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.
Skylark
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Have you anything to say to me?
Won't you tell me where my love can be?
Is there a meadow in the mist
Where someone's waiting to be kissed?
Skylark
Have you seen a valley green with spring?
Over the shadows and the rain
To a blossom covered lane
And in your lonely flight
Haven't you heard the music of the night?
Wonderful music
Faint as a will o' the wisp
Crazy as a loon
Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon
Skylark
I don't know if you can find these things
But my heart is riding on your wings
So if you see them anywhere
Won't you lead me there
And in your lonely flight
Haven't you heard the music in the night?
Wonderful music
Faint as a will o' the wisp
Crazy as a loon
Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon
Oh, Skylark
I don't know if you can find these things
But my heart is riding on your wings
So if you see them anywhere
Won't you lead me there
In Ruth Brown's classic song, "Skylark", the singer addresses a bird and asks if it has seen or heard anything that might help her find her lost love. The metaphor of the skylark is one of hope, symbolizing a higher power that can help the singer in her search. The singer asks if the bird has seen a meadow or a green valley, places where her heart can go on a journey to find love. The lyrics are filled with vivid imagery, as the singer imagines being led through shadowy paths and blossom-covered lanes.
The chorus of the song is particularly poignant, as the singer highlights the importance of the skylark's lonely flight. The bird's flight is used as a metaphor for the singer's own journey to find love, and she asks the skylark if it has heard the music of the night - "wonderful music, faint as a will o' the wisp, crazy as a loon, sad as a gypsy serenading the moon." The lyrical language is beautiful and evocative, conjuring up images of a lonely yet hopeful journey in search of love.
Overall, Ruth Brown's "Skylark" is a moving and poignant song that captures the longing for love and the hope that one day it will be found.
Line by Line Meaning
Skylark
Addressing the bird, using it as a symbol for hope and guidance
Have you anything to say to me?
Asking the bird if it has a message for her
Won't you tell me where my love can be?
Asking the bird for help in finding her lost love
Is there a meadow in the mist
Asking if there is a place where lovers can be found
Where someone's waiting to be kissed?
Asking if there is a place where she can find her lover and share a romantic moment
Skylark
Repeating the opening line, reinforcing the theme of hope and guidance
Have you seen a valley green with spring?
Asking if there is a beautiful, lush valley she can visit
Where my heart can go a journeying
A romantic expression of wanting to explore and experience the beauty of nature with her love
Over the shadows and the rain
Expressing a desire to overcome adversity with a loved one
To a blossom covered lane
An idyllic image of a pathway covered in flowers, representing an idealized romantic setting
And in your lonely flight
Acknowledging the solitary nature of the bird's flight
Haven't you heard the music of the night?
Asking if the bird has ever heard the haunting beauty of nighttime music
Wonderful music
Expressing a sense of wonder and appreciation for the beauty of music
Faint as a will o' the wisp
Comparing the music to the elusive, mysterious nature of a will o' the wisp
Crazy as a loon
Describing the music as wild and unpredictable, like the call of a loon
Sad as a gypsy serenading the moon
Depicting the music as melancholy and romantic, like the music of a wistful gypsy
Skylark
Repeating the opening line once again
I don't know if you can find these things
Expressing uncertainty if the bird can really help her find what she's looking for
But my heart is riding on your wings
Trusting the bird to provide guidance and direction
So if you see them anywhere
Asking the bird to keep an eye out for the places she's searching for
Won't you lead me there
Asking the bird to guide her to the places she's looking for
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HOAGY CARMICHAEL, JOHNNY MERCER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind