Some of her best known hits are "It's So Peaceful in the Country", "Trust In Me", "Where Are You", "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart", "Small Fry", "Please Be Kind", "Darn That Dream", "Rockin' Chair", "Blame It On My Last Affair", and "Says My Heart".
Born Mildred Rinker in Tekoa, Washington, her mother, Josephine, was an enrolled member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and a devout Roman Catholic. Her father, Charles, played fiddle and called square dances. Her mother played piano every evening after supper and taught Mildred to play and sing. Her brothers were the vocalist and composer Al Rinker, and the lyricist Charles Rinker.
[edit]Career
At the age of seventeen, Bailey moved to Seattle and worked as a sheet music demonstrator at Woolworth's. She married and divorced Ted Bailey, keeping his last name because she thought it sounded more American than Rinker.[3] With the help of her second husband, Benny Stafford, she became an established blues and jazz singer on the West Coast. According to Gary Giddins' book Bing Crosby – A Pocketful of Dreams – The Early Years 1903-1940, in 1925 she secured work for her brother, Al Rinker, and his partner Bing Crosby. Giddins further states that Crosby first heard of Louis Armstrong and other Chicago black jazz records from Bailey's own record collection. Crosby helped Bailey in turn by introducing her to Paul Whiteman. She sang with Paul Whiteman's band from 1929 to 1933 (Whiteman had a popular radio program and when Bailey debuted with her version of "Moaning Low" in 1929, public reaction was immediate, although she did not start recording with Whiteman until late 1931).
Her first two records were as uncredited vocalist for an Eddie Lang Orchestra session in 1929 ("What Kind O' Man Is You?", an obscure Hoagy Carmichael song that was only issued in the UK) and a 1930 recording of "I Like To Do Things For You" for Frankie Trumbauer. She was Whiteman's popular female vocalist through 1932 (recording in a smooth crooning style), when she left the band due to salary disagreements. She then recorded a series of records for Brunswick in 1933 (accompanied by The Dorsey Brothers), as well an all-star session with Benny Goodman's studio band in 1934 that featured Coleman Hawkins.
In the mid-1930s, she recorded with her third husband Red Norvo. A dynamic couple, they earned the nicknames "Mr. and Mrs. Swing". During this period (1936–1939) Norvo recorded for Brunswick (with Bailey as primary vocalist) and Bailey recorded her own set of recordings for Vocalion, often with Norvo's band. Some of her recordings instead featured members of Count Basie's band. Despite her divorce from Norvo, she and Red would continue to record together until 1945. Suffering from diabetes and depression (during her adult life Bailey was overweight), she only made a few recordings following World War II.
Mildred Bailey died December 12, 1951, in Poughkeepsie, New York, of heart failure, aged 44, chiefly due to her diabetes. Her ashes were scattered. Red Norvo outlived Bailey by nearly half a century, dying in April 1999, a week after his 91st birthday.
Peter Piper
Mildred Bailey Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That goes for Albert Einstein, the League of Nations too,
So now my fine and feathered friend,
I'll leave it up to you.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How much do I love you?
Then what have I got to pick to turn the trick
If Simple Simon sat beside a shallow saucer
Tryin' to catch a whale
Then what have I got to try to make you buy
The heart I've got for sale?
How much wood would a wood-chuck chuck
If a wood-chuck could chuck wood?
I'd chuck double with no trouble
If it did me any good
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
I'll tell you what I'd do
I'd pick a peck of peppers
Sit beside a saucer
I'd even be a wood-chuck
Chuck-in all I could chuck
Just to make you love me too.
The lyrics of Mildred Bailey's song Peter Piper are a jumble of absurd questions and challenges set against a playful jazz melody. The song's premise is that the singer is in love with someone, but doesn't know what they can do to win their affections. The solution, proposed in the lyrics, is a series of nonsensical challenges referencing popular nursery rhymes and tongue twisters. The singer first introduces a riddle that nobody can solve, declaring that even Albert Einstein and the League of Nations are stumped by it. Then, they ask their "fine and feathered friend" (presumably the audience) for help in winning the heart of their beloved.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm in the middle of solving a riddle that no one can do;
I am currently trying to solve a problem that nobody has been able to solve.
That goes for Albert Einstein, the League of Nations too,
Even great minds such as Albert Einstein and renowned organizations like the League of Nations have not been able to solve this riddle.
So now my fine and feathered friend,
My dear friend,
I'll leave it up to you.
I am entrusting you to solve this riddle for me.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Assuming Peter Piper gathered a quantity of pickled peppers,
How much do I love you?
How deep is my affection for you?
Then what have I got to pick to turn the trick
What task must I complete to gain your love?
And make you love me too?
So that you too can reciprocate my feelings?
If Simple Simon sat beside a shallow saucer
Assuming Simple Simon relaxed next to a shallow vessel,
Tryin' to catch a whale
Attempting to capture a whale,
Then what have I got to try to make you buy
Then what do I need to do to convince you to purchase,
The heart I've got for sale?
The love that I am offering you?
How much wood would a wood-chuck chuck
Assuming a wood-chuck can collect timber,
If a wood-chuck could chuck wood?
How much wood would he gather?
I'd chuck double with no trouble
I would gather twice the amount with ease
If it did me any good
If this action would benefit me in any way
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Considering that Peter Piper gathered a quantity of pickled peppers
I'll tell you what I'd do
This is what I would do
I'd pick a peck of peppers
I would gather a quantity of peppers
Sit beside a saucer
I would sit next to a vessel
I'd even be a wood-chuck
I would even gather timber,
Chuck-in all I could chuck
Collect as much as I could
Just to make you love me too.
So that you may reciprocate my feelings of affection.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHNNY MERCER, RICHARD WHITING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@thecardinalcritique7856
Such a lovely tune! Makes one quite happy hearing it especially in her voice:
@VolkerundWallyMusic
Very nice Video
@Trombonology
Not every vocalist could pull this one off at all, let alone deliver a performance of great charm and style. The great Mildred Bailey, however, was no ordinary singer: There seems to have been very little from the pop music of her day that was beyond her range. Now, as then, she deserves much wider acclaim, as does her then-husband Red Norvo's utterly marvelous, unique band.