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.
Believe It Beloved
Kay Starr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You're all that I want you to be.
You're a darling adorable devil to
Love someone who looks like me!
First it was your eyes,
Then it's hard to credit,
Lips that please take care;
Grew much firmer,
Lost my heart right there!
You delicious delightful delirium,
See what your love's done to me!
Oh believe it, beloved, because it's true,
You're all that I want you to be!
Yeah! Swing it on out, son! Yes!
Oh believe it, beloved, because it's true,
All that I want you to be.
Oh darlin' adorable devil to
Love someone who looks like me!
First was eyes,
Then it's hard to credit,
Lips that please take care;
Then there was a gentle murmur,
(scat) firmer,
And I lost my heart right there!
Oh delicious delightful delirium, mercy!
See what your love's done to me!
Oh believe it, beloved, because it's true,
Al that I want you to be!
(scat), that I want it to be, yeah!
The lyrics of Kay Starr's song "Believe It Beloved" express the singer's affection for her beloved. The opening line "Oh believe it, beloved, because it's true" emphasizes the genuineness of her emotions. The lyrics suggest that the beloved is all that the singer wants in a partner and she admires the way the beloved looks. The line "Love someone who looks like me" highlights the singer's confidence and self-love.
The second stanza describes how the singer fell in love with the beloved. She first noticed the beloved's eyes, which were followed by the lips before she heard the gentle murmur that confirmed her love for the beloved. The scatting in the end implies the joy and happiness that the singer feels in love.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh believe it, beloved, because it's true,
Believe my words, my dear, as they are honest and true.
You're all that I want you to be.
You are the perfect partner for me, just the way I desire.
You're a darling adorable devil to
Love someone who looks like me!
You are a charming and loving person to adore someone like me.
First it was your eyes,
It all started with the beauty of your eyes,
Then it's hard to credit,
Lips that please take care;
And then I couldn't believe how your lips were so caring and loving.
Then there was a gentle murmur,
Grew much firmer, Lost my heart right there!
And when you spoke softly to me, I fell madly in love right then and there.
You delicious delightful delirium,
See what your love's done to me!
You are an intoxicating and pleasing lover, and I feel the effects of your love on me.
Oh darlin' adorable devil to
Love someone who looks like me!
Oh my charming partner, it's amazing that you love someone like me.
Oh delicious delightful delirium, mercy!
See what your love's done to me!
Oh my dear lover, your love has made me ecstatic and delirious.
Al that I want you to be!
(scat), that I want it to be, yeah!
You are everything I want in a partner, everything I yearn for in life, yeah!
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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