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.
Morning Train
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Stretching and a' yawning, another day ahead
It seems to last forever and time will slowly ride
'Til babe and me's together, then it starts to fly
Cause the moment that he's with me, time can take a flight
The moment that he's with me, everything's alright
Nighttime is the right time, we make love
My baby takes the morning train
He works from nine 'til five and then
He takes another home again
To find me waiting for him
He takes me to a movie or to a restaurant
To go slow dancing, anything I want
Only when he's with me I catch a light
Only when he gives me, makes me feel alright
My baby takes the morning train
He works from nine 'til five and then
He takes another home again
To find me waiting for him
All day I think of him, dreaming of him constantly
I'm crazy, mad for him and he's crazy, mad for me
When he steps off the train, amazingly full of fight
Works all day to earn his pay so we can play all night
My baby takes the morning train
He works from nine 'til five and then
He takes another home again
To find me waiting for him
The lyrics to Ruth Brown's song "Morning Train" talk about an enduring love between two people who only get to spend time together late at night and early in the morning. The song describes the mundane activities of the singer's daily routine, but as soon as her partner is there with her, everything changes – time flies and everything feels alright. The lyrics also mention how the singer's partner works from nine to five and takes the morning train, travelling to and fro in order to make a living, and once he's back, he spends time with her – watching movies, slow dancing, and doing things she likes.
Overall, the song message is about how love can make life interesting, despite the routine and monotonous activities of our daily lives. The idea is that when we're with someone we love, time can fly by and the joy of being with them can make everything else easier to bear. The lyrics are relatable and demonstrate the importance of finding someone who is worth waiting for, even if it means only seeing each other at odd hours.
Line by Line Meaning
I wake up every morning, I stumble out of bed
Every morning, I wake up from my bed with difficulty.
Stretching and a' yawning, another day ahead
I stretch my body and yawn on the thought of another long day just starting.
It seems to last forever and time will slowly ride
Time seems to pass very slowly and making the day seems longer than it actually is.
'Til babe and me's together, then it starts to fly
But when my love is around, the time passes quickly and the day becomes exciting.
Cause the moment that he's with me, time can take a flight
Whenever I'm with him, the speed of the time passes by more quickly than usual.
The moment that he's with me, everything's alright
I feel like everything is just right when I'm with him.
Nighttime is the right time, we make love
The night is perfect for us to express our love for each other.
Then it's his and my time, we take up
It's only our time together, and we enjoy every moment of it.
My baby takes the morning train
My partner takes the morning train to work every day.
He works from nine 'til five and then
He works for eight hours, from nine in the morning until five in the evening.
He takes another home again
After work, he takes the train to come back home.
To find me waiting for him
And he finds me waiting for him to return home and be with me.
He takes me to a movie or to a restaurant
He takes me out to the movies or to a fancy restaurant to have a great time together.
To go slow dancing, anything I want
He lets me choose what I want to do, such as slow dancing or anything else.
Only when he's with me I catch a light
I feel enlightened and amused when I'm with him.
Only when he gives me, makes me feel alright
I only feel alright when he gives me his love and time.
All day I think of him, dreaming of him constantly
All day long, I keep thinking about him and keep dreaming of him.
I'm crazy, mad for him and he's crazy, mad for me
We both love each other so deeply and passionately.
When he steps off the train, amazingly full of fight
When he comes back home, he's full of energy and enthusiasm.
Works all day to earn his pay so we can play all night
He works hard all day to earn money for us to enjoy our free time together all night long.
Writer(s): Ruth Brown, Margie Singleton, Jerry Kennedy
Contributed by Alice B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@MrRomeow
i'm discovering gospel and really love it Thx for sharing Greets from france
@kaydenpat
Lovely!!
@silene494
I got this song playing on a record player in my Grandparents garage. I had to search and find this album. On YouTube
@joybell9212
beutifully voice love the old songs so thrilling wonderfull
@eoj2495
Fond memories of church and sunday school!!!
@thereforeayam
Ruth Brown was Elvis first, before Elvis was Elvis
@blessedover
@dmk78 Yes it is. You wolcome
@blessedover
@MrRomeow you wolcome