suggest that the singer is in love with someone who is either in a relationship with someone else or not interested in being in a committed relationship. The next line, "Someone who can't be faithful/Knows that I have to be," highlights that the singer values faithfulness in a relationship, while the object of her love does not. She then questions whether it is wrong to be loyal to someone who cannot reciprocate.
In the second verse, the singer expresses her desire to be independent and live life on her own terms, but she is unable to do so because she is "just a prisoner of love." She feels chained to her feelings for this person and is too weak to break free. She acknowledges that she is not physically bound, saying "I need no shackles to remind me," but emotionally, she is unable to escape. The chorus suggests that she is waiting for this person to command her, as he or she is "master of [her] fate." She feels trapped in her love for this person, even though they cannot be together.
Overall, the song speaks to the pain and vulnerability of love. The singer is in love with someone who cannot love her back in the same way, and she feels powerless to change her situation. She is a prisoner of her emotions, unable to break free from her feelings for this person.
Line by Line Meaning
Someone that I belong to
There is a person that I am emotionally tied to
Doesn't belong to me
However, that person does not feel they belong to me in the same way
Someone who can't be faithful
This person is unable or unwilling to stay faithful to me
Knows that I have to be
But I feel it is important to remain loyal to them
Wonder if I am wrong to give her my loyalty
I am questioning whether it is right to continue giving them my loyalty
Why should I be a lone soul
I do not want to be alone and without emotional attachment
Why can't I be my own soul
But at the same time, I feel like I am not in control of my own emotions
Alone from night to night you'll find me
I am often alone and feel isolated
Too weak to break the chains that bind me
Despite wanting to break free from this emotional attachment, I do not feel strong enough to do so
I need no shackles to remind me
I am already aware that I am a prisoner to my emotions without any external influence
I'm just a prisoner of love
Ultimately, I am trapped by my own feelings of love and loyalty
For one command I stand and wait now
I am willing to obey this person's every command and wait for their every wish or desire
From one who's master of my Fate now
I am fully aware that this person has complete control over my life
I can't escape for it's too late now
I feel that it is now too late to escape from this emotional attachment
What's the good of my caring if someone is sharing
Despite my caring for this person, they are sharing their affections with someone else
Those arms with me
Which makes me feel like I am not truly desired or loved
Although she has another
Even though this person is already in a relationship with someone else
I can't have another
I feel like I cannot open myself up to the possibility of finding someone else to love
For I'm not free
I feel trapped and unable to make my own decisions
She's in my dreams awake or sleeping
This person occupies my thoughts both when I am awake and when I am asleep
Up on my knees to her I'm creeping
I am willing to humble myself and beg for this person's love and attention
My very life is in her keeping
My emotional well-being and overall state of mind depend on how this person treats me
I'm just a prisoner of love.
In the end, I am still trapped by my own emotions and feelings of affection
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ENRIQUE ELIAS GARCIA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Erik brodland
on I Just Want to Make Love to You
Love this song so much, it makes me think of my son's Beautiful mommy jasmin and her amazing.voice.