In addition to her many album releases, Vikki Carr has played concerts for fans around the world, as well as appeared on stage, and television. She has starred in productions of South Pacific, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, and I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road. In 2002 she starred in the Reprise production of Steven Sondheim's beloved musical Follies in Los Angeles, garnering glowing reviews from the LA Times, Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. Two years later, Los Angeles PBS affiliate, KCET, filmed a special Vikki Carr: Memories, Memorias: a salute to the English-language hits of the 1940s and 1950s originally composed by Latinos, and featuring guest appearances by Jack Jones, Pepe Aguilar and Arturo Sandoval. PBS again tapped Vikki to host and star in a production celebrating the music of Mexico, Fiesta Mexicana, which was featured on all PBS stations for their June 2008 pledge drive.
Born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in the San Gabriel Valley of California, Vikki Carr, the eldest of seven children, began performing at the tender age of four singing "Adeste Fidelis" in Latin at a Christmas program. She was signed to a contract with Liberty Records in 1961. She recorded "He's a Rebel", which first became a hit in Australia. That title was soon followed by the unforgettable release, It Must Be Him, which charged up the charts in England. A year later, the single was released in the United States and earned Carr three Grammy Award nominations. The international hit emerged again when she and the song were featured in the storyline of the Academy Award winning movie Moonstruck. After "It Must Be Him" came a string of hits, including With Pen in Hand, for which she received her fourth Grammy Award nomination, The Lesson, Can't Take My Eyes Off You, and For Once in My Life.
Her international appeal was so great that she was invited to perform at a Royal Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II, followed by sold-out shows throughout Europe. In the States, Carr became a darling of the White House, performing regularly at State Dinners and at President Richard Nixon's 1973 Inaugural celebration. President Gerald Ford called her his "favorite Mexican dish". She also performed for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and at the 1992 Presidential Summit hosted by President Bill Clinton.
A frequent musical guest on major network variety shows of celebrities like Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, Perry Como, and Carol Burnett, Carr also taped six specials for London Weekend TV. As an actor, she appeared on the Bing Crosby Show, Mod Squad, Fantasy Island, and co-hosted the Mrs. America and Mrs. World of the World pageants. She was the first woman to regularly guest host for Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. She was also a visitor and guest host on Michael Jackson's ABC radio show.
The diversity of her rich voice is impressive. She can belt out the blues or touch the heart with a soft romantic ballad. Frank Sinatra once said, "She possesses my kind of voice", Dean Martin called her "the best girl singer in the business", and Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald named her among their three favorite female singers of all time. Elvis Presley was also very fond of her and even remarked on stage in Las Vegas many times that Vikki Carr was one of his favorite singers and that he liked her because "she sang from the gut" and introduced her at many of his personal appearances in which she attended.
Vikki Carr has received numerous prestigious awards, including:
- Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2008)
- National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Lifetime Achievement Award (2005)
- Latino Spirit Award (2003)
- Tito Guizar Award (2003)
- Trefoil Award (2002)
- Inductee of the Latino Legends Hall of Fame (2000)
- Imagen Foundation "Humanitarian Award (1998)
- Hispanic Heritage Award (1996)
- Nosotros Golden Eagle Award (1988)
- Hispanic Woman of the Year (1984)
- Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1981)
- Doctorate in Law from San Diego University (1974)
- Doctorate in Fine Arts from St. Edwards University (1974)
- American Guild of Variety Artists' "Entertainer of the Year" (1972), and
- The Los Angeles Times' highly respected "Woman of the Year" (1970)
She has also earned the career achievement award of the Association of Hispanic Critics, Chicago's Ovation Award, the YWCA Silver Achievement Award, and was honored in 1990 by the City of Hope with the Founder of Hope Award. In 1991, she was presented the Girl Scouts of America Award.
Respected both as an artist and a humanitarian, Carr devotes time to many charities including The United Way, The American Lung Association, Cancer Therapy and Research Center, The Muscular Dystrophy Association, and St Jude's Hospital. For 22 years she held benefit concerts to support Holy Cross High School in San Antonio. In 1971 she established the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation, dedicated to offering college scholarships to Latino students in California and Texas. To date, the Foundation has awarded more than 280 scholarships totaling over a quarter of a million dollars.
"My voice is a gift and a gift is nothing unless you can share it. The Foundation is one of the ways that I am able to share my gift", said Carr. "The Foundation seeks to help young Mexican-American students achieve their goals through a college education, something I myself was never able to do."
Official website: http://www.vikkicarr.com/
Sunday Morning Coming Down
Vikki Carr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With no way to hold my head
That didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't
Bad so I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet
For my clothes
And I shaved my face
And combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs
To meet the day
I'd smoked my brain the night before
With cigarettes and songs
That I've been pickin'
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Cussin' at a can that he was kickin
Then I crossed the empty street and
Caught the sunday smell
Of someone fryin chicken
And it took me back to something
That I'd lost somehow
Somewhere along the way
On the sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing lord that I was stoned
Cause there's something in a sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down
In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl
He was swingin
And I stopped beside the Sunday school
And listened to the song
That they were singing
Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away
A lonely bell was ringing
And it echoed thru the canyon like
The disappearing dreams of yesterday
On the sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing lord that I was stoned
Cause therels something in a sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down
The first line of Vikki Carr's song, "Sunday Morning Coming Down," is the perfect set up for a mournful ballad about loneliness and regret. The singer awakens on a Sunday morning with a hangover and a sense of unease. He recalls that he had been smoking and playing music the previous night. His clothes are in disarray, and he's feeling lonely and miserable. As he sits on a sidewalk, he realizes that nothing is more lonesome than the sound of the city waking up on a Sunday morning. The contrast between the singer's slouching demeanor and the joyfulness of the young girl and her father at the playground emphasizes his sense of isolation.
The feeling of dislocation and sadness is evident throughout the song. The singer is haunted by memories of the past, marked by a lonely bell ringing far away. He is regretful about not being able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, such as frying chicken, which evoke a sense of nostalgia. Sunday Morning Coming Down is a poignant exploration of the human condition, where the absence of spirituality is starkly palpable, and people seem to seek comfort in vices and other materialistic things.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head
That didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't
Bad so I had one more for dessert
I woke up feeling awful and hungover, but the beer I had for breakfast wasn't actually that bad, so I had another one.
Then I fumbled through my closet
For my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I shaved my face
And combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs
To meet the day
I got dressed and tried to look semi-presentable, but I was still kind of a mess and stumbled down the stairs to start my day.
I'd smoked my brain the night before
With cigarettes and songs
That I've been pickin'
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Cussin' at a can that he was kickin'
I spent the previous night smoking and playing music, but decided to have a cigarette in the morning and watched a kid swearing at a can he was kicking
Then I crossed the empty street and
Caught the sunday smell
Of someone fryin chicken
And it took me back to something
That I'd lost somehow
Somewhere along the way
I walked down the street and smelled someone cooking chicken, which reminded me of something I had lost along the way.
On the sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing lord that I was stoned
Cause there's something in a sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down
I walk down the sidewalk, feeling lonely and wishing I was high. There's a certain feeling that Sundays give me that makes me feel even more alone than anything else I can think of. The sound of the city waking up makes me feel just as sad as the thought of dying.
In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughing little girl
He was swingin'
And I stopped beside the Sunday school
And listened to the song
That they were singing
I saw a father in the park pushing his daughter on a swing, and I stopped to listen to the song the Sunday school kids were singing.
Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away
A lonely bell was ringing
And it echoed thru the canyon like
The disappearing dreams of yesterday
I started heading back home, and heard a lonely bell ringing in the distance. The sound echoed through the canyon, reminding me of lost dreams from the past.
On the sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing lord that I was stoned
Cause therels something in a sunday
That makes a body feel alone
And there's nothing short of dying
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalk
Sunday morning coming down
I walk down the sidewalk, feeling lonely and wishing I was high. There's a certain feeling that Sundays give me that makes me feel even more alone than anything else I can think of. The sound of the city waking up makes me feel just as sad as the thought of dying.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Kris Kristofferson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
DJ Reid
Real tears coming from Vikki Carr's eyes in stellar performance tells me Vikki Carr sings with heart and soul like few others could ever perform. The song comes alive with each word, sung so clear, the message and performance just is the greatest on television performances.
Gene Hays
I'm always amized at Vikki's ability to put her soul into her songs!
Bingo Del Mar
She sings with depth and feeling and one can feel it. Gorgeous Singer! Love her...
patricia krejca
Nobody can sing a song with such feeling and ease as Vikki Carr and powerfully at the same time
Brian KB
Couldn't agree more! I bet you many country "cry" artists sighed a sigh of relief when she did not continue singing country. She was, and still is, a tough act to follow.
Haywood Ja'Blome
Sorry, but Karen Carpenter was better.....
Molly Borland
The best rendition of the song, by a woman. I never realized that the song was one that a woman could sing with as much authority as a man. Wonderful! Go Vikki!
clapolla
My favorite female versions are this one by Vikki and Lynn Anderson's version
Hairy Mary
Wow wow, wow, powerful, authentic, so glad I happened upon Vikki's version of one of my all time favourites.
Jennifer McMullen
Man....that's just fantastic. It should have been a single.