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.
I Loves You Porgy
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Don′t let him take me
Don't let him handle me
And drive me mad
If you can keep me
I want to stay with you forever
And I′ll be glad
I loves you, Porgy
Don't let him take me
Don't let him handle me
With his hot hands
If you can keep me
I want to stay with you forever
I like my man
Someday I know he′s coming
Back to call me
He′s gonna handle me
And hold me so
It's going to be like dying, Porgy
When he calls me
But when he comes, I know
I′ll have to go
The song "I Loves You, Porgy" is a ballad sung by Bess, the female lead character in the opera Porgy and Bess. The song was written by George and Ira Gershwin, with lyrics by DuBose Heyward. The lyrics describe the singer's fear of Crown, her abusive boyfriend, and her desire to stay with Porgy, the man she truly loves. Bess asks Porgy not to let Crown take her away or handle her, as she fears he will drive her mad. She expresses her desire to stay with Porgy forever, as he is the one who truly loves and values her.
The somber melody and the lyrics of the song convey a sense of longing, desperation, and love. It is a plea for protection from an abusive lover and a desire for a safe and stable life with the person the singer truly loves. The song's emotional power lies in its ability to convey the raw and vulnerable emotions that come with love and abuse.
Line by Line Meaning
I loves you, Porgy
I am deeply in love with you, Porgy.
Don't let him take me
I don't want anyone else to take me away from you.
Don't let him handle me
I don't want anyone else to touch or mistreat me.
And drive me mad
I can't bear the thought of being driven insane by someone else's actions.
If you can keep me
If you can protect and love me, then
I want to stay with you forever
I want to be with you for the rest of my life.
And I'll be glad
And that would make me incredibly happy and satisfied.
With his hot hands
Specifically, I don't want anyone else's hands to be on me, especially if they are unwelcome or uncomfortable, Porgy.
I like my man
I am devoted to you, Porgy, and you alone.
Someday I know he's coming
I am aware that at some point, someone else may come into my life.
Back to call me
They may try to lure me away from you and take me for themselves.
He's gonna handle me
This person may act in a possessive or abusive manner towards me.
And hold me so
They may try to trap me in their grip and keep me from you, Porgy.
It's going to be like dying, Porgy
Leaving you would be absolutely devastating and unbearable.
When he calls me
If this person does attempt to take me away, I know they will try to lure me back with their calls and promises.
But when he comes, I know
Even though I am aware of the impending danger and heartache this person poses, I still worry that I may be swayed by their advances.
I'll have to go
Ultimately, I know that it is important to resist these attempts and stay loyal to you, Porgy.
Writer(s): Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin, Dubose Edwin Heyward
Contributed by Emily O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Staffan Lindström
Great!