Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an A… Read Full Bio ↴Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.

Billie Holiday had a difficult childhood. Much information once not considered true was confirmed in the book Billie Holiday by Stuart Nicholson in 1995. Holiday's autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, which was first published in 1956, is sketchy when it comes to details about her early life, but has been confirmed by the Nicholson research.

Her professional pseudonym was taken from Billie Dove, an actress she admired, and Clarence Holiday, her probable father. At the outset of her career, she spelled her last name Halliday, which was the birth-surname of her father, but eventually changed it to Holiday, his performing name.

Her distinct delivery made Billie Holiday's performances instantly recognizable throughout her career. A master of improvisation, Billie's well-trained ear more than compensated for her lack of music education performance really was.

In 1972, Diana Ross portrayed Holiday in the film Lady Sings the Blues, which is loosely based on the 1956 autobiography of the same name. The film earned Ross a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also has been portrayed by Ernestine Jackson in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill and by Paula Jai Parker in a Season 7 episode of Touched by an Angel entitled "God Bless the Child," the title deriving from a song that she had written and sung.

In 1987, Billie Holiday was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1993, R&B singer Miki Howard released an album dedicated to Holiday titled Miki Sings Billie: A Tribute To Billie Holiday. The United States Postal Service introduced a Billie Holiday postage stamp in 1994, she ranked #6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Rock n' Roll in 1999, and she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Over the years, there have been many tributes to Billie Holiday, including "The Day Lady Died," a 1959 poem by Frank O'Hara, and "Angel of Harlem," a 1988 release by the group U2. A 1953 Holiday concert in New York is a key feature of the 2009 Arthur Phillips novel The Song is You.

On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver (the result of several years of substance abuse) on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in New York City.

Critic John Bush wrote that she "changed the art of American pop vocals forever."She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child," "Don't Explain," "Fine and Mellow," and "Lady Sings the Blues." She also became famous for singing jazz standards including "Easy Living," "Good Morning Heartache," and "Strange Fruit."

When A Woman Loves A Man
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Maybe he's not much, just another man
Doing what he can
But what does she care
When a woman loves a man
She'll just string along
All through thick and thin
Till his ship comes in
It's always that way

When a woman love a man
She'll be the first one to praise him
When he's goin' strong
The last one to blame him
When everything's wrong
It's such a one-sided game that they play
But women are funny that way
Tell her she's a fool
She'll say yes, I know
But I love him so
And that's how it goes
When a woman loves a man
Tel I her she's a fool
She'll say yes, I know
But I love him so

And that's how if goes
When a woman loves a man

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "When a Woman Loves a Man" by Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra appear on the surface to be a simple love song celebrating a woman's undying devotion to her partner. However, upon closer inspection, the song reveals a more nuanced and potentially problematic dynamic within romantic relationships. The opening lines suggest that the man in question may not offer much in terms of accomplishments or success, but the woman continues to stay by his side regardless of circumstance. This could be interpreted as a commentary on the societal pressure placed on women to prioritize a man's needs and wellbeing above their own personal goals or ambitions.

The chorus of the song emphasizes the ways in which the woman is willing to overlook the faults and mistakes of her partner, even to the point of accepting blame for his failures. This dynamic may be seen as a reinforcement of traditional gender roles, where the woman is expected to be subservient and supportive of her partner's decisions and actions, regardless of whether they benefit her own desires or not.

Line by Line Meaning

Maybe he's not much, just another man
He may not be exceptional, just an ordinary man

Doing what he can
Trying his best to get through life

But what does she care
She doesn't really care about his status or abilities

When a woman loves a man
Things don't matter when she is in love with him

She'll just string along
She will be there for him no matter what

All through thick and thin
She'll stick by him through good times and bad

Till his ship comes in
Until he achieves his goals or becomes successful

It's always that way
This is the pattern that repeats itself

She'll be the first one to praise him
She will always acknowledge his accomplishments

When he's goin' strong
When he's successful and doing well

The last one to blame him
She'll take his side even when he's at fault