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'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter
Kay Starr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And make believe it came from you
I'm gonna write words, oh, so sweet
They're gonna knock me off my feet.
A lotta kisses on the bottom, I'll be glad I've got 'em
I'm gonna smile and say "I hope you're feelin' better"
Then close "with love" the way that you do
I'm gonna make believe it came from you
I'm gonna sit right down write myself a letter, oh, babe
And make believe it came from you
I'm gonna write words, oh, so sweet
They're gonna knock me off my feet
A lotta kisses on the bottom, I'll be glad I've got 'em
I'll smile and say "I hope you're feelin' better"
Then close "with love" the way that you do
I'm gonna sit right down, write myself a letter, oh yeah
I'm gonna make believe it came from you
The first verse of Kay Starr's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down" describes a situation where the singer wants to feel closer to her loved one by pretending to receive a letter from them. The act of writing can often feel therapeutic in itself, and the singer is likely attempting to conjure feelings of affection and longing that come with exchanging letters. She plans to write sweet words that will knock her off her feet and include "a lotta kisses on the bottom" - a phrase that's likely to elicit a smile from anyone who hears it. By writing herself a letter from her loved one, she's not only keeping their memory alive but is also creating a version of them that is perfect in her mind.
The second verse is similarly focused on pretence - the singer plans to write that she hopes her loved one is feeling better, even though they didn't actually provide a reason for needing to feel better. She ends the letter with "with love," just as her loved one would. From this, we can infer that the singer is missing her significant other and is using her imagination to bridge the gap between them. By the end of the song, she's decided that writing herself an imaginary letter is better than not receiving a letter at all.
In summary, "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down" is a song about the power of imagination in keeping love alive, even when distance separates two people. The lyrics describe a situation that's familiar to anyone who's ever been in a long-distance relationship - the longing for a lover's words and the comfort than can come from pretending to receive them.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
I will sit down and write a letter to myself.
And make believe it came from you
I will pretend that the letter came from you.
I'm gonna write words, oh, so sweet
I will write sweet words.
They're gonna knock me off my feet.
The words will be so sweet that they will overwhelm me.
A lotta kisses on the bottom, I'll be glad I've got 'em
The letter will contain many loving kisses at the end, which will make me happy.
I'm gonna smile and say "I hope you're feelin' better"
I will write that I hope you are feeling better.
Then close "with love" the way that you do
I will end the letter the same way you do, with love.
I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter, ah-huh
I will immediately start writing this letter.
I'm gonna make believe it came from you
I will keep pretending that the letter came from you.
I'm gonna sit right down write myself a letter, oh, babe
I will sit down and write this letter, my dear.
I'm gonna write words, oh, so sweet
Again, I will write very sweet words.
They're gonna knock me off my feet
The words will once more be so sweet that they will overwhelm me.
A lotta kisses on the bottom, I'll be glad I've got 'em
Again, the letter will end with affectionate kisses.
I'll smile and say "I hope you're feelin' better"
Once more, I will express that I hope you are feeling better.
Then close "with love" the way that you do
I will end the letter the same way as you: with love.
I'm gonna sit right down, write myself a letter, oh yeah
I will definitely sit down and write this letter.
I'm gonna make believe it came from you
I will still pretend that the letter came from you.
Lyrics © Bluewater Music Corp., Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Fred Ahlert, Joseph Young
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind