Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 7, 1915.
Her real name was Eleanora Harris.
She taught herself to sing during her early teens
and began performing as a featured soloist with many jazz bands.
She is regarded as one of the greatest jazz singers of all time.
In 1941 she wrote the song "God Bless the Child."
Her nickname was "Lady Day."
Lady Day
Sighing, crying,
soft as rain,
filled with promise,
filled with pain,
Billie's voice,
raw, self-styled
tamed the night
and blessed the child.
Them that's got shall get.
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.
©Charles Ghigna
4 comments:
Love it, Charles! You created powerful imagery with just a few, carefully-selected words.
Lovely!
You caught her voice. I can almost hear her.
I love Billie Holiday as well! I'm glad that I chanced upon this post through Poetry Friday. I recall that we did a feature on Billie Holiday for our Picture Books that Sing theme several months back - there's a picture book devoted to God Bless the Child, are you aware of that? Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.
Here's the link to my review of the book just in case you might be interested. Includes a video clip of God Bless the Child too! =)
http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/god-bless-the-child-by-billie-holiday-and-arthur-herzog-jr-as-illustrated-by-jerry-pinkney/
Thank you all for your comments,
reviews, book suggestions, and clip!
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