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.
The Summer Knows
Helen Merrill Lyrics
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And unashamed, she sheds her clothes
The summer smoothes the restless sky
And lovingly she warms the sand on which you lie
The summer knows, the summer's wise
She sees the doubts within your eyes
And so she takes her summer time
Twists the world 'round her summer finger
Lets you see the wonder of her arms
And if you've learned your lessons well
There's little more for her to tell
One last caress, it's time to dress for fall
The lyrics of "The Summer Knows" by Helen Merrill and Ron Carter paint a vivid picture of the essence of summertime. The song speaks of summer as a personified entity, understanding and embracing the fleeting nature of the season. Through its lyrical imagery and metaphors, it captures the essence of summertime joy, warmth, and beauty.
The opening lines, "The summer smiles, the summer knows, and unashamed, she sheds her clothes," suggest the carefree and open nature of the season. Summer, personified as a woman, reveals herself without inhibition, shedding her metaphorical clothes to symbolize the stripping away of barriers and embracing nature's bounties.
The song describes how summer soothes the restless sky and gently warms the sand on which one lies. It implies the calming and comforting qualities of summertime, where one can simply relax and appreciate the beauty of the natural world.
The lyrics also touch on the wisdom of summer, personifying the season as one who can perceive the doubts within one's eyes. It suggests that summer understands the fleeting nature of the season and takes its time to create an enchanting experience. Summer makes the moon wait and the sun linger, asserting its control over time and space, and invites others to witness the wonder and warmth it embraces.
The final lines of the song, "If you've learned your lessons well, there's little more for her to tell, one last caress, it's time to dress for fall," suggest the bittersweet realization that summer is coming to an end. It implies that if one has truly embraced the joy and beauty of summer, there is nothing more to learn from it. It's time to bid farewell and prepare for the coming autumn, a transition from the carefree days of summer to the more introspective and cooler season.
Overall, "The Summer Knows" captures the essence of the season, its beauty, transient nature, and the lessons it teaches us about embracing and letting go.
Line by Line Meaning
The summer smiles, the summer knows
The summer brings happiness and understanding
And unashamed, she sheds her clothes
Without hesitation, she reveals her true self
The summer smoothes the restless sky
The summer brings calmness to the unsettled sky
And lovingly she warms the sand on which you lie
She tenderly heats up the sand beneath you while you relax
The summer knows, the summer's wise
The summer possesses wisdom and understanding
She sees the doubts within your eyes
She perceives the uncertainty reflected in your eyes
And so she takes her summer time
Hence, she utilizes the summertime to its fullest
Tells the moon to wait and the sun to linger
She commands the moon to delay and the sun to stay longer
Twists the world 'round her summer finger
She effortlessly manipulates the world with her influence
Lets you see the wonder of her arms
She allows you to witness the beauty of her embrace
And if you've learned your lessons well
If you have gained knowledge from your experiences
There's little more for her to tell
She has little else to convey
One last caress, it's time to dress for fall
A final touch before preparing for the arrival of autumn
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Michel Jean Legrand, Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind