885 Greatest Songs By Women: #9, Billie Holiday - God Bless The Child (1942)

I first discovered Billie Holiday back in 1972 by watching the Berry Gordy produced film, Lady Sings The Blues, starring Diana Ross as the great jazz singer along with Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor and Scatman Crothers. Ross turned in a fine acting performance and proved she could sing jazz even though her silkier voice does not resemble Holiday's earthier delivery at all.

At the time, I liked the movie despite its well-known historical inaccuracies and it sent me on a search for Lady Day's records. Among them was the outstanding "God Bless The Child."

Holiday's reputation was mostly built as a superb interpreter of other people's songs, but she did earn an occasional composing credit. One of them is this classic, a co-write with composer Arthur Herzog, Jr.

This masterpiece was recorded in New York on May 9, 1941 for Okeh Records which was a subsidiary of Columbia and released the following year on a ten inch, shellac, 78 rpm record that was the standard at the time. It peaked at #25 on the U. S. pop chart and was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1976.

The band included the legendary Roy Eldridge on trumpet with Ernie Powell and Jimmy Powell on alto saxophones. Lester Boone played tenor. Eddie Heywood was the pianist, Paul Chapman contributed guitar, and Grachan Moncur played bass. The drummer was Herbert Cowens.

In Holiday's autobiography that has the same title as the Gordy-Ross movie and pre-dates it, she said inspiration for the song came from a heated discussion she had with her mother who refused to give her a loan even though the singing star previously helped finance her parent's restaurant. Holiday used the now famous line "God bless the child that's got his own" during the argument and it became the title of the song.

Although I didn't know the history of "God Bless The Child" or who Holiday was when I first heard the song covered on the eponymous, second LP by Blood Sweat & Tears in 1968, I believed immediately that it was a special piece of work. When I finally became familiar with the original four years later my feelings were confirmed.

Comments

Post a Comment

WHAT'S HOT TODAY!

Slower Than Slow: 16 RPM Records

Image
Have you ever heard of a long forgotten vinyl format, the 16 2/3 RPM record? They were half the speed of the 33 1/3 RPM albums that were the traditional standard for recorded music. Most record players in the 1950s and 1960s came with a speed setting to play these long forgotten discs that were considered novelties even during the years they were available. Because most, but not all, 16s had big holes and were 7" in diameter many of them were mistaken for 45 RPMs and at that size the speed allowed for up to 20 minutes of playing time per side. However, there was no true standard size and they were also manufactured to be 9, 10, or 12 inches in diameter, and these larger records played even longer. Just like the other speeds and formats 16s could be played one record at a time or stacked on a changer for continuous play. Radio stations often used the discs for pre-recorded radio shows containing interviews, dramas, and documentaries. More frequen...
Read more

The Band - Christmas Must Be Tonight (1977)

Image
In 2006 Hall and Oates released Home For Christmas , their one and only holiday album, an extremely good set of music that immediately became one of my favorite seasonal listens. I wrote then that I was stunned at how many overtly religious songs the famous duo put on the the disc considering the very politically correct climate of the new millennium. One of them was a cover version of a song that alluded me for almost thirty years, "Christmas Must Be Tonight." I liked the new, upbeat track sung by Daryl Hall and it made me go out and search for Robbie Robertson's never-to-be classic. Sung by Rick Danko, it appears on the great American band's last album, Islands (1977). It's a surprise that a group whose members were not known to have any specific or powerfully strong religious beliefs would release a song that tackled the subject of Jesus's birth as blatantly as our most loved Christmas carols. It's not about a reckless reinde...
Read more

Chicago: An Album By Album Analysis Of The Terry Kath Era (1969 - 1977)

Image
The original lineup of Chicago has always been one of my all time favorite bands. My affection for this great horn band is such that I want to discuss all of the albums they recorded before Terry Kath's unfortunate and accidental passing. Their debut album is now forty years old, and it's followup is not far behind, yet their music endures to this day. * * * * * Everyone Must Own * * * * Excellent * * * Good * * Fair * Poor * * * * * Chicago Transit Authority (1969) - Whether they were playing screaming psychedelic hard rock, jazz, blues, or love songs, everyone in the band proved they were worthy of the huge mass success that followed CTA 's release. The band's ability to play anything and play it well is the hallmark of their debut album. The stars are Robert Lamm, Terry Kath, and the horns, and even Peter Cetera demonstrates he can be a rock and roll animal when he wants to be. The standout tracks are Lamm's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It...
Read more

The Beatles - Christmas Messages (1963 - 1969)

Image
For seven straight years beginning in 1963 - even before they were famous in America - The Beatles recorded annual Christmas messages exclusively for their fan club members as a holiday thank you. They were issued on seven-inch, vinyl records that were very thin, very bendable, and easily damaged. These flexi-discs, as they were called, could not be stacked on record changers. Over the years the tracks have been bootlegged in countless ways, and until a few years ago the only legal release was sent to fan club members in 1970 on 33 RPM vinyl records after the boys from Liverpool went their separate ways. The LP cover shown here is from that album. Finally, in 2017, a limited edition box set  on colored vinyl was released and is now an expensive collector's item. Many Beatles fans managed to hear these records over the years, and with the Internet being what it is, there are several websites where anyone can easily listen to all of them.  Archive.org ...
Read more

The Chieftains With Jackson Browne - The Rebel Jesus (1991)

Image
"The Rebel Jesus" is a Christmas song composed by Jackson Browne and performed with The Chieftains, the eclectic, veteran Irish folk band on  The Bells of Dublin,  their 1991 holiday album. Browne wrote the song specifically for his guest appearance on this record. The singer-songwriter, who is deservedly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, can be a bit preachy when he wants to be, and he is again here, but no one can dispute what the man is saying.  The last two verses are the key to the song. Browne points out that people often feel more generous at Christmas so they'll give to those who were less fortunate than themselves during the holidays. But, if anyone tries to dig deeper and root out the poverty that envelops the downtrodden they are often scorned like Jesus was. This message is coming from a man who is admittedly a "heathen and a pagan," but on this occasion he is "on the side of the rebel Jesus." At the same time Browne doesn't want to sp...
Read more