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.
Happy Days And Lonely Nights
Kay Starr Lyrics
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The wonderful nights we knew
When I made love to you until the dawn.
You left and to my surprise
I'm laughing with tear dimmed eyes
Because I realise
I can't go on my darling.
You took all my happy days
And left me lonely nights.
Morning never comes too soon
I can face the afternoon
But oh, those lonely nights.
I feel your arms around me,
Your kisses linger yet,
You taught me how to love you,
Now teach me to forget!
You broke my heart a million ways
When you took my happy days
And left me lonely nights.
The beautiful month of May
Without you is sad and grey,
Oh, how I hate the day, I let you go.
I find that my happiness,
Depends on your sweet caress
I thought I loved you less,
But now I know, my darling.
With the parting of the ways
You took all my happy days
And left me lonely nights.
Morning never comes too soon
I can face the afternoon
But oh, those lonely nights.
I feel your arms around me,
Your kisses linger yet,
You taught me how to love you,
Now teach me to forget!
You broke my heart a million ways
When you took my happy days
And left me lonely nights.
The song "Happy Days and Lonely Nights" by Kay Starr is a ballad that speaks of heartbreak and the struggle of moving on from a loved one. The lyrics depict the sadness and longing that comes with the end of a relationship, especially one that was filled with happy memories. The persona reminisces about the nights spent with their loved one, making love until dawn, and how they find themselves unexpectedly laughing with tear dimmed eyes. They come to the realisation that they cannot go on without their darling.
The song's chorus emphasizes the pain that the separation has brought, as the persona sings about their lonely nights and how they are unable to forget their loved one. The absence of their loved one has made the month of May sad and grey, and they lament the day they let them go. They acknowledge that their happiness depends on their loved one's sweet caress, and they thought they loved them less, but now they know the truth.
Overall, the song expresses the sentiments of someone who is struggling to come to terms with the end of a relationship. The lyrics capture the melancholy mood that one goes through after a breakup, and the realization that moving on is not as easy as they thought it would be.
Line by Line Meaning
My memory takes me to
I'm reminiscing about the past
The wonderful nights we knew
I'm remembering the nights we spent together
When I made love to you until the dawn.
We shared a special, intimate moment until the morning
You left and to my surprise
I was taken aback by your departure
I'm laughing with tear dimmed eyes
I'm crying, but there's a hint of laughter in my tears
Because I realise
I'm coming to the painful realization
I can't go on my darling.
I can't continue without you
With the parting of the ways
Since we separated
You took all my happy days
You took away my happiness
And left me lonely nights.
Leaving me alone in the dark
Morning never comes too soon
The night feels long and endless
I can face the afternoon
I can deal with the rest of the day
But oh, those lonely nights.
But what's difficult is facing those lonely nights
I feel your arms around me,
I imagine you holding me
Your kisses linger yet,
The memory of your kisses is still fresh
You taught me how to love you,
You showed me what it means to love
Now teach me to forget!
But now I need to learn how to forget
You broke my heart a million ways
You hurt me in countless ways
When you took my happy days
By leaving, you took away my joy
And left me lonely nights.
And left me with nothing but loneliness
The beautiful month of May
Even the beautiful May month
Without you is sad and grey,
Feels sad and colorless without you
Oh, how I hate the day, I let you go.
I regret letting go of you
I find that my happiness,
I realize that my happiness
Depends on your sweet caress
Depends on your loving touch
I thought I loved you less,
I thought I could love you less
But now I know, my darling.
But now I realize I can't
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: FISHER, ROSE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind