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.
Where Do You Start
Susannah McCorkle Lyrics
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How do you deal with all the thing you thought would last? That didn't last
With bits of memories scattered here and there
I look around and don't know where to start
Which books are yours?
Which tapes and dreams belong to you and which are mine?
Our lives are tangled like the branches of a vine that intertwine
And yesterday's we'll have to take apart
One day there'll be a song or something in the air again
To catch me by surprise and you'll be there again
A moment in what might have been
Where do you start? Do you allow yourself a little time to cry?
Or do you close your eyes and kiss it all goodbye? I guess you try
And though I don't know where and don't know when
I'll find myself in love again
I promise there will always be a little place no one will see
A tiny part within my heart, that stays in love with you
Susannah McCorkle's song "Where Do You Start" speaks about the difficulty of moving on from a lost love. The lyrics reflect a sense of nostalgia and pain as the singer struggles to come to terms with the end of a relationship. The song explores the dilemma of how to separate the past from the present and process the memories left behind. The chorus repeats the question "Where do you start?" acknowledging the challenge of beginning a new chapter while still feeling the weight of past experiences.
The first verse continues to describe the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to start, with memories scattered around like puzzle pieces. The confusion extends to trying to differentiate possessions that belonged to each person in the relationship. The second verse speaks to the changes that need to be made after the end of a relationship, and the difficulty of breaking old habits and routines. The metaphor of intertwined vines suggests the complexity of untangling two lives that were once joined.
The third verse acknowledges the hope that someday, there will be a moment that brings the lost love back into the present. The lyrics convey a sense of yearning, with the idea that there will always be a part of the singer's heart that remains in love with the person. The final lines suggest that while the singer may move on and find love again, a small part of her will remain committed to the past.
Line by Line Meaning
Where do you start? How do you separate the present from the past?
How do you begin to move forward and distinguish your current reality from the memories of the past?
How do you deal with all the thing you thought would last? That didn't last
How do you come to terms with the things you once believed in and hoped for, that never materialized?
With bits of memories scattered here and there
Amidst the various small and fragmented recollections of the past that are scattered throughout your mind.
I look around and don't know where to start
Feeling lost and unsure of what to do next, as you survey the remnants of the past in your life.
Which books are yours?
Which of these books on the shelf belong to you and which ones belong to me?
Which tapes and dreams belong to you and which are mine?
Out of all our memories, which ones were yours and which ones were mine?
Our lives are tangled like the branches of a vine that intertwine
Our lives are intertwined and interdependent, like the branches of a vine that are inseparable.
So many habits that we'll have to break
There are countless habits from our shared past that we must now unlearn to move forward.
And yesterday's we'll have to take apart
We must disassemble everything from our shared past to start anew.
One day there'll be a song or something in the air again
At some point, something will remind us of what we had before and bring it back to life again.
To catch me by surprise and you'll be there again
In that moment, you will suddenly reappear in my life as if by magic.
A moment in what might have been
A fleeting instant that could represent what our lives would have been like if not for our past experiences.
Do you allow yourself a little time to cry?
Do you permit yourself to grieve your losses and express your sadness?
Or do you close your eyes and kiss it all goodbye? I guess you try
Do you choose to move on and let go of your past, even when it's difficult?
And though I don't know where and don't know when
Despite being uncertain about what the future holds and when change will come.
I'll find myself in love again
I will rediscover love in my life after processing my emotions and experiences.
I promise there will always be a little place no one will see
A private, hidden space in my heart that will always remember and cherish what we had.
A tiny part within my heart, that stays in love with you
A small fraction of my heart that will always love and hold onto the memories of us together.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ALAN BERGMAN, JOHNNY MANDEL, MARILYN BERGMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind