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.

I'll Never Say "Never Again"
Kay Starr Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'll never say 'Never again' again
'Cos here I am in love again,
Head over heels in love again, with you.

I'll never say 'Never kiss you' again
'Cos here I'm kissing you again,
That's just the thing I said I'd never do.

I walked away and said goodbye,
I was hasty, wasn't I
I missed you so I thought I'd die,
But it's all over now, so my head's in the sky

I'll never say 'Never again' again,
'Cos here I am in love again,

Head over hells in love again
With the same sweet you.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Kay Starr's song I'll Never Say "Never Again" Again convey a story of newfound love and a pledge to never make the same mistakes again. The singer admits that they previously said they would never fall in love or kiss the person again but here they are, head over heels in love once more. The stanza "I walked away and said goodbye, I was hasty, wasn't I, I missed you so I thought I'd die, But it's all over now, so my head's in the sky" showcases regret over the past actions but also the joy of being reunited with their love.

The repetition of the phrase "never again" emphasizes the singer's resolve to avoid making the same mistakes again. However, the chorus reveals that they have indeed fallen in love again with the same person. "Head over hells in love again with the same sweet you" conveys the intensity of the emotions they feel for this person. The use of hyperbole in "head over hells" further emphasizes the depth of their love. Overall, the message of the song is that past mistakes can be corrected and love can be found again, even after saying "never again".

Line by Line Meaning

I'll never say 'Never again' again
I won't make a promise I can't keep again

'Cos here I am in love again,
Because I have fallen in love again

Head over heels in love again, with you.
Completely and deeply in love with you

I'll never say 'Never kiss you' again
I won't make a promise that I won't kiss you again

'Cos here I'm kissing you again,
Because I am kissing you again

That's just the thing I said I'd never do.
What I previously promised not to do

I walked away and said goodbye,
I left and said farewell

I was hasty, wasn't I
I acted too quickly, didn't I?

I missed you so I thought I'd die,
Missing you deeply made me feel as if I could not go on

But it's all over now, so my head's in the sky
But now that we are together again, I am extremely happy and optimistic

I'll never say 'Never again' again,
I won't make the same promise again