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.
Try and See Me
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come over
Try me
See what I got
Come over
Come over
Try me see what I got
Yes it time again, time again repeating itself so questionably but
not so casually. Count your time because this place isn't what it
used to be, not what we were not any more not the place for the time
to over look the pain we saw in the
end but the pain we saw in the beginning.
Come over
Come over
Try me
See what I got
Try me, fight me, bash the shit out of me but don't break a limb.
Don't try and die for the sake that it's the place we fought again
and again the place we will continue to fight...
break our minds and our time.
Shed your feelings to pain and let it rain hate for the late of the
night and let the insects work the world
we made the place we fed the place we lead.
Come over
Come over
Try me
See what I got
Let the feeling for our 4 fathers fade the time again and again
repeating it self yes repeating and giving in to the world's bullshit
into the main center of all confession, into the churches;
into the light into hell into heaven into the task called life into
the hard work into the sacrifice and into the face of our race...
the one we fight against. And fight with. Our time.
The wrong time. try me my friend and see what I got.
The lyrics of Ruth Brown's "Try and See Me" have different meanings for different people. It may mean that the singer wants the person to come over and try them out, see what they have to offer. It may also mean that the singer wants the person to come over and experience the pain and hardships that they have gone through.
The first paragraph of the lyrics talks about time repeating itself questionably but not casually. It implies that the singer is going through some mental and emotional turmoil and that the world is not what it used to be. The singer urges the listener to count their time because the world is not the same as it was before. It may be interpreted that the singer has gone through some difficult times and wants the listener to experience it too.
The second paragraph of the lyrics speaks about fighting, bashing, and breaking the singer, but not breaking a limb. It may mean that the singer is willing to endure pain and suffering in order for the listener to understand them better. The lyrics also talk about shedding feelings to pain and letting it rain hate for the late of the night. It may imply that the singer has gone through a lot of hardships and wants the listener to understand the depth of their pain.
Overall, the lyrics of "Try and See Me" are complex and have different layers of meaning. It may be interpreted as the singer's way of expressing their pain and their need for the listener's understanding.
Line by Line Meaning
Come over
Invitation to the listener to approach the singer
Come over
Repetition of the invitation to reinforce the willingness of the singer to be approached
Try me
Challenge to test the singer's abilities or strengths
See what I got
Call to observe or experience the artist's assets or talents
Yes it time again, time again repeating itself so questionably but not so casually.
Acknowledgement of the cyclical nature of time and the doubts that arise from it
Count your time because this place isn't what it used to be, not what we were not any more not the place for the time to over look the pain we saw in the end but the pain we saw in the beginning.
Urge to be aware of the fleeting nature of time and the changes that occur in a place, and the importance of not forgetting the difficulties that were experienced there
Try me, fight me, bash the shit out of me but don't break a limb.
Challenge to take on the singer with force and aggression, but to avoid causing physical harm
Don't try and die for the sake that it's the place we fought again and again the place we will continue to fight... break our minds and our time.
Advisory not to sacrifice oneself needlessly for a place of conflict, as it takes a toll on one's mental and emotional wellbeing
Shed your feelings to pain and let it rain hate for the late of the night and let the insects work the world we made the place we fed the place we lead.
Encouragement to release negative emotions and let them affect the world, and recognition of humanity's role in shaping and influencing their surroundings
Let the feeling for our 4 fathers fade the time again and again repeating it self yes repeating and giving in to the world's bullshit into the main center of all confession, into the churches; into the light into hell into heaven into the task called life into the hard work into the sacrifice and into the face of our race... the one we fight against. And fight with. Our time.
Commentary on the lasting impact of ancestral history and the limitations it can impose, and the various places and aspects of life that it can manifest in
The wrong time. try me my friend and see what I got.
Clarification of the negative implications of the time period, and final challenge to test the singer's abilities and strengths
Contributed by Madison D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.