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.

Good and Lonesome
Kay Starr Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'll be good while you're gone
I'll be lonesome while you're gone
I'll be good and lonesome
While you're gone

Sure as stars are in the sky
From the day we said goodbye
I'll be mighty lonesome

While you're gone

Every night, I'll pound the pillow
Feeling weepy as a willow
When my room cold and still, oh
How I yearn for your return

But I'll be good while you're gone
I'll be lonesome while you're gone
I'll be good and lonesome and blue

So before you go away
Won't you let me hear you say
You'll be good and lonesome too

I'll be good while you're gone
(I'll be, oh, so good)
I'll be lonesome while you're gone
(I'll be lonesome too)
I'll be good and lonesome
While you're gone

Sure as stars are in the sky
(Stars are in the sky)
From the day we said goodbye
(When we said goodbye)
I'll be mighty lonesome
When you're gone

Every night, I'll pound the pillow
Feeling weepy as a willow
When my room is cold and still, oh
How I yearn for your return

But I'll be good while you're gone
(I'll be, oh, so good)
I'll be lonesome while you're gone
(I'll be lonesome too)
I'll be good and lonesome and blue

So before you go away
(When you go away)
Won't you let me hear you say
(Let me hear you say)
You'll be good and lonesome

I do mean lonesome
Good and lonesome too

Overall Meaning

The song "Good and Lonesome" by Kay Starr is a tender love song that expresses the pain of separation from a loved one. The lyrics open with the singer pledging to be “good” while their lover is gone, but also acknowledging that they will be “lonesome” without them. The singer describes their nights alone, tossing and turning in bed, feeling weepy and yearning for the return of the person they love. The song also expresses a hope that the lover will feel the same sense of longing and loneliness in the singer’s absence.

The lyrics are simple but deeply emotional, conveying a universal human experience of longing for someone who is far away. Kay Starr's voice captures the sadness and vulnerability of the lyrics, while also conveying a sense of strength and determination in the face of loneliness.

The song was released in 1956 and became a hit on the charts. It has been covered by several artists over the years, including Connie Francis and Wanda Jackson. "Good and Lonesome" has become a classic example of a country ballad, with its simple melody, heartfelt lyrics, and plaintive vocals.

Line by Line Meaning

I'll be good while you're gone
I'll try my best to behave while you're away

I'll be lonesome while you're gone
I'll feel very lonely and sad while you're away

I'll be good and lonesome While you're gone
I'll be well-behaved but still very lonely and sad while you're away

Sure as stars are in the sky
As certain as the stars in the sky

From the day we said goodbye
Since the day we parted ways

I'll be mighty lonesome While you're gone
I'll be extremely lonely and sad while you're away

Every night, I'll pound the pillow
Every night, I'll hit the pillow

Feeling weepy as a willow
Feeling very emotional and tearful

When my room cold and still, oh
When my room is chilly and quiet

How I yearn for your return
How I long for your comeback

But I'll be good while you're gone
But I promise to behave while you're away