from the CD The Quintessential Billie Holiday Vol. 4, Columbia Records, released: 1991, recorded: 1937I could listen to Billie Holliday every single day for the rest of my life and never grow tired of hearing the sound of that voice---delicate yet assertive, both bluesy & jazzy at the same time, vulnerable and humbled beyond the realm of most people’s realities. Although surely meant as a standard love song by writers Ahlert & Turk, this song could just as well have been Ms. Holiday’s own personal ode to heroin, “…oh there'll be rain, and darkness too, I'll not complain, I'll live with you…poverty may come to me, that's true, but what care I, I’ll get by, as long as I have you…”; after all, she did infamously get arrested in the hospital, having heroin delivered to her as she lay dying from liver failure…fucking pigs. Having been raped as a young girl, then later getting into prostitution, drug & alcohol addiction, and several abusive relationships, Billie Holiday’s story didn’t begin on a happy note or end on one either---that’s always sort of transfixed me, how one tortured woman could bring so much joy to the world, even decades after her death. I hope she understood that before she passed, that her voice will serve as infinite salve to all who have hearts and minds.
