Billie Holiday is considered one of the greatest jazz singers ever.
She was born in 1915.
Her real name was Eleanora Fagan.
She grew up in Baltimore, U.S. and had a painful childhood.
She dropped out of school when she was 11-years old.
Later, she was raped by a neighbor and removed from her mother’s custody.
However, after a year she returned to her mother’s custody.
In 1927, her mother and her moved to a brothel and both worked as prostitutes .
Then she began singing in clubs in Harlem、(suburb of New York City).
She was very successful in the 1930s and had many hit songs.
In 1947, she stared in a movie with Louie Armstrong.
The movie title was “New Orleans”.
In the 1950s, she began abusing alcohol and drugs.
Her career and health declined quickly.
Sadly, in 1959 she died from cirrhosis of the liver.
You can hear her pain in her voice.
I think sometimes some artists need pain to create art.
They create art to have therapy in their life.
“Lover Man”
I don’t know why but I’m feeling so sad
I long to try something I never had
Never had no kissin’
Oh, what I’ve been missin’
Lover man, oh, where can you be?
The night is cold and I’m so alone
I’d give my soul just to call you my own
Got a moon above me
But no one to love me
Lover man, oh, where can you be?
{Repeat: x2}
I’ve heard it said
That the thrill of romance
Can be like a heavenly dream
I go to bed with a prayer
That you’ll make love to me
Strange as it seems
Someday we’ll meet
And you’ll dry all my tears
Then whisper sweet
Little things in my ear
Hugging and a-kissing
Oh, what I’ve been missing
Lover man, oh, where can you be?
“The Blues Are Brewin”
When the moon’s kinda dreamy
Starry eyed and dreamy
And nights are luscious and long
If you’re kinda lonely
Then nothin’ but the blues are brewin’
The blues are brewin’
When the wind through the window
Blows across your pillow
And tells you sleepin’ is wrong
If love goes a thirsting
Till you feel like bursting
Then nothing but the blues are brewin’
The blues are brewin’
Suppose you want somebody
But you ain’t got nobody
You only get a gleam in your eyes
Till somebody’s found you
And put their lovin’ arms around you
You got the feelin’ you want to die
But when the Lord up above you
Send’s someone to love you
The blues are something you loose
You’re so busy doing
The things that you’re doing
That love ain’t got no time
For brewin’ the blues
“My Man”
It’s cost me a lot
But there’s one thing that I’ve got
It’s my man
Cold and wet, tired you bet
But all that I soon forget
With my man
He’s not much for looks
He’s no hero out of books
But I love him
Yes, I love him
Two or three girls has he
That he likes as well as me
But I love him
I don’t know why I should
He isn’t true
He beats me too
What can I do?
Oh, my man I love him so
He’ll never know
All my life is just despair
But I don’t care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright, all right
What’s the difference if I say
I’ll go away, When I know
I’ll come back on my knees some day?
For whatever my man is
I am his forever more
“Strange Fruit”
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
“God Bless The Child”
Them that’s got shall have
Them that’s not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don’t ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
[Repeat: x2]
Money, you’ve got lots of friends
They’re crowding round your door
But when you’re gone, and spending ends
They don’t come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don’t take too much
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own
He just worry ‘bout nothin’
Cause he’s got his own
Yes he’s got his own
