Keely Smith (Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, Norfolk, Virginia, March 9, 1928 - D… Read Full Bio ↴Keely Smith (Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, Norfolk, Virginia, March 9, 1928 - December 16, 2017) was a Grammy Award-winning American jazz and popular music singer, who performed and recorded extensively in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo-artist.

Smith showed a natural aptitude for singing at a young age. At 14, she sang with a naval air station band led by Saxie Dowell. At 15, she got her first paying job with the Earl Bennett band.

She saw Louis Prima perform in New York City in 1949. When he came through Norfolk, Virginia, she auditioned. She became the calm balance to Prima's wild antics, as he made his way through a repertoire of jump blues, jazz, and Italian pop songs. They recorded together in 1949 and married in 1953.

Their songs included Johnny Mercer's and Harold Arlen's "That Ol' Black Magic", which was a Top 20 hit in the US in 1958. At the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1959, Smith and Prima won the first Grammy for Best Performance by a Vocal Group for "That Ol' Black Magic". Her deadpan act was popular with fans. The duo followed up with the minor successes "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen", a revival of the 1937 Andrews Sisters hit. Smith and Prima's act was a mainstay of the Las Vegas lounge scene for much of the 1950s. Though her actual voice was not used, she was caricatured as "Squealy Smith" in Bob Clampett's 1960 Beany and Cecil episode "So What and the Seven Whatnots," a Snow White spoof in a Vegas setting.

Smith appeared with Prima in the 1959 film, Hey Boy! Hey Girl!, singing "Fever", and also appeared in and sang on the soundtrack of the previous year's Thunder Road. Her song in Thunder Road was "Whippoorwill". Her first big solo hit was "I Wish You Love" in 1957. In 1961, Smith divorced Prima. She then signed with Reprise Records, where her musical director was Nelson Riddle. In 1965, she had Top 20 hits in the United Kingdom with an album of Beatles compositions, and a single, "You're Breaking My Heart" which reached No. 14 in April.

She returned to singing in 1985, recording the album I'm in Love Again with Bud Shank and Bill Perkins. Her albums, Swing, Swing, Swing (2002), Keely Sings Sinatra (2001) for which she received a Grammy nomination, and Keely Swings Count Basie Style with Strings (2002) won critical and popular acclaim.

In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.

Smith was of Irish and Native American ancestry.

Married Louis Leo Prima July 13, 1953, in Virginia Beach; the couple divorced in 1961. They had two children: Toni Elizabeth and Luanne Francis.
Married Jimmy Bowen in 1965. The couple divorced in 1969.
Married singer Bobby Milano (real name Charles Caci) in 1975 in Palm Springs. Frank Sinatra gave the bride away.

Smith died of apparent heart failure in Palm Springs California on December 16t, 2017 at the age of 89.

Discography
1957 I Wish You Love (Capitol)
1958 Politely! (Capitol)
1959 Swingin' Pretty (Capitol)
1959 Be My Love (Dot)
1960 Swing, You Lovers (Dot)
1960 A Keely Christmas (Dot)
1961 Twist With Keely Smith (Dot)
1961 Dearly Beloved (Dot)
1962 Because You're Mine (Dot)
1962 What Kind of Fool Am I? (Dot)
1962 Cherokeely Swings (Dot)
1963 Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New (Reprise)
1964 The Intimate Keely Smith (Reprise)
1965 Keely Smith Sings the John Lennon—Paul McCartney Songbook (Reprise)
1965 That Old Black Magic (Reprise)
1985 I'm In Love Again (Fantasy)
2000 Swing, Swing, Swing (Concord Jazz)
2001 Keely Sings Sinatra (Concord Jazz)
2002 Keely Swings Basie-Style With Strings (Concord Jazz)
2005 Vegas '58 – Today (Concord)

With Louis Prima

1958 Breaking It Up! (Columbia)
1958 Louis Prima & Keely Smith on Broadway (Coronet)
1959 Louis and Keely! (Dot)
1958 Together (Dot)
1961 Return of the Wildest! (Dot)

With Louis Prima and Sam Butera and the Witnesses

1957 The Call of the Wildest (Capitol)
1957 The Wildest Show at Tahoe (Capitol)
1958 Las Vegas Prima Style (Capitol)
1959 Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (Capitol)
1960 On Stage (Dot)

Don't Take Your Love From Me
Keely Smith Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Tear a star from out the sky
And the sky feels blue
Tear a petal from the rose
And the rose weeps too
Take your heart away from mine
And mine will surely break
My life is yours to make
So please keep the spark awake

Would you take the wings from birds
So that they can't fly?
Would you take the ocean's roar
And leave just a sigh?
All this, your heart won't let you do
This is what I beg of you
Don't take your love from me

Would you take the wings from birds
So that they can't fly?
Would you take the ocean's roar
And leave just a sigh?
All this, your heart won't let you do
This is what I beg of you
Don't take your love

Don't take your love
Don't take your love from me

Overall Meaning

In Keely Smith's song Don't Take Your Love From Me, she uses vivid metaphors to express the depth of her feelings towards her lover. In the opening lines, she describes how removing a star from the sky would make the sky feel blue and tearing a petal from a rose would make the rose weep too. These lines indicate the immense pain she would feel if her lover were to take their love away from her.

She further sings, "Take your heart away from mine and mine will surely break, my life is yours to make, so please keep the spark awake." These lines reveal how her life and happiness depend entirely on her lover's love and how she hopes that her lover will keep their passion and romance alive.

The second verse of the song asks poignant questions, "Would you take the wings from birds so that they can't fly?/Would you take the ocean's roar and leave just a sigh?" These questions emphasize the idea that the loss of love would be as devastating as taking away the ability to fly from birds or leaving behind a mere sigh instead of the mighty sound of the ocean’s roar.

In conclusion, Keely Smith's Don't Take Your Love From Me is a romantic song that portrays the importance of one's love in another's life. Through her lyrics and metaphors, she beautifully pleads her lover to keep their love alive and not to take it away from her.

Line by Line Meaning

Tear a star from out the sky
If you were to take even one star out of the sky, the sky will still be the sky but it will lose its sparkle.

And the sky feels blue
The sky which was once so vibrant and full of life, has now lost its essence and become dull.

Tear a petal from the rose
When you pluck a petal from a rose, the rose will feel incomplete and lose its beauty.

And the rose weeps too
Once a rose petal is missing, the rose will never be the same and tears itself apart to cope with the loss.

Take your heart away from mine
If you ever leave me or stop loving me, it will be as if you have ripped my heart out of my chest.

And mine will surely break
Without your love, my heart will be shattered into a million pieces and can't be repaired.

My life is yours to make
I have given you the power to control and direct my life, and I trust you completely with it.

So please keep the spark awake
Please don't let the love and passion between us die, please keep it alive and thriving.

Would you take the wings from birds
Just like how it's cruel to take the ability to fly away from birds, it's equally cruel to take away the ability to love.

So that they can't fly?
Taking away the wings from birds would take away their freedom and their ability to soar free.

Would you take the ocean's roar
It is impossible to take away the sound and power of the ocean, just as it is impossible to take away the love between two people.

And leave just a sigh?
Leaving just a sigh would be like leaving nothing at all, and reducing the ocean to a mere whisper.

All this, your heart won't let you do
Your heart is full of love and compassion, and it would never allow you to hurt me by taking away your love.

This is what I beg of you
Please, above all else, keep loving me and never take your love away from me.

Don't take your love from me
I can't live without your love, please don't take it away from me.

Lyrics © INDANO MUSIC COMPANY, BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Henry Nemo

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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