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)
Hurt Me
Wynona Carr Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come on and hurt me, what have I to lose?
Your kiss is all I live for
My life if yours alone
That′s not too much to give for
Lips like yours to call me own
So hurt me, even if you do
My heart is yours forever
I′ve know it from the start
Even though you may hurt me sweetheart
Hurt me hurt me hurt me hurt me hurt me hurt me, and even if you do
Then I know I, I'll be loving you
My heart is yours forever
I've know it from the start
Even though you may hurt me sweetheart
In Wynona Carr's song "Hurt Me", the lyrics express a willingness to endure pain in the name of love. The singer of the song is telling her lover that she is willing to be hurt by them, and that it won't change her love for them. She sings "hurt me, hurt me if you choose, come on and hurt me, what have I to lose?" exemplifying her trust in her partner and her acceptance of whatever they may do to hurt her. The singer express that the only thing she wants is the kiss of the one she loves, asserting that love is the most important thing for her.
In the next verse, she displays further dedication, stating that her heart belongs to her lover, always and forever. Even though she knows that her partner may potentially hurt her, she is willing to sacrifice her own feelings in order to be with them. This showcases the singer's vulnerability and willingness to suffer for the sake of love.
Overall, the lyrics of "Hurt Me" express deep devotion and sacrifice in the face of painful love.
Line by Line Meaning
Ooohhhh hurt me, hurt me if you choose
I am willing to endure any pain that you may choose to inflict on me.
Come on and hurt me, what have I to lose?
I have nothing left to give, so why not hurt me if that is what you desire.
Your kiss is all I live for
My life revolves solely around the pleasure that I derive from your kisses.
My life is yours alone
I have dedicated my entire being to you.
That′s not too much to give for, Lips like yours to call me own
I believe that my complete submission to you is a fair price to pay for the privilege of having your lips belong to me.
So hurt me, even if you do
I am not afraid of the pain that might come from our relationship.
Darling you know I, I'll be loving you
I will always love you no matter how much you hurt me.
My heart is yours forever
My love and devotion will always belong to you.
I′ve know it from the start
My feelings for you have been constant and unwavering.
Even though you may hurt me sweetheart
I accept that there will be pain in our relationship, but I am willing to endure it because of my love for you.
Writer(s): Jerry Freeman, Edwin Greines
Contributed by Lucy L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
a little red dot in a sea of blue
One of my favorites of the 50's, the lady can sing!
Gregory Miller
What a ballad, some of the best!
Remember Our Music
Today, August 23rd 2016 is the 92nd anniversary of the birth of Wynona Carr. If you are interested in more historical recordings by African-Americans, please check out my youtube channel "Remember our Music" a site which daily honors a great African-American musician like Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Oscar Peterson, plus divas of blues and jazz, including: Dinah Washington Alice Coltrane and Lorez Alexandria, all born in the month of August!
Steve
Should have been a mega-hit.
simplyyourtube
Agree, how is music like still not considered a legendary?
jean-marie Basset
Les mystères et magouilles du show-biz
Tegstu Lakew
what a voice
Daniel Kubacki
Good song!
Sheven718
oh baby !! what a banging track eh ! been here on this post several times and it just goes on getting better ! hope you're keeping well steve ? its all good for me over here in paradise , be nice when the sun comes out ! hope you and yours are all managing to stay virus free ? that covid really has thrown a spanner in the works hasn't it ? until i bump into you again here i'll say fare-de-well cheers m8 Dave
Steve
Hey Dave! I see a pattern here...you favor the ladies. Stay well, my friend. Sherlock