Mercer was born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Her mother was a young, white English music hall performer, and her father was a black American jazz musician whom Mabel never knew. At age fourteen, she left her convent school in Manchester, and toured Britain and Europe with her aunt in vaudeville and music hall engagements.
In 1928, she was an unknown member of the black chorus in the London production of Show Boat, but she had become the toast of Paris by the 1930s, with admirers who included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter.
When World War II broke out, she traveled to America to sing in the finest supper clubs in New York City. She also made many concert appearances across the U.S. In the late 1960s, she gave two legendary concerts with Bobby Short at Town Hall in New York City. Both were released by Atlantic Records: Mabel Mercer & Bobby Short at Town Hall, in 1968, (Atlantic SD 2-604) and Mabel Mercer & Bobby Short Second Town Hall Concert, in 1969 (Atlantic SD 2-605). In 1969, she made two appearances on the television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Her original and reissued albums are collector's items. Atlantic Records reissued four of her early LPs in a boxed set in 1975, in honor of her 75th birthday. She was awarded Stereo Review Magazine's first Award for Merit, for her lifetime achievement and for "outstanding contributions to the quality of American musical life." This award was officially renamed the Mabel Mercer Award in 1984.
A photograph of Mercer in later life, from the archives of The Mabel Mercer Foundation.
When Mercer returned on 4 July 1977 for her first performance in England in 41 years, the BBC filmed three evenings' performances and later broadcast it in a week-long late-night television program, a BBC first for an entertainer.
In 1978, "Midnight at Mabel Mercer's," her 1956 album on Atlantic, was praised as "one of the best recordings of the past twenty years" by Stereo Review. That same year, Mercer played at San Francisco's Club Mocambo to sold-out audiences, in celebration of her 78th birthday.
Blame It On My Youth
Mabel Mercer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Blame it on my youth.
If only for you I did exist,
Blame it on my youth.
I believed in everything,
Like a child of three;
You meant more than anything,
If you were on my mind all night and day,
Blame it on my youth.
If I forgot to eat and sleep and pray,
Blame it on my youth.
If I cried a little bit
When first I learned the truth,
Don't blame it on my heart,
Blame it on my youth.
If I cried a little bit
When first I learned the truth,
Don't blame it on my heart,
Blame it on my youth.
The lyrics to Mabel Mercer's song "Blame It On My Youth" are a poignant reflection on the naivety and vulnerability of youth, and how it can lead us to make choices that may not always be the best for our emotional well-being. The first two lines set the tone for the rest of the song, as the singer acknowledges that their expectations of love and existence revolved around the person they loved. The tentative nature of the singer's love is highlighted by the line "If only for you I did exist," suggesting that without the love of the other person, the singer wouldn't have had a sense of purpose in life.
The next stanza underscores the singer's innocence and lack of worldly experience, as they "believed in everything like a child of three." This childlike belief led them to place tremendous value and importance on the person they loved, seeing them as "more than anything, all the world to me." The chorus of the song is an admission of how all-consuming this love was, as the singer confesses to forgetting to eat, sleep, and pray. The line "Blame it on my youth" is a recurring refrain throughout the song, serving as a reminder that youth can often lead us to make misguided choices that we later regret.
The final stanza brings things full circle, as the singer confronts the truth of their situation and recognizes the pain it has caused them. However, rather than placing blame on their heart, they take responsibility for their naivety and inexperience, proclaiming "Don't blame it on my heart, blame it on my youth." The song, therefore, is a heartfelt plea for understanding, as the singer acknowledges that their choices were shaped by their youth and lack of experience.
Line by Line Meaning
If I expected love when first we kissed,
If I had high hopes for our relationship when we first kissed
Blame it on my youth.
It's because I was young and naive that I expected so much
If only for you I did exist,
If my existence revolved solely around you
I believed in everything,
I was gullible and believed almost anything
Like a child of three;
Just like how young children believe in fairy tales and magic
You meant more than anything,
You were the most important thing in my life
All the world to me!
You were my world
If you were on my mind all night and day,
If I couldn't stop thinking about you, day and night
If I forgot to eat and sleep and pray,
If I neglected basic necessities like eating, sleeping and praying, all because of you
If I cried a little bit
If I shed some tears
When first I learned the truth,
When I first discovered the truth about something
Don't blame it on my heart,
Don't say that my heart was weak or unable to handle it
Blame it on my youth.
I was just young and inexperienced, and that's why I got emotional
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Edward Heyman, Oscar Levant
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind