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 Can't Get Started
Kay Starr Lyrics

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I've flown around the world in a plane
I've settled revolutions in Spain
And the North Pole I have charted
Still I can't get started with you

On the golf course, I'm under par
Metro Goldwyn have asked me to star
I've got a house, a showplace

Still I can't get no place with you

'Cause you're so supreme
Lyrics I write of you, I dream
Dream day and night of you
And I scheme just for the sight of you
Baby, what good does it do?

I've been consulted by Franklin D
Greta Garbo has had me to tea
Still I'm broken-hearted

'Cause I can't get started with you

Overall Meaning

Kay Starr's song "I Can't Get Started" tells a story of a person who has achieved great things, including flying around the world in a plane, settling revolutions in Spain, charting the North Pole, and being under par on the golf course. The person has also been asked to star in a movie by Metro Goldwyn and has a beautiful house, yet they still can't seem to start anything with the person they are in love with. The lyrics describe the supreme nature of their love interest, the way they dream day and night of them, and all the things they do just for the sight of them. Despite being consulted by Franklin D. Roosevelt and having tea with Greta Garbo, they are still broken-hearted because they can't get started with the one they love.

The song is essentially about unrequited love, and how no matter what the person achieves, they can't seem to capture the heart of the one they desire. The lyrics mention their various accomplishments to highlight how they are successful in so many areas, yet they still feel inadequate when it comes to winning over their love interest. The song paints a picture of someone who is very accomplished yet humble, and who is willing to do whatever it takes to win the love of another.

I Can't Get StartedKay Starr Lyrics

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I Can't Get Started
Kay Starr Lyrics