Born Ruth Alston Weston on 30th January 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia, she attended I. C. Norcom High School, a historically black high school. Brown's father was a dockhand who directed the local church choir, but the young Ruth showed more of an interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. In 1945, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with a trumpeter, Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder's orchestra, but was fired after she brought drinks to the band for free, and was left stranded in Washington, D.C.
Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at a Washington nightclub called Crystal Caverns and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, a Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses, Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned though, because of a serious car accident that resulted in a nine-month hospital stay. In 1948, however, Ertegün and Abramson drove to Washington from New York City to hear her sing in the club. Although her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, Ertegün convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues. His productions for her, however, retained her pop style, with clean, fresh arrangements and the singing spot on the beat with little of the usual blues singer's embroidery.
In her first audition, in 1949, she sang "So Long", which became a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from My Eyes" in 1950; written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Ruth Brown, establishing her as an important figure in R&B. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was on Billboard's List of number-one R&B hits (United States) for eleven weeks. The huge hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm", and within a few months Ruth Brown became the acknowledged queen of R&B.
She followed up this hit with "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What a Dream" (1954), "Mambo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960). She also became known as "Little Miss Rhythm" and "the girl with the teardrop in her voice". In all, she was on the R&B charts for 149 weeks from 1949 to 1955, with sixteen top-ten blues records including five number ones, and became Atlantic's most popular artist, earning Atlantic records the proper name of "The House that Ruth Built".
During the 1960s, Brown faded from public view to become a housewife and mother, and only returned to music in 1975 at the urging of Redd Foxx, followed by a series of comic acting gigs, including roles in the sitcom Hello, Larry and the John Waters film Hairspray as local DJ Motormouth Maybelle, as well as Broadway appearances in Amen Corner and Black and Blue, which earned her a Tony Award for her performance and a Grammy award for her album Blues on Broadway, featuring hits from the show.
Brown's fight for musicians' rights and royalties in 1987 led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was inducted as a Pioneer Award recipient in its first year, 1989. In 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as "The Queen Mother of the Blues".
She has become an iconic symbol to many black women for later generations, where she is also a favourite artist and inspiration for later blues artists such as Bonnie Raitt. Brown recorded and sang along with fellow rhythm and blues performer Charles Brown, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and toured with Raitt on Raitt's tour in the late 1990s, "Road Tested". Her 1995 autobiography, Miss Rhythm, won the Gleason Award for music journalism.
Brown died in a Las Vegas-area hospital on 17th November 2006, from complications following a heart attack and stroke she suffered after surgery in October 2006. A memorial concert for her was held on 22nd January 2007 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York.
Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Heard they crowded the floor
Couldn't bear it without you
Don't get around much anymore
Though I'd visit the club
Got as far as the door
They'd have asked me about you
Darling, I guess my mind's more at ease
But nevertheless why stir up memories?
Been invited on dates
Might have gone but what for?
Awf'lly diff'rent without you
Don't get around much anymore
In Ruth Brown's song "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," the singer is lamenting the absence of her significant other. She notes that she missed the Saturday dance because she heard that the floor was crowded and she couldn't bear it without her loved one. She admits that she tried to visit the club they used to go to together but couldn't get past the door because she knew everyone would ask about her partner. She concludes by saying that while she may have been invited on dates, she can't imagine going without her significant other because things are "awf'lly diff'rent without you."
The tone of the song is one of resignation and sadness. The singer is trying to come to terms with the fact that her loved one is no longer with her and that life is different now. She seems to be accepting the fact that she won't be going out and socializing as much as she used to. The line "why stir up memories" suggests that she is trying to move on and that talking about her partner will only make things worse.
Line by Line Meaning
Missed the Saturday dance
I didn't go to the dance on Saturday
Heard they crowded the floor
I heard that the dance was pretty popular
Couldn't bear it without you
I felt sad not having you with me
Don't get around much anymore
I don't go out as much anymore
Though I'd visit the club
I thought about going to the club
Got as far as the door
But didn't actually enter
They'd have asked me about you
People would have asked me about you
Darling, I guess my mind's more at ease
I feel more at peace now, my dear
But nevertheless why stir up memories?
But there's no point in bringing up old memories
Been invited on dates
I have received invitations to go out on dates
Might have gone but what for?
I thought about accepting, but didn't see the point
Awf'lly diff'rent without you
It's just not the same without you
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Duke Ellington, Bob Russell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind