Their songs usually began with a guitar riff, followed by the tenor, who sang the whole song through. After the tenor finished singing, the bass would either recite the first half, or the bridge of the song, or would speak the words, almost in a free form, that were not part of the song, commonly using the words "Honey Child", or "Honey Babe", expressing his love for the opposite sex in the song. This was followed by the tenor, who finished up singing the last refrain or the last half of the song.
The Ink Spots formed in the early 1930s in Indianapolis. The original members were :-
Orville "Hoppy" Jones (b. 17 February 1902, Chicago, Illinois - d. 18 October 1944, New York City) (bass) (Played cello in the manner of a stand up bass)[1]
Ivory "Deek" Watson (b. 18 July 1909, Mounds, Illinois - d. 4 November 1969, Washington, DC) (tenor) (Played guitar and trumpet)
Jerry Daniels (b. 14 December 1915 - 7 November 1995, Indianapolis, Indiana) (tenor) (Played guitar and ukulele)
Charlie Fuqua (b. 20 October 1910 - 21 December 1971, New Haven, Connecticut) (baritone) (Played guitar)
Coquette
The Inkspots Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Little coquette, making fun of the one who loves you
Breaking hearts you are ruling
Little coquette, true hearts tenderly dreaming of you.
Someday you'll fall in love as I fell in love with you.
Maybe the one you love will just be fooling too.
And when you are alone with all your regrets,
You know, my little coquette, I love you.
Someday you'll fall in love as I fell in love with you.
Now, maybe the one you love will just be fooling too.
And when you are alone with all your regrets,
Now, you know, my little coquette, I love you.
The Inkspots made waves with their iconic song “Coquette” which highlights the woes of unrequited love. The song was released in 1941 and quickly rose to fame, becoming one of the best-selling songs of the year. The lyrics of the song are addressed to a “coquette” who seems to enjoy playing with people’s hearts and may not realize the hurt that her actions inflict. The singer urges her to stop fooling around and take the feelings of others more seriously.
The chorus emphasizes that the singer still loves this “little coquette” despite her mischievous ways and hopes that she may fall in love someday too. The song highlights how love can lead to some of the deepest feelings of joy and heartbreak, but it still remains one of the most sought-after aspects of a fulfilling life. The Inkspots hit a chord with their listeners, who could relate to the troubles of unrequited love.
Line by Line Meaning
Hear me, why you keep fooling
Listen to me, why do you continue to deceive and play games
Little coquette, making fun of the one who loves you
You are a flirt who enjoys mocking those who have genuine feelings for you
Breaking hearts you are ruling
You hold the power to shatter hearts with your actions
Little coquette, true hearts tenderly dreaming of you.
Many honest hearts have tenderly dreamed of being with you
Someday you'll fall in love as I fell in love with you.
You will eventually experience love like I did when I fell for you
Maybe the one you love will just be fooling too.
Perhaps the person you fall in love with will also be pretending and insincere
And when you are alone with all your regrets,
When you are by yourself and reflecting on your actions, full of remorse
You know, my little coquette, I love you.
You should be aware that despite everything, I still love you
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHN WALDO GREEN, GUS KAHN, CARMEN LOMBARDO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
MonkeyB0X Films
Tell me why you keep fooling, little coquette
Making fun of the ones who love you
Breaking hearts you are ruling, little coquette
True hearts tenderly dreaming of you
Someday you'll fall in love like I fell in love with you
Maybe someone you love will just be fooling
And when you are alone with only regrets
You'll know, little coquette, I love you
[Spoken]
Why don't you quit foolin' this boy, little coquette?
And why don't you quit makin' fun of all the ones that love ya?
Ya know what you're doin? You're brakin' hearts that you could be rulin', and you're too sweet a girl for that
There's a lots of true hearts, and all of 'em's always tenderly thinkin' of you
You know, someday you're gonna get old
And you don't wanna be old with only regrets
Just sittin' there dreamin' about someone that used to love you
[Sung]
Someday you'll fall in love like I fell in love with you
Maybe someone you love will just be fooling around with you
And when you are alone with only regrets
You'll know, little coquette, I love you
bathroom break!
Heard this song. I spent 2 hours trying to find it. I heard it was a Charlie Brown song so I kept looking and looking but finally I realized it sounded familiar to the Ink spots. Thanks for uploading. Music like this should never be lost. Can’t imagine how much music that has been lost...
§limpiiicken§
So many good tunes go unnoticed. Breaks mt heart just a tiny bit 💔 but at least we have the ink spots still
angelica guzman
None can dislike this man. Not even those hiphop guys that like little wayne. The ink spots are to awsome to be disliked even by one person.
George Montgomery
My grandfather introduced me to the ink spots
ronkk24
Deek Watson sings the lead beautifully on this song.
MikeBlitzMag
Fats Domino knew enough to borrow from the best when necessary. He covered Coquette as the flip side of Whole Lotta Loving on Imperial. To this day, his version remains one of only three records that I played so much that it was worn to the point of not being playable anymore. The Ink Spots' mastery of subtle high drama most assuredly did it justice, as well.
Nordic Beast
10 years ago I met a Tuskegee Airman named Harry Stewart, Jr. His P-51 was named Little Coquette, I'm fairly sure it was after this song. Wonderful!
Charles Larocco
Beautiful recording
It’s very unusual you would here an instrumental break after the hoppy Jones talking part
loneWolf C-430
The guitar intro is always almost the same ✨♥️
82FLIEGER
Great! They send me good vibes. God bless you