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.
That Old Feeling
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Last night my heart was so gay
Last night I found myself dancing
In my favorite cabaret
You were completely forgotten
Just an affair of the past
Then suddenly something happened to me
And I found my heart beating, oh, so fast
I saw you last night and got that old feeling
When you came in sight I got that old feeling
The moment that you danced by I felt a thrill
And when you caught my eye my heart stood still
Once again I seemed to feel that old yearning
And I knew the spark of love was still burning
There'll be no new romance for me, it's foolish to start
For that old feeling, is still in my heart
I saw you last night and got that old feeling
When you came in sight I got that old feeling
The moment that you danced by I felt a thrill
And when you caught my eye my heart stood still
Once again I seemed to feel that old yearning
And I knew the spark of love was still burning
There'll be no new romance for me, it's foolish to start
For that old feeling, is still in my heart
In Susannah McCorkle's song "That Old Feeling," the singer describes a night where she began happily dancing in her favorite cabaret. She had forgotten about a past affair until she suddenly sees her former lover and feels her heart start beating quickly. The lyrics express the singer's feelings of longing and desire for her old flame.
The repetition of the phrase "I saw you last night and got that old feeling" emphasizes the emotional significance of the encounter. The singer is transported back to a time when she was in love with this person, and they had a spark that seems to have not completely died out.
The lyrics also suggest that the singer is aware that pursuing a new romance would be fruitless because the old flame still has a hold on her heart. This suggests that the relationship with the former lover was not entirely resolved and that there may still be unfinished emotions regarding the past.
Line by Line Meaning
Last night I started out happy
I began my evening in high spirits
Last night my heart was so gay
I was filled with joy and happiness
Last night I found myself dancing
I was dancing in my favorite cabaret
In my favorite cabaret
The place that brings me the most joy
You were completely forgotten
My past love for you had vanished from my mind
Just an affair of the past
Our relationship was something that happened in the past
Then suddenly something happened to me
Unexpectedly, I felt a shift in my emotions
And I found my heart beating, oh, so fast
My heart began to race with excitement
I saw you last night and got that old feeling
When I saw you, I felt the familiar emotions from the past
When you came in sight I got that old feeling
As soon as I saw you, I became overwhelmed with emotion
The moment that you danced by I felt a thrill
When you danced by, I felt an intense thrill of excitement
And when you caught my eye my heart stood still
When our eyes met, my heart skipped a beat
Once again I seemed to feel that old yearning
All of the feelings of longing I had for you in the past came rushing back
And I knew the spark of love was still burning
I realized that my love for you had not truly disappeared
There'll be no new romance for me, it's foolish to start
I am not interested in pursuing any new relationships as it would be unwise
For that old feeling, is still in my heart
My love for you still resides within me
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LEW BROWN, SAMMY FAIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind