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.
Good Morning Heartache
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Good morning heartache, thought we said goodbye last night
I turned and tossed until it seemed you had gone
But here you are with the dawn
Wish I'd forget you, but you're here to stay
It seems I met you when my love went away
Now everyday I start by saying to you
Stop haunting me now
Can't chase you no how
Just leave me alone
I've got those Monday blues
Straight through Sunday blues
Good morning heartache, here we go again
Good morning heartache, you're the one who knew me when
Might as well get used to you hanging around
Good morning heartache, sit down
Stop haunting me now
Can't chase you no how
Just leave me alone
I've got those Monday blues
Straight through Sunday blues
Good morning heartache, here we go again
Good morning heartache, you're the one who knew me when
Might as well get used to you hanging around
Good morning heartache, sit down
Ruth Brown's song, "Good Morning Heartache," is a poignant exploration of the aftermath of a failed relationship. The song’s opening lines immediately set a sorrowful tone, as the singer greets her “old gloomy sight” with resignation. She had hoped to part ways with the heartache that has dogged her, even tossing and turning in an effort to drive it away, but alas, it always returns with the dawn.
The lyrics convey the sense that the singer is locked in an emotional struggle with her own heartache, trying her best to move on and start anew every day, only to be reminded of her lost love. She wishes she could forget her heartache, but it seems to have become a constant companion, following her around like a shadow.
The refrain of “Good morning heartache, sit down” is an acknowledgment of the futility of fighting against her own heartache. It shows that the singer has come to accept her pain as a part of her life, and that she can no longer will it away. The final lines of the song suggest that the singer has resigned herself to a life in which she must learn to coexist with her heartache, even if it means facing perpetual sadness.
Line by Line Meaning
Good morning heartache, you old gloomy sight
Addressing the pain and sadness that comes with heartbreak as an old but consistent presence in the singer's life.
Good morning heartache, thought we said goodbye last night
Expressing the singer's surprise at the return of heartache after believing they had finally let go of it.
I turned and tossed until it seemed you had gone
But here you are with the dawn
Describing the singer's struggle to rid themselves of heartache, only to find it still present in the morning.
Wish I'd forget you, but you're here to stay
Acknowledging the singer's desire to move on from heartache, but recognizing that it will persist and be difficult to forget.
It seems I met you when my love went away
Now everyday I start by saying to you
Good morning heartache, what's new
Noticing a correlation between the beginning of heartache and the end of a relationship, and acknowledging the consistent presence of heartache in daily life.
Stop haunting me now
Can't chase you no how
Just leave me alone
I've got those Monday blues
Straight through Sunday blues
Pleading with heartache to stop haunting the singer, but recognizing that it will persist and negatively impact their life every day of the week.
Good morning heartache, here we go again
Good morning heartache, you're the one who knew me when
Might as well get used to you hanging around
Good morning heartache, sit down
Coming to terms with the constant presence of heartache and resigning oneself to its continued burden, acknowledging its deep roots in the singer's life.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Ervin Drake, Dan Fisher, Irene Higginbotham Padellan
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind