Gibbs was the youngest of four children of Russian Jewish immigrant parents.Her father died when she was six months old, and she spent her first seven years in an orphanage in Worcester, separated from her other siblings.
She revealed a natural talent for singing at a very young age, and was given the lead in the orphanage's yearly variety show. She was reunited with her mother (who had visited her once every other month) when the latter found employment as a midwife. However, her job often forced her to leave her daughter alone for weeks at a time with only a Philco radio for company.
Gibbs began her professional career at the age of thirteen, and was singing in Boston's Raymor Ballroom the following year. She cut her first record with the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra in 1936 (aged 16 or 17). "You don't really know loneliness unless you do a year or two with a one-night band, Gibbs said of her life on the big band circuit. sing until about 2 a.m. Get in a bus and drive 400 miles. Stop in the night for the greasy hamburger. Arrive in a town. Try to sleep. Get up and eat." (Worcester Telegram & Gazette, May 12, 1994.)
She soon found steady work on popular radio shows including Your Hit Parade, Melody Puzzles and The Tim And Irene Show. Gibbs freelanced in the late 1930s and 1940s singing with the bands of Frankie Trumbauer, Hal Kemp, Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw. It was with Shaw's band (then billed as Fredda Gibson) that she scored her first hit, Absent Minded Moon (1942).
In 1943, she changed her name to Georgia Gibbs and began appearing on the popular Camel Caravan radio program, hosted by Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore (it was Moore who bestowed the famous nickname "Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs" upon her). The nickname is a playful reference to her diminutive stature of barely over 5 feet. She was a regular performer on this show until 1947.
Gibbs signed with Majestic Records in 1946, and while she recorded many great records she would have to wait until 1950 for her first hit single, If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked A Cake (on the Coral label). During this period she also was the featured singer on tours with comedians Danny Kaye and Sid Caesar. Miss Gibbs had a natural talent for comedy as well, and worked well in support of the immensely popular Kaye. But success as a singer continued to elude her. As noted in a 1952 Time article:
"Georgia," they kept telling her, "you gotta get a sound." Musical soothsayers were trying to get Songstress Georgia Gibbs into line with the latest fashion. Perhaps, they thought, she should sing mechanized duets with herself (like Patti Page), or she might try an echo chamber background (like Peggy Lee). But gimmicks were not Georgia Gibbs's cup of tea. She had a big, old-fashioned voice, a good ear, a vivacious personality, and she knew how to sing from the shoulder. She would stick with plain Georgia Gibbs.
And she eventually had success "sticking with plain Georgia Gibbs". Possessed of a versatile voice, she cut a long list of great records in every category from torch songs to rock-and-roll, to jazz, swing, old fashioned ballads and cha-chas. Her most successful record was Kiss Of Fire which reached the #1 position on the pop music charts in 1952. Kiss of Fire was adapted from the Argentinian tango El Choclo and the lyrics, arrangement and delivery communicate passion on a Wagnerian scale. It immediately became one of the defining songs of the era.
Sultry and throbbing, with a touch of vibrato, Georgia Gibbs' voice is best showcased on romantic ballads and torch songs like Melancholy Baby, I'll Be Seeing You, Autumn Leaves and You Keep Coming Back Like A Song. Yet she could be equally thrilling belting out a red hot jazz numbers like Red Hot Mama and A-Razz-A-Ma-Tazz, or jiving with tunes like Ol Man Mose and Shoo Shoo Baby. Her Swingin' With Her Nibbs album (1956) demonstrated her natural affinity for improvisation as well.
Gibbs continued to be a frequent visitor to the charts throughout the first half of the decade (with over 40 charted songs), and was briefly successful doing rock 'n' roll songs as well. She appeared on many television shows throughout the decade, including the legendary Ed Sullivan show, and hosted one of her own, Georgia Gibbs And Her Million Record Show. She cut her final album, Call Me (1966) and rarely performed after that.
She spent many years being best known for her cover versions of Etta James' The Wallflower (recorded by Gibbs with modified lyrics under the title Dance With Me Henry) and of LaVern Baker's Tweedle Dee (which created some ado due to Ms. Baker's vociferous complaints) and for her novelty number The Hula Hoop Song, which was her last hit, in 1958.
Georgia Gibbs died of leukemia on December 9, 2006, aged 87, at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Somebody Loves Me
Georgia Gibbs Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And all my daydreams have gone astray
I think about the one and only
Who's bound to find me some golden day
The one I love is coming along some day
And I'll have none except the one I love
He/She may be near or ever so far away
And though our meeting is left to chance
Until our meeting
I still will have my dream romance
And through the night I pray to the moon above
To please be kind and find the one I love
The lyrics to Georgia Gibbs's "Somebody Loves Me" are a poignant and heartfelt expression of longing and hope. The song invokes feelings of loneliness and longing for a special someone, but also holds on to the belief that this person will come along someday. The singer speaks of their daydreams that have "gone astray," but in the midst of this desolation, there is a glimmer of hope that focuses on one person who will make everything right. The lyrics are an expression of the deep, emotional connection people can feel towards someone they have never met, and the belief that love will find a way.
The phrase "bound to find me some golden day" is a particularly powerful one, as it conveys a sense of inevitability that resonates with anyone who has ever longed for love. The lyrics also touch on the idea of chance, with the singer acknowledging that their meeting with their true love is left up to fate. However, in spite of this uncertainty, the singer remains steadfast in their belief that their dream romance will come to fruition. The final lines of the song, in which the singer prays to the moon above for their true love to find them, are a beautiful and poignant encapsulation of the emotional depth of the song.
Line by Line Meaning
When days are long and nights are lonely
During long days and lonely nights
And all my daydreams have gone astray
When all my hopes and dreams have failed or been lost
I think about the one and only
I think about the person I truly love
Who's bound to find me some golden day
Who will eventually come and bring me happiness
The one I love is coming along some day
The person I love will come into my life someday
And I'll have none except the one I love
I will only love this one person
He/She may be near or ever so far away
This person could be close by or very far away
But I'll have none except the one I love
I will only love this one person
And though our meeting is left to chance
Even though we may not have control over when we will meet
Until our meeting
Until we finally meet
I still will have my dream romance
I will continue to envision my ideal love story
And through the night I pray to the moon above
At night, I pray to the moon
To please be kind and find the one I love
To bring the person I love into my life
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network
Written by: Bronislaw Kaper, Gus Kahn, Walter Jurmann
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Tom Smith
It's nice to see Georgia Gibbs! She was a major hit maker in the 1950's and a frequent guest on the Ed Sullivan show. She does a very good version of "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You". Please upload more female pop singers like Joni James, Kitty Kallen, Teresa Brewer, Kathy Linden, Linda Scott, Jill Corey, etc.
BlueFrog: Home of UK Television!
Could you upload that one Ed Sullivan segment featuring the Muppets performing the Beatles song "Come Together"?
Kosmas Pec
I need a timemashime right now!
T M
Great Scott! If you get one please let me come too!!