Wynona Carr (Cleveland, Ohio, August 23, 1923 – May 12, 1976) was a gospel,… Read Full Bio ↴Wynona Carr (Cleveland, Ohio, August 23, 1923 – May 12, 1976) was a gospel, rhythm & blues and rock & roll singer-songwriter, who recorded as Sister Wynona Carr when performing gospel material.

Wynona Merceris Carr was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where she started out as a gospel singer, forming her own five-piece group The Carr Singers around 1945 and touring the Cleveland/Detroit area. Being tipped by The Pilgrim Travelers, who shared a bill with Carr in the late 1940s, Art Rupe signed her to his Specialty label, giving Carr her new stage name “Sister” Wynona Carr (modelled after pioneering gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and cutting some twenty sides with her from 1949 to 1954, including a couple of duets with Specialty’s biggest gospel star at the time, Brother Joe May.
Not having too much success on the charts (except for “The Ball Game” (1952), which became one of Specialty’s best selling gospel records), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record “pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues”. Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock & roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself. Despite scoring an R&B hit with “Should I Ever Love Again?” in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music didn’t help Carr much in terms of sales or recognition. Unfortunately she also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in the summer of 1959.
In 1961 Carr signed with Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976.

Carr’s contralto vocals have a sensual, husky quality quite unusual (or even inappropriate) for gospel singers in her day, which made her eventual switch to R&B and rock & roll seem a logical choice in retrospect. The same goes for her idiosyncratic use of metaphors and themes in her gospel songs: Baseball (“The Ball Game”), boxing (“15 Rounds For Jesus”) and a popular TV show (“Dragnet For Jesus”). This penchant for novelty-like songs also shows in Carr’s later R&B repertoire, for instance “Ding Dong Daddy”, “Nursery Rhyme Rock” and “Boppity Bop (Boogity Boog)”.
Carr’s gospel recordings are very much influenced by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, incorporating blues and jazz stylings and already touching on R&B with her take on Roy Brown’s / Wynonie Harris’ “Good Rockin’ Tonight”, entitled “I Heard The News (Jesus Is Coming Again)”. Her early R&B material (for which she is probably best remembered now) was often uptempo, rock & roll-styled and similar in sound to fellow R&B / rock & roll artists on the Specialty roster like Little Richard, Lloyd Price and Larry Williams, with a strong New Orleans-style backbeat and a rich, warm production. Her final Specialty sessions, conducted by Sonny Bono in 1959, cut down on the rock & roll influences.
Both Carr’s gospel and R&B recordings went largely unappreciated during the time they were released, but found a new audience when Specialty Records released two CDs, covering Carr’s entire output on the label and adding previously unreleased material, such as a recording with Rev. C.L. Franklin (father of Aretha Franklin) and his New Bethel Baptist Church Choir in Detroit.

Sister Wynona Carr
Dragnet For Jesus (Specialty SPCD-7016-2, 1992)
Wynona Carr
Jump Jack Jump! (Specialty SPCD-7048-2, 1993)

'Til The Well Runs Dry
Wynona Carr Lyrics

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You said you love me
And then you left
You broke every promise, oh yes you did
You win every bet

You never miss your water
Till your well runs dry

Tell me, tell me, whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?

Listen to me, darling
You cheat and you lie
Now you come a running
Running, wanting second try

You never miss your water
Till your well runs dry

Tell me, tell me, whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?

Sat down and sighed
And I heard you packing
I watched you pass by me
But you said nothing, not one single word

But I know you're gonna miss me
And you're gonna be blue

But tell me, tell me, whatcha gonna do when you're feeling blue, Lord?
Whatcha gonna do, woman, when you're feeling blue?
Whatcha gonna do when you're feeling so blue?
I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do when you're feeling blue?

Tell me, tell me, whatcha gonna do when you're feeling blue?
Whatcha gonna do when you're feeling blue?
Whatcha gonna do when you're feeling so blue?
I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do when you're feeling blue?

Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry, woman?
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Whatcha gonna do?

I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do
I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do
I'd want to know, whatcha gonna do

Whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do

Whatcha gonna do
...

Overall Meaning

In "Til The Well Runs Dry," Wynona Carr sings about the consequences of taking someone for granted and not valuing them until it's too late. The opening verses describe a lover who promises the world but fails to keep their word, leaving the singer heartbroken and alone. Carr uses the metaphor of a well running dry to convey the idea that people often fail to appreciate what they have until it's gone. The chorus asks the question, "Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?" which is meant to be a wake-up call to anyone who has taken their partner's love for granted.

The second verse talks about the lover's attempts to come back and make amends, but the singer has already moved on and doesn't want to give them another chance. The last verse describes the lover leaving without saying a word, suggesting that they are aware of their mistakes but are too ashamed to admit them. The song ends with the chorus repeating the question, "Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?"

Overall, "Til The Well Runs Dry" is a cautionary tale about the importance of valuing the people in our lives and not taking them for granted. Carr's powerful vocals and poignant lyrics make the song a timeless classic that still resonates with audiences today.

Line by Line Meaning

You said you love me
You expressed fondness for me

And then you left
And subsequently departed

You broke every promise, oh yes you did
You failed to keep any commitment you made

You win every bet
You always come out on top

You never miss your water
You fail to recognize the value of something until it's gone

Till your well runs dry
Until you no longer have access to what you took for granted

Tell me, tell me, whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
What steps will you take when you realize you've lost something valuable?

I'd like to know, whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
I am curious to hear about your plan of action in such a scenario

Listen to me, darling
Pay attention to what I'm saying, beloved

You cheat and you lie
You engage in deceitful and dishonest behavior

Now you come a running
Now you seek my help or forgiveness