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.

It Never Entered My Mind
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Once I laughed when I heard you saying
That I'd be playing solitaire
Uneasy in my easy chair
It never entered my mind

And once you told me I was mistaken
That I'd awaken with the sun
And ordered orange juice for one

It never entered my mind
You had what I lack, myself
Now I even have to scratch my back myself

Once you warned me that if you scorned me
I'd say a lonely prayer again
And wish that you were there again
To get into my hair again
It never entered my mind

Once you warned me that if you scorned me
I'd say a lonely prayer again
And wish that you were there again

To get into my hair again
It never entered my mind

Overall Meaning

In Susannah McCorkle's song "It Never Entered My Mind", the lyrics revolve around the themes of loneliness, regret, and lost love. The first stanza talks about how the singer used to laugh at the idea of feeling lonely, but now she comes to realize that there was a lot more to it than she initially believed. The second stanza discusses how she was warned about the consequences of not appreciating her lover while they were together but she never took it seriously. Eventually, their relationship ended, and she comes to regret not listening to their advice. The final stanza talks about how she now finds herself alone and without the fulfilling relationship she once had.

The line "Uneasy in my easy chair" can be analyzed as a juxtaposition of opposites. An "easy chair" is supposed to be a comfortable and relaxing place for one to sit, but the singer feels uneasy in it, indicating that something is off. The line "You had what I lack, myself / Now I even have to scratch my back myself" suggests that the singer once relied on her partner for emotional and physical support, but now that they're gone, she has to do everything herself.

Line by Line Meaning

Once I laughed when I heard you saying
I used to laugh when I heard you talk.

That I'd be playing solitaire
You said I'd be alone, like playing solitaire.

Uneasy in my easy chair
You meant I would feel uneasy even in my own comfort.

It never entered my mind
But I never considered that possibility.

And once you told me I was mistaken
You also told me I was wrong.

That I'd awaken with the sun
That I would wake up early in the morning.

And ordered orange juice for one
And ordered a single serving of orange juice.

It never entered my mind
I never thought you could be right.

You had what I lack, myself
You had what I was missing: independence.

Now I even have to scratch my back myself
I've become so independent, I even have to now look after myself.

Once you warned me that if you scorned me
You also warned me that if you were to reject me.