“Patty Andrews, the lead singer of the Andrews sisters group was born in Mound, Minnesota on February 16, 1918 in a house that occupied the property where The Gillespie Center stands today.
During the 1920’s Laverne, Maxene and Patty Andrews spent their summers in Mound, living with their parents in a house across the street from the grocery store that was owned by Pete and Ed Sollie, bachelor uncles of the three girls. (Today, Green T Accounting occupies the Sollie grocery store building and The Gillespie Center is on the land where the Andrews Sisters’ house once stood.)” - From a commentary by Tom Rockvam that appeared in The Laker Newspaper during 2005.
They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring on Vaudeville, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937. Their music entertained Allied troops worldwide during World War II, sold war bonds, appeared in several films (including a few Abbott and Costello features), and performed for soldiers serving overseas. Their first film with Abbott and Costello, the pre-war comedy Buck Privates, introduced their best-known recording, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" which would win Best Song at the Academy Awards.
They also recorded many songs with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and other popular artists of the era. Their popularity was such that after the war they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs."
After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patty's choice to go solo. Their last appearance together was in 1962 on The Dean Martin Show. Laverne, who had cancer, retired soon after; she died five years later, in 1967 at the age of 55.
After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Maxene and Patty appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Their most notable comeback; however, was in the Sherman Brothers' nostalgic World War II musical: "Over Here!" which premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 1974. The musical featured the two then living sisters (Maxene and Patty) and was written with them in mind for the leads. It launched the careers of many, now notable theater and film icons (John Travolta, Marilu Henner, Ann Reinking, et al). Ironically it was the last major hurrah of the sisters and was cut short due to a frivolous lawsuit initiated by Patty's husband to the show's producers.
Throughout their long career, the sisters had sold over 60 million records. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The last of the three sisters Patty Andrews died of natural causes at her home in Northridge, California on January 30, 2013, just 17 days before her 95th birthday. The sisters were interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, close to their parents.
Red River Valley
The Andrews Sisters Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
That has brightened our pathways awhile
Come and sit by my side, if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
I've been thinking a long time, my darling
Of the sweet words you never would say
Now, alas, must my fond hopes all vanish
For they say you are going away
Do you think of the valley you're leaving
O how lonely and how dreary it will be
And do you think of the kind hearts you're breaking
And the pain you are causing to me
Come and sit by my side, if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy who loved you so true
They will bury me where you have wandered
Near the hills where the daffodils grow
When you're gone from the Red River Valley
For I can't live without you I know
Come and sit by my side, if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Just remember the Red River Valley
And the cowboy who loved you so true
The Andrews Sisters' "Red River Valley" is a sentimental love song that is both melancholic and hopeful. The lyrics revolve around a cowboy's farewell to his beloved who is leaving the valley. The cowboy is heartbroken because the woman that he loves is going away and he knows that he will never forget her. The opening lines express how much the cowboy will miss his lover's bright eyes and sweet smile. The cowboy also reflects that she's taking the sunshine that has brightened their pathways for a while. This line could be interpreted as losing the light in his life and the joy that came with her presence.
In the subsequent verses, the cowboy pleads with his lover not to leave him and instead sit by his side. He wants her to remember the Red River Valley and the love they share. The cowboy acknowledges that he has been thinking of the sweet words his lover never speaks and believes that his fond hopes will all vanish. He asks her to remember the kind hearts that she's breaking and the pain she's causing to him. The song ends with a wistful promise of the cowboy's final resting place by the hills where the daffodils grow as he can't live without her.
Line by Line Meaning
From this valley they say you are going
You are leaving from this place that we call Valley and word has spread around.
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
We all will deeply miss the way you look at us with your bright eyes and the sweet curve of your lips.
For they say you are taking the sunshine
It's been said that the sunshine embodied in you is leaving with you, leaving us with a gloomy absence.
That has brightened our pathways awhile
The sunshine carried by you has brightened our lives and pathways for a while and now its absence will affect us.
Come and sit by my side, if you love me
If you love me, prove it and sit by my side as we enjoy each other’s company.
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
Don't rush to say goodbye; let's cherish our moments together for a little longer.
Just remember the Red River Valley
The place we love and belong where our bond was forged.
And the cowboy who loved you so true
Remember the cowboy who loved only you with steadfast kindness and loyalty.
I've been thinking a long time, my darling
I have been contemplating for a while, my dear.
Of the sweet words you never would say
I’ve been thinking of the kind things you never say despite all that we share.
Now, alas, must my fond hopes all vanish
And now, sadly, all my hopes and dreams of us may have to vanish.
For they say you are going away
It's been said that you are truly departing away from me.
Do you think of the valley you're leaving
Are you thinking about the beautiful Valley you’re leaving behind?
O how lonely and how dreary it will be
How sad and lonely it will get in our beautiful Valley without you around.
And do you think of the kind hearts you're breaking
Are you aware that beautiful hearts like ours, who have fallen completely in love with you, are shattered?
And the pain you are causing to me
And have you thought of the impact of all this on me?
They will bury me where you have wandered
I will be buried down in the beautiful Valley where we have visited and roamed while together.
Near the hills where the daffodils grow
I will be laid to rest very close to the beautiful hills where the daffodils grow.
When you're gone from the Red River Valley
Once you're gone, the entire beauty of the Valley will seem meaningless and irrelevant.
For I can't live without you I know
I know for a fact that my life would be meaningless and purposeless without you around.
Lyrics © PETER PIPER MUSIC AMERICA LLC
Written by: FRANK MILLS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
J Parker
on Crazy Arms
And I'll move the mountains
If he wants them out of the way
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, I'd say
I say I'll go through fire
And I'll go through fire
As he wants it, so it will be
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love, you see
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
Like the wind that shakes the bough
He moves me with a smile
The difficult I'll do right now
The impossible will take a little while
I say I'll care forever
And I mean forever
If I have to hold up the sky
Crazy, he calls me
Sure I'm crazy
Crazy in love am I
sonichits has completely wrong lyrics for this song. Correct ones are - Now blue ain't the word for the way that I feel
And the storm's brewing in this heart of mine
This is no crazy dream I know that it's real
You're someone else's love now you're not mine
Crazy arms that reach to hold somebody new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon to another you'll be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
Please take the treasured dreams I have for you and me
And take all the love I thought was mine
Someday my crazy arms will hold somebody new
But now I'm so lonely all the time
interlude
Crazy arms that reach to hold someone new
But my yearning heart keeps saying you're not mine
My troubled mind knows soon that you soon will be wed
And that's why I'm lonely all the time
Crazy arms and lonely all the time
Harold Chernofsky
on Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
i love them