McCorkle was born in Berkeley, California. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday in Paris in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission in Brussels, but moved instead to London in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation.
In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critics.
During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls five times and Carnegie Hall three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music.
Thanks to her linguistic skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith, Irving Berlin and Mae West.
McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and cancer, and took her own life at age 55 by leaping off the balcony of her highrise Manhattan apartment. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play. Suicide was ruled the cause of death.
Dream
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics
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Like my mother sang to me
One with a good old-fashioned harmony
Play some simple melody
Musical demon, set your honey a-dreamin',
Won't you play me some rag
Just change that classical nag to some sweet beautiful drag
That is choppy you'll get all my applause
And that is simply because I wanna listen to rag
Play for me
That good old-fashioned harmony
Oh, won't you play for me
A simple melody
Play from a copy of a tune that is choppy
You'll get all of my applause because
I wanna rag it
Ragtime melody
The lyrics to Susannah Mccorkle's song Dream in 2-3 are an appeal to a musician to play a simple melody and take the singer back to their childhood when their mother sang to them. They desire a return to the good old-fashioned harmonies of the past and ask the "musical demon" to change any classical music to "sweet beautiful drag." The singer longs for a tune that is choppy or in the style of the ragtime melody, as that is what they need to satisfy their desire to "listen to rag."
At a deeper level, the song is a reminder of the importance of nostalgia and the way that music can be a powerful tool for evoking memories and emotions. The desire for simple melodies and old-fashioned harmonies speaks to a longing for a time when life was easier and music was a tool for connecting with others and building community. The longing for ragtime melodies suggests a desire for fun and spontaneity, and a need to break away from the constraints of modern life.
Line by Line Meaning
Won't you play some simple melody
Please play a song with an uncomplicated tune
Like my mother sang to me
Similar to the songs my mother used to sing to me
One with a good old-fashioned harmony
A song with a classic and traditional melody
Musical demon, set your honey a-dreamin',
Make me dream with your music notes
Won't you play me some rag
Could you play a song with a ragtime melody please?
Just change that classical nag to some sweet beautiful drag
Replace the boring old classical music with fantastic, fresh and lively music.
If you will play from a copy of a tune
If you play a song that's not original and it's a copy instead,
That is choppy you'll get all my applause
If it's choppy, I'll still clap and appreciate the music you're playing.
And that is simply because I wanna listen to rag
I enjoy listening to the upbeat sound of ragtime music.
Play for me
Make music for me
That good old-fashioned harmony
A classic melody
Oh, won't you play for me
Please play music for me
A simple melody
An uncomplicated tune
Play from a copy of a tune that is choppy
Play a song that's not original but still choppy
You'll get all of my applause because
I'll clap for you nevertheless
I wanna rag it
I want to listen to ragtime music
Ragtime melody
A musical genre with a lively rhythm and upbeat sound
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHNNY MERCER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind