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 Only Have Eyes for You
Kay Starr Lyrics
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I can't see anyone but you
Sha bop sha bop
Are the stars out tonight
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
I only have eyes for you dear
But I can't see a thing in the sky
I only have eyes for you
I don't know if we're in a garden
Or on a crowded avenue
You are here and so am I
Maybe millions of people go by
But they all disappear from view
And I only have eyes for you
The lyrics of Kay Starr's song "I Only Have Eyes for You" express a deep sense of love that is all-encompassing and powerful. The opening line, "My love must be a kind of blind love", suggests that the singer's love for the person they are addressing is so intense that they cannot see anyone else. The repetition of "Sha bop sha bop" adds a playful and whimsical tone to the song, while also emphasizing the singer's fixation on their beloved.
The next lines - "Are the stars out tonight? I don't know if it's cloudy or bright" - further emphasize the idea that the singer is completely consumed by their love for the addressee. The idea that they cannot see anything beyond their lover is reinforced in the next verse, as the singer sings, "The moon may be high, But I can't see a thing in the sky, I only have eyes for you."
The final verse adds another layer to the song's romanticism, as the singer acknowledges that they are not sure where they are - "I don't know if we're in a garden, Or on a crowded avenue" - but it doesn't matter, because the only thing that matters is that their beloved is there with them. Despite the millions of people who might be around them, the singer only has eyes for the person they love.
Line by Line Meaning
My love must be a kind of blind love
My love for you is so intense and all-consuming that it overwhelms everything else, even common sense and reason. It is a love that defies explanation or logic.
I can't see anyone but you
You are the only one who matters to me. No one else can capture my attention or stir my emotions like you do. You are the center of my universe.
Sha bop sha bop
This line is an echoing refrain that enhances the overall musicality of the song without adding any particular meaning or significance.
Are the stars out tonight
This line is a rhetorical question that emphasizes how completely the singer is focused on the person she loves. She is not concerned with anything else, even the beauty of the night sky.
I don't know if it's cloudy or bright
The singer is so wrapped up in her love that she has lost touch with reality. She is oblivious to anything that does not involve her beloved.
I only have eyes for you dear
This line is the key theme of the song. The singer's love is so powerful that she can only see one person in the entire world. All other people fade away into insignificance.
The moon may be high
This line emphasizes how all-encompassing the singer's love is. Even the most breathtaking natural phenomenon fails to distract her from her beloved.
But I can't see a thing in the sky
The singer is so consumed with her love that she has lost all sense of perspective. She is literally unable to see anything else in the world.
I don't know if we're in a garden
The intensity of the singer's focus on her beloved has regressed her to a child-like state, where everything else around her fades into a blur. She can't even identify her surroundings.
Or on a crowded avenue
The singer is so wrapped up in her love that she doesn't even know what kind of place she's in. All she knows is that she only has eyes for one person in the world.
You are here and so am I
The only thing that exists in the world for the singer is her beloved. As long as they are together, nothing else matters.
Maybe millions of people go by
This line is a statement on the insignificance of everything else in the world. Just as the singer can't see the sky or the ground, she also can't see any other people. They are all just a blur passing her by.
But they all disappear from view
The only person who matters to the singer is her beloved. All other people fade into the background so she can only see the one she loves.
And I only have eyes for you
The repetition of this theme throughout the song emphasizes the exclusive hold that the singer's love has over her. She can't see or think about anything else in the world but the person she loves.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Al Dubin, Harry Warren
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind