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.
I Concentrate On You
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics
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And trouble begins to brew,
Whenever the Winter winds become too strong,
I concentrate on you.
When fortune cries "Nay! Nay!" to me
And people declare "You're through!",
Whenever the blues become my only song,
On your smile so sweet, so tender,
When at first your kiss I decline.
On the light in your eyes when I surrender,
And once again our arms intertwine
And so, when wise men say to me
That love's young dream never comes true,
To prove that even wise men can be wrong,
I concentrate on you.
The lyrics of Susannah Mccorkle's "I Concentrate on You" speak of the power of love to sustain us in times of trouble, when everything else seems to be against us. The singer declares that whenever troubles come her way, she turns her focus and her attention to her loved one. She finds solace and strength in their bond, and declares that even when wise men say that love is doomed to failure, she will continue to concentrate on her partner and the love they share.
The song is a beautiful ode to love and its ability to sustain us through periods of uncertainty and fear. It speaks to the universal human experience of seeking comfort and connection in times of struggle, and finding it in the arms of those we love. The imagery of the winter winds and the gray skies, combined with the bluesy undertones of the music, capture this feeling of melancholy and vulnerability, while the focus on the loved one provides a sense of hope and resilience.
Line by Line Meaning
Whenever skies look gray to me
Whenever I feel sad or unhappy
And trouble begins to brew,
And things around me start to get difficult to handle
Whenever the Winter winds become too strong,
Whenever the cold and harsh weather gets too much to bear
I concentrate on you.
I think only of you to find solace and comfort.
When fortune cries "Nay! Nay!" to me
When I experience misfortune or bad luck
And people declare "You're through!",
And others say that I am finished or defeated
Whenever the blues become my only song,
Whenever I feel melancholy and downbeat
I concentrate on you.
I focus on you to lift my spirits.
On your smile so sweet, so tender,
I think about your warm and loving smile
When at first your kiss I decline.
Even when I am initially hesitant to kiss you
On the light in your eyes when I surrender,
I think about the joy and surrender I feel when I give in to your love
And once again our arms intertwine
And we hold each other tightly once more
And so, when wise men say to me
And when people who are supposed to be wise tell me
That love's young dream never comes true,
That young love can never succeed
To prove that even wise men can be wrong,
To demonstrate that even the most knowledgeable people can make mistakes
I concentrate on you.
I prove them wrong by focusing on you and our love.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind