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 Cover The Waterfront
Kay Starr Lyrics
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I'm watching the sea,,
Will the one I love,
Be coming back to me?
I cover the waterfront,
In search of my love,
And I'm covered by,
Here am I,
Patiently waiting,
Hoping and longing,
Oh! How I yearn!
Where are you?
Are you forgetting?
Do you remember?
Will you return?
I cover the waterfront,
I'm watching the sea,
For the one I love,
Must come back to me.
The lyrics of Kay Starr's song "I Cover the Waterfront" speak of the pain of waiting and the hope of a lover's return. The persona in the song is a person who is searching and hoping that their lover will come back. "I cover the waterfront, I'm watching the sea," the first verse starts with the persona watching the sea and waiting for her lover's return. The second verse continues with the singer saying, "In search of my love, and I'm covered by a starless sky above," indicating the loneliness and hopelessness that the singer feels.
The chorus provides a deeper understanding of the pain that comes with waiting for someone you deeply love. The words "patiently waiting, hoping, and longing, oh! how I yearn!" portray the helplessness and desperation of the persona. The final plea in the chorus "where are you? Are you forgetting? Do you remember? Will you return?" highlights the pain of not knowing if your lover still remembers you and if they will ever come back.
In conclusion, Kay Starr's "I Cover the Waterfront" is an emotional ballad that perfectly captures the pain and desperation of waiting for someone you love. The song touches on themes of loneliness, hopelessness, and the universal experience of waiting for a loved one's return.
Line by Line Meaning
I cover the waterfront,
I am monitoring the sea and waiting for someone.
I'm watching the sea,,
I am staring at the sea closely.
Will the one I love,
Is the person whom I love going to come back?
Be coming back to me?
Will the person whom I love and waiting for come back to me?
I cover the waterfront,
I explore the shorelines to find my beloved.
In search of my love,
I am on a quest to find my love.
And I'm covered by,
I am concealed by the shadow of the sky.
A starless sky above.
The sky above me is dark and starless.
Here am I,
Here I am, visible and ready.
Patiently waiting,
I am patiently waiting for my beloved.
Hoping and longing,
I am optimistic and yearning to see my darling.
Oh! How I yearn!
I yearn to see my sweetheart.
Where are you?
Where are you, my beloved?
Are you forgetting?
Have you forgotten me?
Do you remember?
Do you still remember me?
Will you return?
Will you come back to me?
I cover the waterfront,
I am keeping a lookout by the sea.
I'm watching the sea,
I am intently watching the sea.
For the one I love,
I am waiting for the one I love.
Must come back to me.
They must return to me as soon as possible.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Edward Heyman, John W. Green
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind