Her musical talent may have been inherited; her father Richard Whiting, was a famous composer of popular songs. She also had an aunt, Margaret Young, who was also a singer and popular recording artist in the 1920s. In her childhood her singing ability was already noticed, and at the age of only seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had worked on some popular songs. In 1942, Mercer started Capitol Records with two partners, and signed her as one of their earliest recording artists.
Until the mid-1950s, she continued to record for Capitol, but as she ceased to record songs that charted as hits, switched to Dot Records in 1958 and to Verve Records in 1960. She came back to Capitol in the mid-1960s, then went to London Records in 1966. On London, Whiting landed one last major hit single in 1966, "The Wheel Of Hurt," which hit #1 on the Easy Listening singles chart.
She continued to sing into the 1990s.
During the 1950s, she was married to record executive Lou Busch, who also recorded semi-anonymously as the ragtime pianist Joe "Fingers" Carr. They had one daughter. Her late-life marriage to younger gay porn star Jack Wrangler raised many eyebrows. When they first began dating, he protested, "But I'm gay!" to which she replied, "Only around the edges, dear."
She died on January 10, 2011 at the age of eighty-six.
We Kiss in a Shadow
Margaret Whiting Lyrics
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We hide from the moon,
Our meetings are few,
And over too soon.
We speak in a whisper,
Afraid to be heard;
When people are near,
Alone in our secret,
Together we sigh,
For one smiling day to be free
To kiss in the sunlight
And say to the sky:
"Behold and believe what you see!
Behold how my lover loves me!"
We speak in a whisper,
Afraid to be heard;
When people are near,
We speak not a word.
Alone in our secret,
Together we sigh,
For one smiling day to be free
To kiss in the sunlight
And say to the sky:
"Behold and believe what you see!
Behold how my lover loves me!"
To kiss in the sunlight
And say to the sky:
"Behold and believe what you see!
Behold how my lover loves me!"
The first verse of Margaret Whiting's "We Kiss in a Shadow" speaks to the secrecy and furtiveness of a hidden love affair. The lovers "kiss in a shadow" and "hide from the moon," indicating their reluctance to be seen by the rest of the world. Additionally their meetings are "few and over too soon," suggesting perhaps that they are only able to see one another briefly before they each return to the dominating demands of their respective lives.
The second verse delves deeper into the motivation behind the lovers' secretive behavior. They "speak in a whisper" because they are "afraid to be heard" and cannot risk exposure. The lyricist emphasizes the heightened risk of discovery by emphasizing that "when people are near, we speak not a word." The lovers exist in a state of controlled suspense and tense anticipation, conscious of the risk they are taking and always on the lookout for danger.
The final chorus crescendos in a vision of a hoped-for future when the lovers can finally break free from the shackles of secrecy to "kiss in the sunlight" and "say to the sky: "Behold and believe what you see!" They clearly desire to throw off the burden of secrecy and live openly as a couple, with "one smiling day" in which the world can finally recognize and appreciate the depth of their love for one another.
Line by Line Meaning
We kiss in a shadow,
We must conceal our love from the world, hidden away in secrecy.
We hide from the moon,
Even the natural light of the moon cannot reveal our love, because it must stay hidden.
Our meetings are few,
Because of the secrecy and fear of being discovered, our meetings are rare.
And over too soon.
Because our meetings are so rare, they always seem to end too quickly.
We speak in a whisper,
Whenever we are together, our voices must be hushed in order to avoid detection.
Afraid to be heard;
We must not allow our love to be discovered, so we are constantly fearful of being overheard.
When people are near,
We cannot open up to each other when there is any chance of being overheard.
We speak not a word.
We must be completely silent in each other's presence when there is any risk of being overheard.
Alone in our secret,
Our love is our own, hidden away from the world and kept in secret.
Together we sigh,
Even though we must keep our love hidden, being together is enough to bring us happiness.
For one smiling day to be free
We dream of a day when we can openly express our love, allowed to be free from secrecy for even a short time.
To kiss in the sunlight
To be able to freely reveal our love to the world, no longer needing to hide it away in shadows.
And say to the sky:
To shout out our love to the world, no longer needing to whisper in secrecy.
"Behold and believe what you see!
We want to proudly show our love to the world, inviting them to see it for themselves.
Behold how my lover loves me!"
We want to show the world how deeply we love each other, no longer constrained by fear and secrecy.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind