Merrill's recording career has spanned six decades and she is popular with fans of jazz in Japan and Italy (where she lived for many years) as well as in her native United States. She has recorded and performed with some of the most notable figures in the American jazz scene.
Youth and early career in the states
Merrill was born in 1930 to Croatian immigrant parents. She began singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx at the age of fourteen. By the time she was sixteen, Merrill had taken up music full time. In 1952, Merrill made her recording debut when she was asked to sing "A Cigarette For Company" with the Earl Hines Band; the song was released on their Xanadu album. Etta Jones made her debut on the same album.
At this time she was married to musician Aaron Sachs. They divorced in 1956.
As a result of the exposure she received from "A Cigarette for Company" and two subsequent singles recorded for the Roost record label, Merrill was signed by Mercury Records for their new EmArcy label.
In 1954, Merrill recorded her first (and to date most acclaimed) LP, an eponymous record featuring legendary jazz trumpet player Clifford Brown and bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford, among others. It was to be one of Brown's last recordings, as he was killed in a car accident just two years later. The album was produced and arranged by Quincy Jones, who was then just twenty-one years old. The success of Helen Merrill prompted Mercury to sign her for an additional four-album contract.
Merrill's follow-up to Helen Merrill was the 1956 LP, Dream of You, which was produced and arranged by bebop arranger and pianist Gil Evans. Evans' work on Dream of You was his first in many years. His arrangements on Merrill's laid the musical foundations for his work in following years with Miles Davis.
Success abroad
After recording sporadically through the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent much of her time touring Europe, where she enjoyed more commercial success than she had in the United States. She settled for a time in Italy recording an album there, and doing live concerts with jazz notables Chet Baker, Romano Mussolini, and Stan Getz. Merrill returned to the U.S. in the 1960s, but moved to Japan in 1967 after touring there. Merrill developed a following in Japan that remains strong to this day. In addition to recording while in Japan, Merrill became involved in other aspects of the music industry, producing albums for Trio Records and hosting a show on a Tokyo radio station.
Later career
Merrill returned to the US in 1972 and has continued recording and regular touring since then. Her later career has seen her experiment in different music genres. She has recorded a bossa nova album, a Christmas album and a record's worth of Rodgers and Hammerstein, among many others.
Two albums from Merrill's later career have been tributes to past musical partners. In 1987, Merrill and Gil Evans recorded fresh arrangements of their classic Dream of You; the new recordings were released under the title Collaboration and became the most critically acclaimed of Merrill's albums in the 1980s.
In 1987 she co-produced a CD "Billy Eckstine sing with Benny Carter" and sing in duet with Mr.B two ballads.
In 1995 she recorded Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown as a tribute to the late trumpeter.
One of Merrill's millennium released recordings draws from her Croatian heritage as well as her American upbringing. Jelena Ana Milcetic, a.k.a. Helen Merrill (2000), combines jazz, pop and blues songs with several traditional Croatian songs sung in Croatian.
Helen Merrill has been married three times, first to musician Aaron Sachs, second time to UPI vice president the late Donald J Brydon, and third to arranger-conductor the late Torrie Zito. She has one child, a son, Allan P Sachs, also a singer, who is professionally known as Alan Merrill.
'S Wonderful
Helen Merrill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That you thrill me through, with a tender pash,
When you said you care, 'magine my emoshe
I swore then and there, permanent devoshe,
You made all other men seem blah
Just you alone filled me with ahhhhhhhh......
's wonderful, 's marvellous
's awful nice, 's paradise,
's what I love to see.
You've made my life so glamorous,
You can't blame me for feeling amorous!
Oh 's wonderful, 's marvellous,
That you should care for me!
's magnificque, 's what I seek
You should care for me.
's elegant, 's what I want,
's what I love to see.
My dear, it's four leaved clover time,
From now on my heart's working overtime,
's exceptional, 's no bagatelle,
That you should care for...
That you should care for...
That you should care for me...
In the song "S'Wonderful," the vocalist expresses how she feels about her partner. She is overwhelmed with emotions when she thinks about how much he cares for her, and she is grateful for his love. She sings about how he has made her life special and delightful and how he has filled her heart with love. She believes that he is exceptional and that she is lucky to be with him.
The lyrics are full of playful puns and word associations that convey the excitement and joy that the vocalist feels. The line "s'wonderful, s'marvelous," for example, is a play on the word "it's wonderful, it's marvelous," while the phrase "four-leaved clover time" plays on the idea of a lucky charm.
Overall, the lyrics of "S'Wonderful" celebrate the joy and excitement of falling in love, and they express a deep appreciation for the person who makes life so much better.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't mind telling you, in my humble fash
I don't mind admitting, in my humble way
That you thrill me through, with a tender pash,
You excite me deeply, with a gentle touch,
When you said you care, 'magine my emoshe
When you said you care, imagine my emotions,
I swore then and there, permanent devoshe,
I promised you then and there, my everlasting love,
You made all other men seem blah
You made all other men seem boring
Just you alone filled me with ahhhhhhhh......
Only you could make me feel so good...
's wonderful, 's marvellous
It's amazing, it's fantastic
You should care for me!
I hope you feel the same way about me!
's awful nice, 's paradise,
It's really nice, it's like paradise,
's what I love to see.
This is what I want to see happen.
You've made my life so glamorous,
You've made my life so fancy and exciting,
You can't blame me for feeling amorous!
I can't help but feel romantic towards you!
Oh 's wonderful, 's marvellous,
Oh, it's amazing, it's fantastic,
That you should care for me!
I'm so grateful that you care for me.
's magnificque, 's what I seek
It's magnificent, it's what I'm looking for,
You should care for me.
I hope you feel the same way about me.
's elegant, 's what I want,
It's classy, it's what I desire,
's what I love to see.
This is what I want to see happen.
My dear, it's four leaved clover time,
My love, it's a lucky time for us,
From now on my heart's working overtime,
From now on, my heart is working very hard,
's exceptional, 's no bagatelle,
It's exceptional, it's not something trivial,
That you should care for...
That you care for me, it means a lot,
That you should care for...
That you care for me, it means a lot,
That you should care for me...
That you care for me, it means a lot.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRA GERSHWIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Tijam23
Belle création d' il y a quelques années !🎵🎶🥁🎺🎹🥰un bon petit rythme . Si on balayait aussi vite que cela 😉
@cchild9110
It's wonderful.
@amasposyo
好きな人に「好きだ！」って言ってもらうほど
幸せなことはありません！ そんな感情が歌と演奏に出ています
クリフォード・ブラウンの有頂天なラッパが聴きどころ(▰˘◡˘▰)
@jamesten
The writers of the song are George and Ira Gershwin, not George David Weiss and Bob Thiele.
@jiyujizai
名演。🙄
@harukapapa159
1:49 Brown y