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Rating: Notoriously, few sounds are as bitter and heartbreaking as the dusty ones coming from the descending curtain. And "Lady in Satin" is certainly further proof of this. This famous and controversial album contains the last recordings of the divine Billie Holiday, made in February 1958.
Famous because it constituted a kind of artistic testament of someone who, with her magical voice, had fed jazz to the masses, painting it with fiery iridescent blues: soon after, the liver and heart of Eleonara Fagen (her real name) would surrender after a life scattered with chemical abuses, consuming passions, and unhappiness. This gave a dramatic and frightening intensity to the way Holiday rendered standards like "You've changed" or "You don't know what love is".
Controversial as Billie’s last earthly journey was ferried by a 40-piece orchestra, masterfully conducted by Ray Ellis. A monumental accompaniment, with a cinematic flavor and at times overflowing, which still today makes jazz purists and the same Holiday exegetes turn up their noses.
We are not interested in dissecting this long-standing controversy here. What is certain is that Holiday herself considered this her most successful album. Perhaps because she was aware that, since her vocal abilities had been impaired by the varied vicissitudes of her existence, it was precisely with the shrewd and romantic use of strings that she could compensate, and with a flick of the tail, reverse the trend of a career that had been declining for some time. Listening to "Lady in Satin" indeed suggests how certain arrangements, at times so ecstatic and majestic as to seem penned by Morricone or John Barry, constituted a considerable emotional thrust for Holiday.
And then that voice, as much wounded and cracked, was still capable of enchanting, of reaffirming a fundamental archetype for the entire twentieth century (a random name: Portishead) and of cleaving through the impressive orchestral bark. Simply piercing, as in the quintessential "I'm a fool to love you", epitome of all the torments that dotted Billie Holiday's life.
The best possible farewell, then: not only to the world, but above all to a part of herself that she could never have denied.
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Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 I'm a Fool to Want You (03:26)
J. Wolf / Herron / Frank Sinatra
I'm a fool to want you
I'm a fool to want you
To want a love that can't be true
A love that's there for others too
I'm a fool to hold you
Such a fool to hold you
To seek a kiss not mine alone
To share a kiss that Devil has known
Time and time again I said I'd leave you
Time and time again I went away
But then would come the time when I would need you
And once again these words I had to say
Take me back, I love you
...I need you
I know it's wrong, it must be wrong
But right or wrong I can't get along
Without you
06 Violets for Your Furs (03:27)
It was winter in Manhattan
Falling snowflakes filled the air
The streets were covered with a film of ice
But a little simple magic that I'd heard about somewhere
Changed the weather all around, just within a trice
You bought me violets for my furs
And it was spring for a while, remember?
You bought me violets for my furs
And there was april in that december
The snow drifted on the flowers and melted where it lay
The snow looked like dew on the blossoms
As on a summer day
You bought me violets for my furs
And there was blue in the wintry sky
You pinned the violets to my furs
And gave a lift to the crowds passing by
You smiled at me so sweetly
Since then one thought occurs
That we fell in love completely
The day you bought me violets for my furs
07 You've Changed (03:19)
Bill Carey / Carl Fischer
I've an awfully feelling
That this thought that's been a stealin thru my brain
Is not to be ignored
But to really tell the truth
Though I'm not a well known sleuth
I honestly believe that you are bored
You've changed
That sparkle in your eyes is gone
Your smile is just a careless yawn
You're breaking my heart
You've changed
You've changed
Your kisses now are so blase
You're bored with me in every way
I can't understand
You've changed
You've forgotten the words, "I love you"
Each memory that we've shared
You ignore every star above you
I can't realize you've ever cared
You've changed
You're not the angel I once knew
No need to tell me what we're through
It's all over now
You've changed
09 But Beautiful (04:32)
Johnny Burke / James van Heusen
Love is funny or it's sad
Or it's quit or it's mad
It's a good thing or it's bad
But beautiful
Beautiful to take a chance and if you fall, you fall
And I'm thinking I wouldn't mind at all
Love is tearful or it's gay
It's a problem or it's a play
It's heartache either way
But beautiful
And I'm thinking if you were mine
I'd never let you go
And that would be
But beautiful
I know
Love is beautifull
I know
10 Glad to Be Unhappy (04:10)
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
Look at yorself.
If you had the sense of humor,
You would laught to beat the band.
Look at yourself.
Do you still belive in rumor
that romance is simply grand?
Since you took it right
on the chin,
you have lost that bright
toothpaste grin.
My mental state is all a jumble.
I sit around and sadly mumble.
Fools rush in, so here I am,
very glad to be unhappy.
Unrequited love's a bore,
and I've got it pretty bad.
But for someone you adore,
it's a pleasure to be sad
Like a straying baby lamb
with no mammy and no pappy,
I'm so unhappy,
but oh, so glad.
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