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.
Too Little Too Late
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And you've been out all night
But you got home just in time
To hear me say "Goodbye"
My mind's made up
And I swear today
That this time my heart won't get in the way
I don't doubt that you're sorry
Not for one moment
And that now you see the error of your ways
And those tears (that's a nice touch!)
Sliding down your face
But it's too little ...too late
It's too little ...too late
Grab your hat and coat
While you're talking
You can call a cab
Or you can take out walkin'
My advice is simple
Find another fool somehow
'Cause all the tears in China won't change my mind now
And I don't doubt that you're sorry
Now you've seen the error of your ways
And those tears (ah! that's a nice touch!)
Sliding down your face
But it's too little ...too late
It's too little, a little too late
It's 4am baby! you've been out all night!
But you got home just in time
To hear me say "Goodbye"
My mind's made up
And I swear today
That this time my heart won't get in the way
I don't doubt! I don't doubt that you're sorry!
Not for one moment
And now you see the error of your ways
And all those tears (well ...that's a nice touch!)
Sliding down your face
But it's too little ...too late
It's too little and it's too late
You're always late
But this time you're too late ...too late ...too late.
Ruth Brown's song "Too Little Too Late" is a heartbreaking tale of a relationship that's come to an unhappy end. The song begins with the singer waking up in the middle of the night to find her partner coming home after being out all night. She has already made up her mind that she can no longer stay in a relationship with someone who is not dependable and who fails to prioritize their relationship. She is firm in her decision to move on and not let her heart get in the way of her logic.
The singer acknowledges that her partner is sorry for the error of their ways and has tears in their eyes, but it's too little too late. She advises her partner to leave her place and find another fool who will fall for their manipulations. The song ends with the repetition of the phrase "too little too late," emphasizing the finality of the situation.
The song's lyrics are a powerful reminder of the importance of being honest and committed in a relationship. It highlights the point that no matter how much someone regrets their actions later, it can never be enough to fix what has been broken already.
Line by Line Meaning
It's 4am baby
It is early morning, which means you have been out all night
And you've been out all night
You have been away from home throughout the entire night
But you got home just in time
You arrived at home at the precise moment when I decided to say goodbye
To hear me say "Goodbye"
You heard me utter the word goodbye, which signifies the end of our relationship
My mind's made up
I have already decided to end our relationship
And I swear today
I am making a promise today
That this time my heart won't get in the way
This time, my emotions will not interfere with my decision to end our relationship
I don't doubt that you're sorry
I have no doubt that you are apologetic
Not for one moment
I do not have a single moment of doubt about your sincerity
And that now you see the error of your ways
You currently understand the mistake you have made
And those tears (that's a nice touch!)
Your tears are a moving display of emotion
Sliding down your face
Your tears are visibly running down your face
But it's too little ...too late
Your apology and remorse are too little, too late to change my decision to end our relationship
Grab your hat and coat
Get your belongings and prepare to leave
While you're talking
Whilst you speak
You can call a cab
You have the option to request a taxi to take you away
Or you can take out walkin'
You can walk away on your own accord
My advice is simple
The guidance I have for you is straightforward
Find another fool somehow
Attempt to deceive another person instead of me
'Cause all the tears in China won't change my mind now
Even if you were to cry an immeasurable amount, it would not alter my decision
You're always late
You frequently arrive after you are expected
But this time you're too late ...too late ...too late.
However, this time you have arrived too late to save our relationship, and there is no possibility of reconciliation
Writer(s): DENNIS WALKER, ALAN MIRIKITANI
Contributed by Adeline V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Cathy Lemons
Even though she must have recorded this in her seventies, her voice is strong and filled with feeling. What artists now lack in this world of blues and pop these artists from her era mastered at a very young age. Her feeling is what moves the listener, and you don't even notice the fine stylistic phrasing, the use of words in just the right places with just the right accents, the way she builds the emotion from her timing and her vocal strength as it increases throughout the song--a lost art.
David Cumming
You couldn't sing this song with any feeling if you were 21; true fact
MyMoppet52
This is just magnificent! What great vocals, phrasing, & emotion! Thank you so much for this. My best, Moppet
Joey Pafumi
A masterpiece written by Alan Mikitani,which we recorded with the Buddaheads as well.I believe Ruth won a grammy for the LP.
Mic
A very beautiful song sang very beautifully by Ms. Brown. We can all identify with the words on this one....
Patricia Kimbrell
Great Blues 💙💙🎸💙🌟💙🌟💙🌟🎸🌟💙🌟💙
Hashtag Epiphany
2018 loving this.....
grwatanabe
wow. love and joy to ruth.
karen yochim
WHO is that guitar player? LOVE those 2 guitar solos so MUCH.
Francesco Speroni
Sorry, the full album name is: R+B = Ruth Brown