Helen O'Connell joined the Jimmy Dorsey band in 1939 and achieved her best selling records in the early forties with "Green Eyes", "Amapola", and "Tangerine". In each of these Latin-influenced numbers, Bob Eberly crooned the song which Helen then reprised in an up-tempo arrangement. Helen won the 1940 Metronome magazine poll for best female vocalist. She was one of the first "girls" on NBC's The Today Show, and at one point had her own television show.
Helen retired from show business upon her first marriage in 1943. Helen had four daughters and eight grandchildren. When the first marriage failed, she embarked on a solo career in 1951, achieving some chart success and becoming a regular television performer. Helen has married a total of four times.
She co-hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants with Bob Barker from 1972 to 1980.
In her last marriage, she was married to arranger/conductor/composer Frank De Vol when she died in San Diego, California from a battle with hepatitis C resulting in primary liver cancer (hepatoma).
Would I Love You
Helen O'connell Lyrics
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Would I love you, love you, love you
To take you in my arms
Has always been my goal
Sure as there's a moon above you
Would I love you, love you, love you
With all my heart and soul
You ask me, would I love you if you let me
Eyes that see are eyes that know
Would I love you, what a question
When I'm yearning so
Oh, for just the chance to love you
Would I love you, love you, love you
To take you in my arms
Has always been my goal
Sure as there's a moon above you
Would I love you, love you, love you
With all my heart and soul
With all my heart and soul
Would I love you, what a question
When I'm yearning so
Oh, for just the chance to love you
Would I love you, love you, love you
To take you in my arms
Has always been my goal
Sure as there's a moon above you
Would I love you, love you, love you
With all my heart and soul
With all my heart and soul
In this song, "Would I Love You", by Helen O'Connell, the singer expresses her deep longing to love someone. She states that she would love to have the chance to love this person and that taking them in her arms has been her goal. She is sure that she loves this person with all her heart and soul, as surely as there is a moon above them.
The question is posed to the singer, asking if she would love this person if they let her. The singer responds with a rhetorical question about how eyes that see are eyes that know, implying that if she has seen this person, she already knows that she loves them. She expresses her desire to love this person, saying that she is yearning for them.
Overall, this song expresses the singer's deep desire to love and be loved by someone. Her lyrics convey a sense of longing and yearning for this person that she is unable to express in any other way.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, for just the chance to love you
I wish so badly that I could love you
Would I love you, love you, love you
I would love you so much
To take you in my arms
To hold you close to me
Has always been my goal
I have always wanted to do this
Sure as there's a moon above you
As surely as the moon is in the sky
With all my heart and soul
With everything I am
You ask me, would I love you if you let me
You wonder if I would love you if you gave me the chance
Eyes that see are eyes that know
I can tell just by looking at you
Would I love you, what a question
Of course I would love you
When I'm yearning so
When I desire you so much
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: BOB RUSSELL, HAROLD SPINA
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Helen was regarded by many big band fans as the best of the great female singers from that era. With this song, she was up against Patti Page, the most commercially successful singer of the fifties.
Sales wise, it was no contest, public taste had moved on. Very few popular singers were able to resist this 'problem' [Bing, Perry, Frank, Elvis did, but they all experienced flat spots]. It was a problem because something of value was lost in the popular demise of the careers of talented people that were no longer commercial.