Is solitude still so low the second time around?
November 24, 2007 at 9:17 pm
1.) Billie Holiday - Gloomy Sunday
(Ken Burns Jazz/2000)
Bjork - Gloomy Sunday
(Stormy Weather/1999)
2.) Billie Holiday - Don’t Explain
(Ken Burns Jazz/2000)
Billie Holiday - Don’t Explain (Dzihan and Kamien Remix)
(Verve Remixed, Vol. 2/2003)
3.) Billie Holiday - Fine and Mellow
(Ken Burns Jazz/2000)
Nina Simone - Fine and Mellow
(Nina Simone at Town Hall/1959)
4.) Billie Holiday - God Bless the Child
(God Bless the Child/1994)
Blood, Sweat, and Tears - God Bless the Child
(Blood, Sweat, and Tears/1969)
5.) Billie Holiday - Solitude
(Ken Burns Jazz/2000)
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington - Solitude
(The Great Summit - The Complete Collection: Deluxe Edition/2000)
6.) Bille Holiday - Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do
(God Bless the Child/1994)
It’s the holidays and what better homage to the season than to regale in the classic melodies of the greatest Holiday in music? Misery loves company as is exemplified above. For every Billie classic, there is someone who covered it in their own way; and so, for each solitary tune there is a partner. Bessie Smith originated “Ain’t Nobody …” but I wanted to leave that song to Lady Day alone; for all of the company around her, none could compare to the partner for which she longed and loved the most: opium, heroin. It was that addiction to which her version of the song referred; it is that self-inflicted solitude which resonates strongest through her tracks and is at the base of her emptiness. So a little Holiday cheer — or just Holiday — to bring in the season. Enjoi.
photo credit: solitare miles I Wished on the Moon
nice post woo!
I think Venetian snares did a much nicer cut of gloomy Sunday than Bjork. Bjork’s one is going overboard with orchestration, sounds bombastic.
I am so glad I read your blog :)
Thanks for the songs.
Another couple of songs (that I can think of) that could’ve fitted this list were ‘Autumn in New York’ and ‘Black coffee’. But yea, finding their covers would be a task.
Cheers.
TC
The matchless Lady Day. Thank you.
i got an exclamation point from sq. i can die happy now ;p … yeah bjorks is a bit over-the-top but it was actually when i ran across that particular cover that i got the idea for the post so there are better covers, but i couldnt drop it
tc: im so glad i read your comment :) i was really debating whether or not to put autumn in new york, decided against it, but thinking about it now i might post it bc there are quite a few covers … as for black coffee, thatd be a task indeed
derek: incomparable. thank you.
Very nice, but if you want re-interpretations of Billie material, I think Carmen McRae is a must. And not just ’cause she’s my favorite singer. Her classic Billie tribute is 1961’s Lover Man, and she also did a 2-disk live tribute called For Lady Day in the ’80s, of which I used to own volume 1 (lost), on which everybody seems to take a while to get warmed up, but the best tracks are brilliant. The liner notes to that album note that she and Billie used to celebrate their shared birthday together, in which Billie would invariably drink Carmen under the table. And I’ve read elsewhere that they were lovers, for what it’s worth.
Anyway, below are two videos of Carmen singing Billie-associated songs, one from around the time of each of those two albums.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BATy7nFQbJw
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nsS3phtC674
One thing about Billie Holiday,
She is an incredibly stylish person.
godoggo: quite coincidental that you brought up carmen (well not especially considering how close her and billie were but, still) my mom and i were just talking about carmen mcrae last night, after i had posted the list no less … in retrospect i do wish i included at least one carmen track though … thanks for the clips and comment … carmen on johnny carson was brilliant, great interview but couldn’t find it on youtube … womp womp
sq: again, coincidence, same convo last night my mom went on and on about billie’s impeccable sense of style … thanks for the clip, classic … sidenote about the now-famous gardenia in her hair: she first put it there to cover a spot where she singed her hair with a flat iron
and finally, cliche but fitting: hi mom! haha
that famous gardenia is Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
Billie Holiday (April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday
Kahlo is slightly older than Billie. I wonder if they talk to each other while Kahlo was in NYC. She was causing quite a stir in town.
timeline
http://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/life/timeline_1930.html
so i dont know how to add pictures and pretty stuff but i do know that iconic billie has a gardenia in her hair, that i do know … frida does too, and moreso, but depending on the demographic billie could hold a stronger correlation … either way it was just a sidenote … but i do wonder about frida and billie, i mean if frida fancied josephine whos to say she wouldnt enjoy the company of lady day?
well. true. It was my speculation.
It’ll be interesting how much information I can find about Kahlo and Billie around late 30’s on the net.
(short clip, commentary about Kahlo in the US. in spanish.)
slide show. I think the pictures are chronological.
luuuurve billie holiday remixes :D (and originals, of course) :)
Thank you for the Bjork cover! I can sleep happy now.
thanks ulma :D
haha glad to be of assistance mads, sleep deprivation is something i always aspire to alleviate when possible ;o)
I remember seeing a youtube video of that performance of “Fine and Mellow.” Presumably it’s still there. Ah, what the hell…just a moment…Jeepers, there’s like half a dozen videos of it posted! Check and see!
jeepers indeed! here’s the first one on the list haha, thanks for the heads up
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_tNSp7MaADM
sorry for the link, but how do you add the actual clip to the comment?
Billie Holiday - Fine and Mellow (1957)
with Coleman Hawkins and Gerry mulligan
————
side track
Take Five New Version With Vocal By Carmen McRae
(I never notice how Carmen McRae voice control is so much like saxophone.)
I agree, I love the Venetian Snares version, that whole record is really good.