Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks, July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was … Read Full Bio ↴Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks, July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 1950s.

Kay Starr was successful in every field of music she tried, jazz, country and pop. But her roots were in jazz, Billie Holiday, considered by many the greatest jazz singer of all time, called Starr "the only white woman who could sing the blues."
She is best remembered for introducing two songs that became #1 hits in the 1950s, "Wheel of Fortune" and "The Rock And Roll Waltz".

Kay Starr was born on a reservation in Dougherty, Oklahoma. Her father, Harry, was a full-blooded Iroquois Indian; her mother, Annie, was of mixed Irish and American Indian heritage. When her father got a job installing water sprinkler systems, the family moved to Dallas, Texas.

While her father worked for the Automatic Sprinkler Company, her mother raised chickens, and Kay used to sing to the chickens in the coop. As a result of the fact that her aunt, Nora, was impressed by her singing, she began to sing at the age of seven on a Dallas radio station, WRR, first in a talent competition where she finished third one week and won every week thereafter, then with her own weekly fifteen minute show. She sang pop and "hillbilly" songs with a piano accompaniment. By the age of ten, she was making $3 a night, a lot of money in the Depression days.

As a result of her father's changing jobs, her family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and she continued performing on the radio, singing "Western swing music," still mostly a mix of country and pop. It was while she was on the Memphis radio station WMPS that, as a result of misspellings in her fan mail, she and her parents decided to give her the name "Kay Starr". At the age of fifteen, she was chosen to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra. Venuti had a contract to play in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis which called for his band to feature a girl singer, which he did not have; Venuti's road manager heard her on the radio, and suggested her to Venuti. Because she was still in junior high school, her parents insisted that Venuti take her home no later than midnight.

Although she had brief stints in 1939 with Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller (who hired her in July of that year when his regular singer, Marion Hutton, was sick), she spent most of her next few years with Venuti, until he dissolved his band in 1942. It was, however, with Miller that she cut her first record: "Baby Me"/"Love with a Capital You." It was not a great success, in part because the band played in a key more appropriate for Marion Hutton, which was less suited for Kay's vocal range.

All Of You
Kay Starr Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I love the looks of you
The lure of you
The sweet of you
The pure of you
Your eyes, your arms
The mouth of you

The east, the west, the north and the south of you

I'd love to gain complete control of you
And handle even the heart and soul of you
So love at least a small percent of me, do
For I love all of you
So love at least a small percent of me, do
Please do

For I love all of you
Yes I do

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Kay Starr's song "All of You" express a deep adoration for the object of the singer's affection. The first few lines enumerate various aspects of the person that the singer finds attractive: "the looks of you," "the lure of you," "the sweet of you," and "the pure of you." The repetition and variation of this phrasing emphasizes just how all-encompassing this love is - the singer finds everything about this person enticing. The subsequent lines focus more specifically on individual features, including "your eyes, your arms, the mouth of you."

However, the most interesting part of the song is how it shifts in the third stanza. The singer expresses a desire for "complete control" of the other person, even down to their heart and soul. This line is somewhat unnerving, as it suggests a level of possessiveness that could be unhealthy in a relationship. The final two lines of the stanza are a plea for some reciprocity, a request for the other person to love the singer in return. The repetition of "do" at the end of each line builds a sense of urgency and desperation. The final stanza repeats the plea for love, driving home the idea that the singer truly does love all of the other person.

Line by Line Meaning

I love the looks of you
I am deeply attracted to your outward appearance and find you physically appealing.

The lure of you
I am drawn to the irresistible quality that you possess that makes me want to be close to you.

The sweet of you
I find your mannerisms, gestures, or expressions genuinely charming, endearing, and kind.

The pure of you
I view you as innocent, honest, and uncorrupted by negative influences or impurities.

Your eyes, your arms
I am particularly fond of your eyes and arms, which invoke certain feelings or memories of closeness and intimacy between us.

The mouth of you
I am captivated by your smile or your voice, which I consider to be one of your most attractive features.

The east, the west, the north and the south of you
I adore every aspect of you, from every corner of the world, regardless of where you come from or what culture you were born into.

I'd love to gain complete control of you
I am expressing a desire to have full possession over your heart, mind, and body, so that you are committed to loving only me.

And handle even the heart and soul of you
I am suggesting that I want to have such a profound impact on you that I am able to guide your innermost thoughts and emotions.

So love at least a small percent of me, do
I am asking you to open up your heart to me and to give me some form of affection or commitment.

For I love all of you
I am expressing my own love and devotion to you, and my desire to be with you wholly.

Please do
I am urging you to accept my request and to give me the love and affection that I am asking for.

Yes I do
I am reaffirming my love for you and my desire to be with you in a meaningful way.

Writer(s): Cole Porter

Contributed by Bailey Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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