Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Carrie McDonald. Her father is identified as vaudeville drummer Eddie Carson by the official biography of her estate. She was of mixed ethnic background: Native American/African American. She descended from Apalachee Indians and Black slaves in South Carolina. She started her career as a busker, dancing in the street as a child. She entered vaudeville joining the St. Louis Chorus at 15. She then headed toward New York City during the Harlem Renaissance, performing at the Plantation Club and in the chorus of the popular Broadway revues Shuffle Along (1921) and The Chocolate Dandies (1924). She performed as the last dancer in a chorus line, a position in which the dancer traditionally performed in a comic manner, as if they were unable to remember the dance, until the encore, at which point they would not only perform it correctly, but with additional complexity. Although she was later to claim that she went unnoticed in America, she was billed as "the highest-paid chorus girl in vaudeville."
On 2nd October 1925, she opened in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where she became an instant success for her erotic dancing and for appearing practically nude on stage. After a successful tour of Europe, she reneged on her contract and returned to France to star at the Folies Bergère, setting the standard for her future acts. She performed wearing only high heels and a skirt made of bananas; she was often accompanied by her pet leopard, Chiquita, who was adorned with a diamond collar. The leopard frequently escaped into the orchestra pit, where it terrorized the musicians, adding yet another element of excitement to the show.
After a short while she was the most successful American entertainer working in France—whereas in the U.S., she would have suffered from the racial prejudices common to the era. Ernest Hemingway called her "the most sensational woman anyone ever saw." In addition to being a musical star, Baker also starred in several successful films, among them Zouzou (1934) and Princesse Tamtam (1935).
Upon marrying her manager Giuseppe Pepito Abatino - a Sicilian stonemason who passed himself off successfully as a Sicilian count - Baker transformed her stage and public persona into a sophisticated cultural figure. (The marriage was reportedly a publicity stunt and not legally binding.)
At this time she also scored her greatest song hit "J'ai deux amours" (1931) and became a muse for contemporary authors, painters, and sculptors including Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pablo Picasso.
She was so well-known and popular that even the Nazis, who occupied France during World War II were hesitant to cause her harm. In turn, this allowed Baker to show her loyalty to her adopted country by participating in the Underground. After the war, Baker was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her underground activity.
Yet despite her popularity in France, she was never really able to obtain the same reputation at home. Upon a visit to the United States in 1936, she starred in a failed version of the Ziegfeld Follies (being replaced by Gypsy Rose Lee later in the run); her personal life similarly suffered, and she went through six marriages, some legal, some not. During this time, when Baker returned to the United States, she was allegedly at a dinner party and began to speak in French as well as English with a French accent. An African-American maid was reputed to tell her: "Honey, you is full of shit. Speak the way yo' mouth was born". She had the woman fired.
In 1973, Joséphine Baker opened at Carnegie Hall to a standing ovation. She wept openly onstage in response to the warm welcome.
Civil rights involvement
Though based in France, she supported the American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s, and protested racism in her own unique way, adopting twelve multi-ethnic orphans, whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe." She also integrated several places in the United States and worked with the NAACP. For some time she lived with all of her children and an enormous staff in a castle (Les Milandes in the Dordogne) in France. (Baker had only one child of her own, stillborn in 1941, an incident that precipitated an emergency hysterectomy.)
On tours of the United States, she refused to perform in segregated nightclubs, and her insistence on mixed audiences helped to integrate shows in Las Vegas, Nevada. Nevertheless, her career was on a downturn and she was near bankruptcy until she was bailed out and given an apartment by her close friend, Princess Grace of Monaco, another expatriate American living in Europe.
During her life, she was also a great figure of the French freemasonry, fighting for freedom, civil rights, equality and against racism in France and other countries.
Death
On April 8, 1975, her fortunes seemed to be turning to the better when she was the star of a retrospective show at Club Bobino in Paris, Joséphine, celebrating her fifty years in the theater. The show opened to rave reviews. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage less than a week later at the age of 68 and was cremated. She was found lying peacefully in her bed surrounded by newspapers with glowing reviews of her performance.
She became the first American-born woman to receive French military honors at her funeral, which was held at L'Église de la Madeleine. Paris came to a standstill on the day of her funeral and 20,000 filled the streets to watch her procession. She was interred at the Cimetière de Monaco. "Place Joséphine Baker" in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris was named in her honor. She has also been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
Marriages and relationships
Joséphine Baker went through six marriages:
* Foundry worker Willie Wells (1919, divorced)
* Pullman porter William Howard Baker (1921, divorced)
* Giuseppe Pepito Abatino (1926, publicity stunt, not legally binding)
* French sugar magnate Jean Lion (1937-1940, divorced)
* French orchestra leader Jo Bouillon (1947, separated 1957, eventually divorced)
* American artist Robert Brady (1928-1986, married 1973, also not legally binding, separated 1974).
There is also some speculation that Joséphine Baker was bisexual. Most notably Josephine was linked with Mexican cultural surrealist Frida Kahlo, who was married to Communist revolutionary artist Diego Rivera. Some believe that one of the lesbian lovers depicted in the film Frida, a simple yet provocative shot of a beautiful black lounge songstress in France, is a portrayal of Baker.
Baker wrote several autobiographies, each containing a different story about her family and career.
Besame mucho
Joséphine Baker Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Embrasse-moi mon amour que je puisse oublier,
Puisqu'on se quitte
Tous mes regrets d'un bonheur fait de tant de baisers...
Oui, je sais bien qu'un beau jour on revient,
Mais j'hésite, ce jour est si loin...
N'y croyons pas, disons-nous, toi et moi,
Qu'on se voit pour la dernière fois...
Embrasse-moi, mon amour, que je puisse oublier,
Oublier le temps en fuite,
Et ma chanson n'aura plus qu'un seul mot: aimer...
Besame, besame mucho,
Si tu entends ce refrain des pays où je vais,
Besame, besame mucho,
Dis-toi que c'est la prière qu'au vent j'ai confiée...
Dis-toi que c'est le désir éternel qui s'envole
Vers toi que j'appelle les yeux ouverts dans la nuit,
Malgré l'heure qui fuit, quand tout bas je redis:
Besame, besame mucho,
Si je reviens, mon amour, le bonheur va chanter ...
Besame, besame mucho,
Et sa chanson n'aura plus qu'un seul mot: aimer...
The lyrics of Joséphine Baker's song Bésame Mucho are a plea for a passionate kiss that will help her forget the pain of separation. She longs for one last kiss that will be filled with so much love and passion that she won't be able to remember anything other than the feelings that it evokes. The repeated use of the words "besame mucho" (kiss me a lot) emphasizes the intensity of her desire for that final embrace.
As she acknowledges that they will inevitably be separated for a long time, she tells herself and her lover not to believe that they will see each other again. Instead, she wants them to cherish this moment as if it were their last, so that the memory of their love and the kiss they share will sustain them until they meet again. The lyrics are full of longing and a melancholy sense of finality, but they also celebrate the power of love and suggest that even when separated by distance, love can still be sustained through the memory of passion.
Line by Line Meaning
Besame, besame mucho
Embrasse-moi intensément
Embrasse-moi mon amour que je puisse oublier
Embrasse-moi pour que je puisse oublier tous mes soucis
Puisqu'on se quitte, Tous mes regrets d'un bonheur fait de tant de baisers...
Je regrette déjà notre séparation, malgré tous les moments magiques que nous avons partagés ensemble
Oui, je sais bien qu'un beau jour on revient, Mais j'hésite, ce jour est si loin...
Je sais qu'un jour nous nous reverrons, mais cela semble si loin et incertain
N'y croyons pas, disons-nous, toi et moi, Qu'on se voit pour la dernière fois...
Ne nous laissons pas croire que c'est seulement au revoir, avançons comme si c'était notre dernière fois ensemble
Oublier le temps en fuite, Et ma chanson n'aura plus qu'un seul mot: aimer...
Laissons le temps s'arrêter et aimons-nous sans réserve pour que ma chanson ne parle plus que d'amour
Si tu entends ce refrain des pays où je vais, Dis-toi que c'est la prière qu'au vent j'ai confiée...
Si tu entends cette chanson là où je vais, sache que c'est ma prière envoyée au vent
Dis-toi que c'est le désir éternel qui s'envole Vers toi que j'appelle les yeux ouverts dans la nuit...
Sache que c'est mon désir infini qui vole vers toi, et que je t'appelle même la nuit les yeux grands ouverts
Malgré l'heure qui fuit, quand tout bas je redis: Besame, besame mucho...
Même lorsque le temps passe et que je te dis doucement : embrasse-moi, embrasse-moi intensément
Si je reviens, mon amour, le bonheur va chanter...
Si je reviens, notre amour sera si fort que la joie sera chantée pour célébrer notre retrouvaille
Et sa chanson n'aura plus qu'un seul mot: aimer...
Et ma chanson parlera désormais seulement d'amour
Writer(s): Consuelo Velazquez, Sunny Skylar
Contributed by Kaylee G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@sergioortegagalvez3805
Cómo, en once años, puede tener esta joya sólo 57k visualizaciones? Esto es una maravilla, una interpretación sublime y con un montaje de imágenes precioso. Gracias por este aporte.
@jamesneilsongrahamloveinth1301
A voice of incomparable clarity and accuracy . . .
@harlemsonchap2
Not only was she a great entertainer, but she was also a war hero.
@co0ki3M0NstAr
Her voice is hypnotizing ❤️
@androramirez7910
Timeless... period!!!
@beverlypope5541
Simply "Awesome" From My St. Louis Homegirl
@guardianoflove1161
She's an angel
@metteholm4833
She was impressive!
@hoveringsombrero1
amazing
@fredywillianchoquehuancave6724
es tan hermoso