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."
Without Your Love
Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm like a song without words
Just like a nest without birds
Without your love
Fine sun above
Will never shine at my door
My life holds nothing in store
Without your love
With you beside me
Now who's to guide me
Because I'm lost at sea
Without your love
I'm like a plane without wings
A violin with no strings
Without your love
I've rode the crest of a wave
With you beside me
Now who's to guide me
Because I'm lost at sea
Without your love
I'm like a plane without wings
A violin with no strings
Without your love
The lyrics of Billie Holiday's "Without Your Love" reflect the feeling of incompleteness and emptiness that one experiences when they are devoid of love. The opening lines "Without your love, I'm like a song without words, just like a nest without birds" convey the idea that just as a song without lyrics or a nest without birds lacks harmony and life respectively, the singer's life too lacks these crucial elements without love.
In the following lines, the singer talks about how even the finest sun above will not shine at her door without love and how her life holds nothing in store. The sense of hopelessness is further amplified when she says that she rode the crest of a wave with love by her side, but now that she's lost that love, she's lost at sea with no one to guide her.
The song concludes with a repetition of the opening lines, "Without your love, I'm like a plane without wings, a violin with no strings, without your love." These lines summarize the essence of the song, which is the incompleteness and lack of harmony that one feels when love is absent.
Line by Line Meaning
Without your love
I cannot bear existence without you
I'm like a song without words
I am incomplete and cannot express myself without your love
Just like a nest without birds
I am empty and unfulfilled without your love
Fine sun above
Even the brightest and most beautiful things in the world offer no solace without your love
Will never shine at my door
I cannot see or truly appreciate the beauty of the world without your love
My life holds nothing in store
My life is meaningless and lacks purpose without your love
I rode the crest of a wave
I experienced great success and joy while you were with me
With you beside me
Your presence was necessary for my happiness and fulfillment
Now who's to guide me
I am lost and uncertain without your guidance and support
Because I'm lost at sea
I am adrift and directionless without your love
I'm like a plane without wings
I am useless and unable to move forward without your love
A violin with no strings
I am incapable of producing the beauty and emotion I once could without your love
Without your love
My very existence is incomplete and meaningless without you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ROBERT JOHN LANGE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@billmoller
Young is sinewy smooth behind her. Just beautiful