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.
Little White Lies
Kay Starr Lyrics
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But heaven was in your eyes
The night that you told me
Those little white lies
The stars all seemed to know
You didn't mean all those sighs
The night that you told me
I try, but there's no forgetting
When evenin' appears
I sigh but there's no regretting
In spite of my tears
Who wouldn't believe those lips
Who wouldn't believe those eyes
The night that you told me
Those little white lies
I try, but there's no forgetting
When evenin' appears
I sigh but there's no regretting
In spite of my tears
The Devil was in your heart
But Heaven was in your eyes
The night that you told me
Those little white lies
Those lies
Teeny-weeny little white lies
The lyrics of Kay Starr's Little White Lies convey a deep sense of betrayal as the singer laments the deceitful nature of her lover. The opening lines, "The moon was all aglow, but heaven was in your eyes," presents a stark contrast between the perfect ambiance of the scene and the dishonesty that exists within it. The sentiment is echoed in the chorus when she sings, "Who wouldn't believe those lips, who wouldn't believe those eyes/The night that you told me those little white lies." The use of the word "little" in the lyrics is significant as it implies that the lies do not count as significant or significant enough to be considered as anything other than trivial. However, the emotional damage they have inflicted the singer is evident from the melancholic melody and the repeated lines in the song.
The lyrics also suggest an inability to forget the betrayal, despite attempts to do so. The lines, "I try, but there's no forgetting when evenin' appears/I sigh but there's no regretting in spite of my tears," captures the singer's sense of helplessness in the face of being lied to repeatedly by her lover. The final lines, "The Devil was in your heart, but Heaven was in your eyes/The night that you told me those little white lies," further emphasize the singer's feelings of being deceived by someone she thought was good at heart.
Line by Line Meaning
The moon was all aglow
The night was beautiful and magical.
But heaven was in your eyes
You had a look of utter happiness and contentment.
The night that you told me
On that particular night...
Those little white lies
...you told me some small lies that seemed harmless at the time.
The stars all seemed to know
Even though I couldn't see it, the stars were aware that you were lying.
You didn't mean all those sighs
I now know that your sighs were just a part of your lie.
I try, but there's no forgetting
I've tried to forget, but I can't.
When evenin' appears
At the end of each day...
I sigh but there's no regretting
...I let out a sigh, but I don't regret what happened.
In spite of my tears
Even though I've cried over this.
Who wouldn't believe those lips
Anybody could've fallen for your lies if they looked at your lips.
Who wouldn't believe those eyes
Your eyes had an innocent, truthful look that was hard to ignore.
The Devil was in your heart
Despite that innocent look, you knew you were lying.
But Heaven was in your eyes
Despite the aforementioned lie, you were still innocent.
Those lies
The small lies you told me.
Teeny-weeny little white lies
The lies seemed small and innocent.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BOB MILLER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind