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.
Everybody's Talkin'
Ruth Brown Lyrics
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I don't hear a word they're sayin'
Only the echoes of my mind
People stop and stare
I can't see the faces
Only the shadows of their eyes
Through the pouring rain
Goin' where the weather suits my clothes
Bankin' off on the northest wind
Sailing on a summer breeze
Skippin' over the ocean like a storm
Everybody's talkin' at me
Can't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind
In Ruth Brown's "Everybody's Talkin'," the singer expresses detachment from the people around her, as if she is living in a world of her own. The beginning verse makes this clear - she is ignoring everything around her and is only hearing the "echoes of [her] mind." Brown proceeds to elaborate on this sense of apathy in the next lines, when she says that she can't see the faces of the people who are staring at her, only the "shadows of their eyes."
The repetitive "everybody's talkin' at me" suggests that the singer is overwhelmed with the people buzzing around her, yet paradoxically she can't really hear them. She seems to be on a journey, one she purposefully chose a life different from the one she is surrounded by. She finds comfort in going "where the sun keep shinin', through the pouring rain," and "where the weather suits my clothes." Brown later brings up the concept of sailing; a metaphor for letting go and moving/flowing with life, even when the waves grow larger.
Overall, Brown's "Everybody's Talkin'" is a showcase of indifference to the people around her and the desire to find solace in one's own mind. It's a reminder that sometimes, all we need is to just escape, even though everyone else seems like they're chasing after something that we're not.
Line by Line Meaning
Everybody's talkin' at me
I am surrounded by people all talking at once
I don't hear a word they're sayin'
Their words are meaningless and lost in the noise
Only the echoes of my mind
I am lost in thought and only hear my own inner voice
People stop and stare
Strangers look at me as I pass by
I can't see the faces
I don't care about their appearance or who they are
Only the shadows of their eyes
I notice their gazes and their intentions
I'm goin' where the sun keep shinin'
I'm headed towards a positive and cheerful place
Through the pourin' rain
Even in the midst of difficult and trying times
Goin' where the weather suits my clothes
I'm choosing a location that matches my personal style
Bankin' off on the northeast wind
I'm taking advantage of external forces to move forward
Sailin' on a summer breeze
Moving with ease and comfort
Skippin' over the ocean like a stone
Moving effortlessly and rapidly through huge open spaces
Can't hear a word they're saying
I am too consumed with my own thoughts to listen to others
Everybody's talkin' at me
I am still surrounded by people all talking at once
Only the echoes of my mind
Their voices are still lost in the noise of my own inner voice
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: FRED NEIL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind