True to her inimitable style, and as ever accompanied by Jordan Officer on guitar, Susie invents a very personal way of celebrating the Holidays with a Christmas album of bewitching charm. Demonstrating once again her exceptional flair for selecting songs, the singer offers a choice of some great classics and some superb lesser known titles that she unveils with obvious pleasure. These infinitely alluring performances give off an irresistible warmth, heightened by the jazz and bluesy colours so characteristic of the Arioli sound. With its flowing rhythms, its hushed atmospheres and its carefully crafted arrangements, Christmas Dreaming evokes the holiday spirit with a formidable authenticity.
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Susie Arioli’s lineup, which originally performed under the name the Susie Arioli Swing Band, has revolved from the very beginning around the duo of the singer (voice and snare drum) and Jordan Officer (guitar and musical arrangements). In July 1998, at the time not well known to the general public, the Susie Arioli Swing Band scored a resounding success with its first performance at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. On the heels of that widely hailed set, the group received a remarkable invitation: open for Ray Charles’s show in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts. The crowd that night – and the critics – were instantly smitten.
Since then, the group’s popularity has taken off in Quebec, the rest of Canada, and well beyond our borders. Susie and her group were the first artists to sell out a show at the 2000 edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. A number of their shows there since have also played to full houses, and the band carries on expanding its fan base thanks to the smooth voice and charisma of Susie Arioli combined with the deft artistry and sensitivity of Jordan Officer.
Released in May 2001 in Toronto, the first album, It’s Wonderful, impressed the media crowd in attendance at the Top of the Senator club during the JVC Jazz Festival. “Susie is unerringly right in what she chooses to sing and unrivalled in how she sings it,” said Peter Goddard of the Toronto Star. “And what’s so incredible is that the band has succeeded in putting the others out of our mind,” commented Le Devoir’s Serge Truffaut. “Susie Arioli is a rare gem… With festive, balanced, well-played music,” praised Claude Côté in the weekly Voir. The 2001 tour was an opportunity for the group to build more of a name for itself abroad, and Susie and acolytes made a vivid impression during key stops in places like New York’s famous Birdland, where the group bedazzled the New York public and critics alike, and Royal Festival Hall in London, not to mention an acclaimed appearance at the Festival Django Reinhardt in Paris.
In 2002, Susie Arioli and Jordan Officer produced their second album, Pennies from Heaven, selling more than 48,000 copies. No less than they deserved, the album being another collection of gems, all masterfully chosen songs, and enhanced by the backing of the late Ralph Sutton and Jeff Healey on piano and guitar respectively.
Released in 2004 under the name Susie Arioli Band, the third album, That’s for Me, was produced by John Snyder, well-known for his work with Chet Baker, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Haden and Etta James (which won him a Grammy). Reception was once again outstanding, with close to 50,000 copies sold. The first French-language single was a magnificent and irresistibly seductive version of Django Reinhardt’s classic “Nuages” (with lyrics by Jacques Larue), while the first English single was a gentle version of the unforgettable “You Don’t Know Me,” which was popularized widely by the legendary Ray Charles.
In October 2005, the Susie Arioli Band was back in the studio recording Learn to Smile Again, undisputedly the most accomplished album of the band’s career to that date. This fourth album pays tribute to the legendary country singer Roger Miller. Scrupulously avoiding Miller’s best known compositions, the band opted instead to explore lesser known gems such as “Husbands and Wives,” “Less and Less” and “A Million Years or So.” Two original instrumentals by Officer were also featured on Learn to Smile Again, as well as a cover of Irma Thomas’s “Ruler of My Heart” and a sublime interpretation of the jazz standard “By Myself.” The masterpiece on this album is an extraordinary version of the Jimmy Webb classic “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” a song illustrating the band’s Americana/roots dimension with panache.
Live at Le Festival de Jazz de Montréal, the group’s first DVD, was recorded at the Festival’s 2006 edition and released in April 2007. Accompanied by a live CD, the DVD was certified Gold in Canada.
The Susie Arioli Band wound up its Canada-wide tour with a large-scale concert in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts as part of the 2007 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, accompanied by the prestigious I Musici de Montréal chamber orchestra. The live DVD/CD was released in France in October 2007, at the start of the band’s concert tour in that country.
In October 2008, Susie Arioli released a first album under her own name entitled Night Lights. This fifth album in her career, which appeared on the Spectra Musique label, was a highlight in the singer’s evolution. Still accompanied by the outstanding guitarist Jordan Officer, who also produced the album, this time a radiant Susie integrates into her repertoire her own unique takes on standard jazz classics. On pieces like “Blue Skies,” “Can’t We Be Friends” and “Beyond the Sea,” there’s that distinctive and original Susie Arioli sound once again. Solidly backed by Officer on guitars and by Bill Gossage on bass, the sparkling brunette delivers her songs with all the ardour she’s so well known for.
After a triumphant return to Montreal in November at Théâtre Outremont, where she played to a sold-out house, the singer was back the following summer at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, which awarded her its Oscar Peterson Prize, a prestigious distinction honouring her contribution to Canadian jazz and the high level of her art. For that occasion her show sold out the hall, this time Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts, where the crowd welcomed her with an enthusiasm befitting the circumstances, as it did at the extra Montreal shows added in the fall.
Tours piled up for Susie Arioli, who has performed several times in France, including at Olympia in Paris as part of TSF’s fifth-anniversary gala. The renowned French jazz radio network also enshrined Night Lights as “best jazz vocal album of 2009” on its annual list of award winners. Susie was additionally invited to perform in Mexico, where she gave a series of shows in late 2009.
The table was set for a new studio adventure, and Susie moved into celebration mode with the recording of a first Christmas album, which was released in November 2010. The holiday period promises to be magical this year! Like a heart-warming smile, Christmas Dreaming is an invitation to dream while wide awake.
Here's That Rainy Day
Susie Arioli Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Funny, but here's that rainy day
Here's that rainy day they told me about
And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way
Where is that worn out wish that I threw aside
After it brought my lover near
It's funny how love becomes a cold rainy day
Funny, that rainy day is here
Funny, that rainy day is here""
The opening lines "Maybe I should have saved those left over dreams" portrays a sense of regret and looking back on missed opportunities. The phrase "left over dreams" suggests unrealised desires or aspirations, and the singer acknowledges that they perhaps should have held onto them. The next line "Funny, but here's that rainy day" then goes on to highlight the irony of the situation, that despite the singer's previous dismissal of the idea, they have found themselves in the middle of the very thing they were warned about. The repetition of "funny" emphasizes the singer's sense of disbelief at the situation.
The next verse continues with a sense of nostalgia and longing, with the mention of a "worn out wish that I threw aside", suggesting a desire that was once fervently held but now forgotten. The line "after it brought my lover near" is interesting, as it suggests that the fulfillment of a wish or dream has led to a happy outcome, but it is also tinged with sadness if the relationship has since ended. The final lines "Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day // Funny, that rainy day is here" concludes the song with a sense of resignation. The notion that love can be equated to a "cold rainy day" suggests that even the most beautiful and positive experiences can have a downside. Nonetheless, the repetition of "funny" suggests that the singer has accepted the situation and is finding some humor or irony in it.
Line by Line Meaning
Maybe I should have saved those left over dreams
Perhaps I should have held onto my unattained aspirations
Funny, but here's that rainy day
Ironically, that unpleasant and difficult day is here
Here's that rainy day they told me about
The inclement day that I was warned about has arrived
And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way
I chuckled at the notion that it could materialize in such a manner
Where is that worn out wish that I threw aside
I wonder where that exhausted desire that I discarded is currently situated
After it brought my lover near
Because it led my sweetheart to me
It's funny how love becomes a cold rainy day
It's interesting how affection and warmth can change into bleak and unpleasant times
Funny, that rainy day is here
Jokingly, that tough and trying day is upon us
Funny how love becomes a cold rainy day
How peculiar it is that love can turn into an unwelcome downpour
Funny, that rainy day is here
Amusingly, that burdensome and damp day has arrived
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Enrique Aldanondo
Aquí está ese día lluvioso
Tal vez debería haber salvado esos sueños sobrantes
Divertido pero aquí es ese día lluvioso
Aquí está ese día lluvioso que me dijeron acerca de
Y me reí de la idea de que podría resultar de esta manera.
Dónde está ese desgastado deseo? que eché a un lado
Después de que trajera cerca a mi amante
Oh, gracioso cómo el amor se convierte...
En un día frío y lluvioso
Es gracioso que el día lluvioso esté aquí.
Dónde está ese desgastado deseo? que eché a un lado
Después de que trajera cerca a mi amante
Oh, gracioso cómo el amor se convierte...
En un día frío y lluvioso
Es gracioso que el día lluvioso esté aquí.
la77y
I've just listened to 12 versions of this song. This is by far the best. What a voice.
Lacerda
Linda voz! Linda interpretação!
dick allietta
One of the best ballads ever written, and this is a fine version.
Mike Morrissey
One of the best versions of a lovely song.
Enrique Aldanondo
Aquí está ese día lluvioso
Tal vez debería haber salvado esos sueños sobrantes
Divertido pero aquí es ese día lluvioso
Aquí está ese día lluvioso que me dijeron acerca de
Y me reí de la idea de que podría resultar de esta manera.
Dónde está ese desgastado deseo? que eché a un lado
Después de que trajera cerca a mi amante
Oh, gracioso cómo el amor se convierte...
En un día frío y lluvioso
Es gracioso que el día lluvioso esté aquí.
Dónde está ese desgastado deseo? que eché a un lado
Después de que trajera cerca a mi amante
Oh, gracioso cómo el amor se convierte...
En un día frío y lluvioso
Es gracioso que el día lluvioso esté aquí.
Oto Patamar
Lindo! Lindo! Mil vezes lindo!
Zoltan Karpathy
Great song! Great singer! Thanks for posting.
Terry Berger
Hauntingly beautiful!
yoichiro tani
Thank you for your comment, dear Terry!!
anthony vitti
Every tune gets better and better. Susie Arioli you are too cool I should know I'm a JAZZ DRUMMER. Worked with Horis Silvers, Bucky Pizarelli, Richie Kamuca,Joe Newman,Chet Baker,and many others. Good Luck with all you do,I know you will do well.