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.
Lovesick Blues
Kay Starr Lyrics
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I'm in love,
I'm in love with a girl,
That's what's the matter with me
I'm in love,
I'm in love, with a beautiful girl,
But she don't give a darn about me
to make her love me I tried,
But she just refused
And ever since she's gone away,
I've got those lovesick blues
Got the feeling called the "blue hoo's,"
since my sweetie said "Good Bye"
Seems I don't know what to "Do Hoo"
All day long I sit and cry
That last long day we spent alone
I'm yearning for it yet
She thrilled me, filled me,
with a kind of lovin',
I never will forget, the way she called me sweet daddy"
Twas just a beautiful dream
I hate to think that it's all over I lost my heart it seems
I got so used to her somehow
But I'm no body's baby
Now, gee it's awful when you're lonesome
and get those lovesick blue-oo-oo-oo-oo's
Got the feeling called the "blue hoo's,"
since my sweetie said "Good Bye"
Seems I don't know what to "Do Hoo"
All day long I sit and cry
That last long day we spent alone
I'm yearning for it yet
She thrilled me, filled me,
with a kind of lovin',
I never will forget, the way she called me sweet daddy
Twas just a beautiful dream
I hate to think that it's all over I lost my heart it seems
i got so used to her somehow
But I'm no body's baby
Now, gee it's awful when you're lonesome
and get those lovesick blue-oo-oo-oo-oo's
The song "Lovesick Blues" by Kay Starr is about unrequited love. The singer is deeply in love with a girl who doesn't reciprocate his feelings. He has tried to make her love him, but she has refused. Since she's gone, the singer has been suffering from the "blue hoo's" or lovesick blues. He spends his days sitting and crying, yearning for the love he can't have.
The singer remembers the last day they spent together, and how she made him feel. He longs for the moments when she called him "sweet daddy," but realizes that it was just a beautiful dream. He hates to think that it's all over and that he lost his heart. He got so used to her that he feels like he's nobody's baby now. The loneliness of being lovesick is awful, and it brings him down.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a girl, That's what's the matter with me
Being deeply in love with someone is causing me emotional distress.
I'm in love, I'm in love, with a beautiful girl, But she don't give a darn about me
I am completely smitten with a lovely woman who does not reciprocate my feelings.
to make her love me I tried, How I sighed and I cried But she just refused And ever since she's gone away, I've got those lovesick blues
I attempted to win her heart to no avail, and her departure has brought on a deep sense of heartache.
Got the feeling called the "blue hoo's," since my sweetie said "Good Bye" Seems I don't know what to "Do Hoo" All day long I sit and cry
Since my beloved left me, I've been in a state of overwhelming sadness, and am unable to cope with my loss.
That last long day we spent alone I'm yearning for it yet She thrilled me, filled me, with a kind of lovin', I never will forget, the way she called me sweet daddy" Twas just a beautiful dream
I look back longingly on the last day we spent together, recalling the joy and love she showed me that now seems like a distant dream.
I hate to think that it's all over I lost my heart it seems i got so used to her somehow But I'm no body's baby Now, gee it's awful when you're lonesome and get those lovesick blue-oo-oo-oo-oo's
The idea that our relationship has ended is devastating, as being with her became an integral part of my life, but now I am single again and struggling to handle the loneliness that comes with it.
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Cliff Friend, Irving Mills
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind