My favorite O'l time singer and Tribute to Billy Holiday

Billy Holiday – My favorite singer of all time.. her lyrics always have had a way into my heart. Since the first time I was introduced to Billy’s music I have thought what a star, a wonderful talented woman. Who knew she would always be in my life from that moment on. Who would have known at such a young age that I would have had such taste.

I think it was growing up with musically inclined family members I knew instantly how powerful this woman’s voice was. I have heard stories from grandma about Billy, people in the army would listen to her music and have killed themselves listening to her music. Some people say it’s depressing and rather sad.. I think it’s just beyond their intelligence to appreciate such an artistic woman of wonder. It amazes me that ever since I’ve been introduced to Billy’s lyrics, songs, music, talent there has never been anyone who could come close or even compare to how beautifully she sings, the woman she was and is still today. Billy will always be alive in my heart and those that know music and appreciate it as much as I do. A lot of

Billy’s songs will always be a favorite of mine.

“Billie Holiday was the real thing: an artist ranking with Ellington and Armstrong and Picasso and Romare Bearden as the greatest of her era.” – Robert G. O’Meally

Some of Billy Holiday’s songs are:            
 East of the Sun

Blue Moon                                
You Go to My Head

You Turned the Tables on Me             
Easy to Love

These Foolish Things                       
I Only Have Eyes for You

Solitude                                      
Moonglow

Everything I Have is Yours                 
Love for Sale

Tenderly                                 
If The Moon Turns Green

Remember                                 
Autumn in New York

My Man                                   
 Lover, Come Back to Me

Stormy Weather                          
 Yesterday’s

He’s Funny That Way                    
 I Can’t Face the Music

How Deep is the Ocean                   
 What a Little Moonlight Can Do

I Cried for you                             
Love Me or Leave Me

P.S. I Love You                             
Too Marvelous for Words

Softly                                      
I Thought About You

Willow Weep for Me                      
Stormy Blues

Say It Isn’t So                          
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

I Wished on the Moon                    
 Always

Everything Happens to Me              
Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me

Ain’t Misbehavin                       
 Etc…… so many  more!!!!     

Billy Holiday (Vocals) Oscar Peterson (piano), 
Charlie Shavers (Trumpet), Flip Phillips (Tenor Sax), 
Barney Kessel (Guitar), Ray Brown (Bass), 
Alvin Stoller (Drums).

“Everything you made with her was a pleasure, because it wasn’t a task… Whatever you played behind her, you felt at the time. She would put you in that mood. And if you couldn’t play in the same mood as she was singing in, I don’t think you deserve to play horn.” – Harry “Sweets” Edison (interview 1990)

I’m Traveling Light – Billy Holiday Lyrics-

Typed out by JustSweetAngel

I’m traveling light/Because my man has gone/So from now on

I’m traveling light/He said goodbye/And took my heart away

So from today /I’m traveling light

No one to see/I’m free as the breeze/No one but me /And my memories

Some lucky night/He may come back again/So until then/I’m traveling light

No one to see/I’m free as the breeze/No one but me/And my memories

Some lucky night/He may come back again/So until then /I’m traveling light

“You have to live with my tunes. When I sing a song it’s got to mean something to me, something I’ve had to live. Otherwise I can’t sing.” – Billie Holiday (rehearsal, 1955)

“You got a hard kind of voice …. You know, like callused hands. Strong and hard but gentle underneath. Strong but gentle too. The kind of voice that can hurt you. I can’t explain it. Hurt you and make you still want to listen.” – Gayl Jones, Corregidora

Lady Sings The Blues – Billy Holiday

Typed out By JustSweetAngel

Lady sings the blues/She’s got them bad/She feels so sad
/And want’s the world to know/Just what her blues is all about

Lady sings the blues/She tell herself /Nothing to hide/Now were alone

Just when the blues is all about/The blues ain’t nothing 
/But a pain in your heart/When you get a bad start
/When you and your man have to part/I ain’t gonna just sit by and cry
/I know I won’t like because I love him

Lady sings the blues/I’m telling you /She’s got’em bad
/But now were alone /She’s never gonna sing them no more
/Cuz the blues is nothing /but a pain in your heart
/When you get a bad start/When you and your man have to part 
/Ain’t just gonna sit around and cry/I know I won’t lie cuz I love him
/Lady sings the blues/I’m telling you /She’s got’em bad 
/But now were alone /She’s never gonna sing them no more/No more~~.

All the Way – one of my top faves!- Dedicated to Paul @PaulBritPhoto

When somebody loves you/It’s not good unless he loves you /All the way 
/Happy to be near you/When you need someone to cheer you/All the way

Taller than the  tallest trees/That’s how it’s got to feel/Deeper than the Deep blue seas/
 That’s how deep it goes if it’s real/When somebody needs you /Your no good unless he needs you/All the way

Through the good or lean years/And for all the inbetween years /Come what may

Who know’s where the road will lead us/Only a fool would say

But if you let me love you /It’s for sure im gonna love you/All the way 
/But if you let me love you/It’s for sure im gonna love you/All the way/All the way

Billie Holiday’s music has been exhibited as “a pathetic lady of sorrows: a junkie whose trouble with drugs, the law, and hard men explained everything she sang.”  Billie Holiday “on stage, the familiar myth goes, she performed her devastated life.” [As stated by Robert G. O’Meally in the cd cover of The Complete Verve Studio Master Takes, Billie Holiday]

Sources:

O’Meally, Robert. Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday. New York: Arcade, 1991.

Some other great Artists

Nat “King” Cole        Jack Teagarden        
Louis Armstrong

Lester Young         Duke Ellington            
Bing Crosby

Charlie Parker       Benny Goodman            
John Coltrane

Sarah Vaughan       Johnny Hodges            
Oscar Peterson (Pianist)
@MicBudda

Ella Fitzgerald        and many many more!

Roses in a different Light..

Roses are often given to women for various reasons. Red, pink, orange, white, yellow, a different color for a different emotion. Some say Red Roses denote love, white resemble purity, and yellow - friendship and so forth…

Personally I have a small pet peeve about Roses, I love roses in a garden, maybe even at the cemetery, I love smelling roses I love arranging them in vases. But to receive a red rose, even a dozen red roses from a man is rather disappointing. Now you may ask why.. and most men right now are probably shocked at the idea of a woman refusing roses.

But here is my simple but ideal response;

When I was younger, my mother and father would argue and the first thing my step- father would give my mother would be red roses. One day (this was funny), they argued and he left and came back with one single red rose, a large one, I hadn’t seen this type before. He laid it on her chest as she was asleep on the couch. She woke up and threw it at him and asked if he was preparing for her funeral.

 I didn’t understand at a young age but this became a negative reason why I don’t like to be given red roses. Another reason is that generally it’s just done so often that the gesture is outdated, old, or abused.

Another reason is that it takes a true man to learn about his woman and know what type of flower she likes and desires. My Grandfather would take an Orchid to my granny every year on her birthday and it was a corsage. Granny would put it in her fridge and it lasted for a long time. The idea of Orchids in my life became significant.

Lillies have always had a place in my heart just because of Easter, and every Easter someone would bring me a pot of Lilly’s I would sit them in the dirt and never touching them the root would grow through the pot and eventually become rooted in the soil and sprout everywhere.

Sunflowers- are also another favorite because every time I had a vegetable garden I would see at least one. One sunflower would always stand out and the idea growing up of having sunflower seeds was fun.

Amongst the many reasons I’ve stated so far of why I don’t like being given Red Roses the biggest reason would be that my Grandfather whom passed away had his casket covered with Red Roses. Now just because of the negative reasons I have stated about having real Red Roses doesn’t mean I detest them entirely.

 I would prefer a photograph of any color Rose preferably the Red Rose over the actual Rose itself. One because it doesn’t die. Two because you can imagine what it smells like, and come up with your own idea. Three because now you have created a memory rather than just having a rose sit on a counter wilting.

 When photographed usually Red Roses tend to stand out and with droplets of water on their leaves or next to a book or face, it ads more character to the actual rose than when it stands alone.