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.
If I Could Be With You
Kay Starr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
All day through, I seem to say to you,
I did wrong when I let you go away,
'Cause now I dream about you night and day,
I'm so unhappy and dissatisfied
I'll be happy if I had you by my side,
If I could be with you one li'l hour tonight,
I want you to know you wouldn't go,
Until I told you that I loved you so.
If I could be with you I'd love you long,
If I could be with you I'd love you strong,
And I'm telling you for true, you'd be anything but blue,
If I could be with you
The lyrics of Kay Starr's song "If I Could Be With You" convey the feelings of heartbreak and longing for a lost love. The persona in the song is clearly devastated by the previous mistakes they've made that led to the loss of their love. They spend their whole day reminiscing on the past and imagining being with their love once more. In their mind, they believe that they could make everything right again, and they would be happy if they could be with their lover again.
The persona's desire to be reunited with their love is so strong that they imagine every detail of what they would do if they had just one "li'l hour" together. They want to express their feelings fully, unlike before when they let their love go away. They promise to cherish and love them longer and stronger if they could just have another chance. The persona wants their lover to know how much they mean to them, and they wouldn't let them leave their arms until they have confessed their love.
In summary, "If I Could Be With You" is a melancholic song that tells the story of a persona who is dripping in regret and longing for their lost love. It begs the question of whether love lost is truly gone or just waiting to be found again.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm so blue, I don't know what to do,
I'm feeling very sad and helpless, and I don't know how to cope with it.
All day through, I seem to say to you,
I keep thinking and talking to you in my mind all day long, even if you're not physically present.
I did wrong when I let you go away,
I regret my decision to let you leave and I acknowledge that it was a mistake.
'Cause now I dream about you night and day,
I can't stop thinking about you even in my sleep, and it's affecting me deeply.
I'm so unhappy and dissatisfied
I'm extremely unhappy and unfulfilled, and it's making me miserable.
I'll be happy if I had you by my side,
I know that having you with me is the key to my happiness, and I wish it were possible.
If I could be with you one li'l hour tonight,
If I could spend just a short amount of time with you this very evening,
And free to do all those little things I might,
And if I had the freedom to do all the small things that I've been wanting to do with you,
I want you to know you wouldn't go,
I want you to understand that you wouldn't want to leave me,
Until I told you that I loved you so.
Until I expressed how deeply I loved and cared for you.
If I could be with you I'd love you long,
If only I could be with you, I'd love you for a very long time,
If I could be with you I'd love you strong,
And I'd love you with all my strength and passion,
And I'm telling you for true, you'd be anything but blue,
And I'm being honest when I say that being with me would make you anything but sad or unhappy,
If I could be with you
If only I could spend time with you,
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HENRY CREAMER, JAMES P JOHNSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Rusitii
Lyrics:
If I could be with you one hour tonight
If I was free to do the things I might
I want you to know that I wouldn't go
til´ I told you, honey, that I love you so
If I could be with you, I'd love you long
If I could be with you, I'd love you strong
I'm telling you true, I'd be anything but blue
If I could be with you for one hour if i could be with you
If I could be with you one hour tonight
If I was free to do the things I might
I´m telling you that I wouldn't go
til´ I told you, baby, that I love you so
If I could be with you, I'd love you long
If I could be with you, I'd love you strong
when I'm telling you, I'd be anything but blue
If I could be with you for one hour if i could be with you
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@kevinkerr333
I love this rendition by Kay Starr. Talk about the perfect melody blending with the perfect voice.
The band accompanying her were the who's who of jazz in 1945.
Nat "King Cole on piano showed how scintillating he was as a pianist.
@nasty3564
why is jazz so underrated? it really need much more attention.
@markharris1223
What an effortlessly sweet voice....
@thefatking3154
I used to listen to this when I live in Germany on an army base since my dad was in the army. It now dons on me that we were over there because of that war
@elainelosee7974
Thanks for sharing 👍 I appreciate your support 🙏 and always enjoy Kay Starr
@guineabable08
after playing bioshock infinite I always come back to your channel. thank you
@mmonroe8253
Perfect... Nothing left to say...
@Sraheens1
Such an attractive tune. Lovely.
@stephy7797
I saw your channel, is amazingly beautiful, I'll follow, please don't give up to your content, it's lovely how u can make me travel to those years, very thanks to have make this.