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.
These Foolish Things
Etta James Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
An airline ticket to romantic places
And still my heart has wings
These foolish things remind me of you
A tinkling piano in the next apartment
Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant
A fair ground's painted swings
These foolish things remind me of you
When you did that to me, baby
I knew somehow this had to be, hey, yeah
The winds of March that make my heart a dancer
A telephone that rings but who's gonna answer?
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things remind me of you
How strange how sweet to find you still
These things are dear to me
They seem to bring you near to me
The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations
Silk stockings thrown aside dance invitations
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
These foolish things, these foolish thing
Remind me of you, of you, whoa, yeah
In "These Foolish Things," Etta James sings about the memories that remain after a relationship is over. The lyrics describe various objects and situations that serve as reminders of a former lover. The opening lines talk about a cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces, an airline ticket to romantic places, and how these things bring back memories of the person she was with. Even though the relationship has ended, these objects still carry the weight of the memories of the time they spent together. The tinkling piano in the next apartment, those stumbling words that told what her heart meant or a fair ground's painted swings, all the things that remind Etta James of her former lover.
The lovelorn lyrics speak to the sadness of lost love and how the reminder of it can linger, even if the relationship is no longer physically present. The song's chorus conveys the idea that these memories are foolish things that remind her that her heart still has wings, even when it is grounded. While the memories seem bittersweet, they're also a comfort, as they keep the love alive in a small way. The song ends with the lines "These foolish things remind me of you, of you, whoa, yeah," an acknowledgment that despite the heartbreak, she still holds on to the memories of her former love.
Line by Line Meaning
A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces
Finding a cigarette that has a trace of lipstick on it reminds me of you.
An airline ticket to romantic places
Seeing an airline ticket to an exotic destination reminds me of our romantic trips together.
And still my heart has wings
My heart still feels light and joyful when I think of you.
These foolish things remind me of you
Every thought of these silly things reminds me of you.
A tinkling piano in the next apartment
Hearing a piano playing next door reminds me of the times we used to enjoy music together.
Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant
Remembering the words I struggled to say to express my love for you, reminds me of you.
A fair ground's painted swings
Seeing a painted swing in a fairground reminds me of the happy moments we shared together.
You came you saw you conquered me
You walked into my life, caught my eye, and won my heart with your charm.
When you did that to me, baby
I knew from that moment that you were someone special to me.
I knew somehow this had to be, hey, yeah
I had a feeling that we were meant to be together.
The winds of March that make my heart a dancer
Feeling the winds of March makes my heart dance with the memory of the moments we shared in that month.
A telephone that rings but who's gonna answer?
Hearing the phone ring, but knowing you won't answer it anymore makes me miss you.
Oh, how the ghost of you clings!
The memory of you still lingers around me, reminding me of all that we had.
These foolish things, these foolish thing
All these silly things, all these memories- they still remind me of you
Remind me of you, of you, whoa, yeah
Every thought of these things reminds me of you- of how we used to be together.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Harry Link, Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey
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.