Susannah McCorkle (1 January 1946 – 19 May 2001) was an American jazz singe… Read Full Bio ↴Susannah McCorkle (1 January 1946 – 19 May 2001) was an American jazz singer much admired for her direct, unadorned singing style and quiet intensity.

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.

Get Out of Town
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Get out of town
Before it's too late, my love
Get out of town
Be good to me, please

Why wish me harm?
Why not retire to a farm
And be contented to charm

The birds off the trees?

Just disappear
I care for you much too much
And when you're near, close to me, dear
We touch too much

The thrill when we meet is so bittersweet
That, darling, it's getting me down

So, on your mark, get set
Get out of town

Overall Meaning

"Get Out of Town" is a song that implores someone to leave town before they hurt the singer anymore. Susannah McCorkle's version of this Cole Porter classic speaks to the pain of loving someone too much and the fears that accompany that love. The first verse sets the tone with the singer telling her love to leave before it's too late, while the second verse asks why he can't just retire to a farm and charm the birds. The singer goes on to say that she cares too much for him and when they're close, the thrill of being together is bittersweet.

The chorus reinforces the message that the singer wants him to disappear, but there's a sense of sadness that underscores it. She loves him but can't be with him, and it's tearing her apart. The final line, "So, on your mark, get set, get out of town" underscores the urgency of the situation, but it's also a plea for him to take care of himself and not make things worse.

One interesting aspect of "Get Out of Town" is that it was first performed by Bing Crosby in the 1938 film "Jubilee," and later covered by many famous artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra. Another interesting fact is that the song was originally written for the play "Leave it to Me!" and was later used in the 1956 film "High Society." The lyrics, while mostly straightforward, also contain some wordplay, such as the repetition of "too much" in the fourth verse.

The chords for "Get Out of Town" are as follows:

Verse: Em7, A7, Dmaj7, B7#5, Em7, A7, Dmaj7, B7#5

Chorus: Em7, A7, C7, B7#5, Em7, A7, Dmaj7, B7#5

Bridge: F#m7, B7#5, Em7, A7, Dmaj7, B7#5, Em7, A7, Dmaj7, B7#5.

Line by Line Meaning

Get out of town
Leave this place

Before it's too late, my love
Depart soon to avoid negative consequences

Get out of town
Leave this place

Be good to me, please
Show me kindness by leaving

Why wish me harm?
Why stay with me if you don't care for me?

Why not retire to a farm
Why not go somewhere you will be happier?

And be contented to charm
Be happy simply entertaining yourself