Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks, July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was … Read Full Bio ↴Kay Starr (Katherine Laverne Starks, July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was an American pop and jazz singer who enjoyed considerable success in the 1940s and 1950s.

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.

Swingin
Kay Starr Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Everybody's hand in hand
Swingin' down the lane
Everybody's feelin' grand
Swingin' down the lane

That's the time I miss the bliss
That we might have known
Nights like this

When I'm all alone

When the moon is on the rise
Baby I'm so blue
Watchin' lovers makin' eyes
Like we used to do

When the moon is on the way
Still I'm waitin' all in vain

Should be swingin' down the lane
With you

Overall Meaning

"Swingin' Down the Lane" is one of the many hit songs written by Gus Kahn and Isham Jones in 1923. The melody is characterized by a light-hearted swing rhythm, a soothing accompaniment, and catchy phrases that offset the song's nostalgia. The lyrics use vivid imagery to describe a deserted lane where couples used to swing when the moon was shining. It's a song of longing and heartache, with the singer reminiscing about a former lover while watching other couples in love. The song's haunting refrain adds to its melancholy tone as the singer wishes they were still swinging down the lane together.

The first stanza describes a party-like atmosphere where everyone is holding hands and swinging down the lane. The singer says that nights like this make them miss the happy times they shared with their former lover. They are alone, which makes things worse. The second stanza sets a more melancholy tone as the singer sees the moon rise in the sky, making them feel blue. They watch the "lovers" that are making eyes just like they and their former partner used to do. It then goes on to say that they are still waiting in vain for their old lover to come back and swing down the lane with them again.

One possible interpretation of the song is that it explores themes of nostalgia and regret. The singer longs for the past and the happy times they shared with their lover. They are plagued by memories of these moments and the romance they used to share. The song also conveys a sense of helplessness as the singer yearns for something they cannot have.

Line by Line Meaning

Everybody's hand in hand
Everyone is holding hands

Swingin' down the lane
Walking down the street while swinging their arms

Everybody's feelin' grand
Everyone is feeling great

That's the time I miss the bliss
That is when I miss the happiness

That we might have known
That we could have experienced

Nights like this
Moments like this

When I'm all alone
When I am by myself

When the moon is on the rise
During a night with a rising moon

Baby I'm so blue
I am feeling sad

Watchin' lovers makin' eyes
Watching couples flirting

Like we used to do
Just like we did before