The Women's Show; 21; Marion Leighton, Billy Holliday

Good evening and welcome to mention. This is Paul Absalom. With me tonight is Marion Leighton who's a member of the Rounder Records collective in some of the oil and black clothes and Arco Feminist Collective in the Boston area. Tonight we'll be taking a look at the music of Billie Holiday. And Billie Holiday was one of the most recent Women blues singers. She was born in Baltimore Maryland in 1915. And at the age of about 13 came north to New York City where she started out as a Call Girl and shortly thereafter started singing in clubs in the New York City area. By the time she died in 1959 she was pretty well known as a great women and woman jazz singer but she also was addicted to heroin by that time and racism and sexism in the American society both had taken their toll upon her. She died a very broken woman with a policeman outside her hospital room waiting for her to try to escape. Because at that point she would be arrested for illegal possession of narcotics

even though she was on her death bed. I don't want to say too much more about Billie Holiday most of all just listen to her music and I'll interrupt only long enough to mention the titles of the songs most of her songs dealt with love and the importance of having a man around in the sadness when he left in all this mostly because that was what her audience expected her to sing. She was forced to sing in bars most of her life. Right now let's start with Billie Holiday singing one of her most famous songs Lady Sings the Blues. Yes.

Yes. The next song is summertime by Billie Holiday.

That's Billie Holiday's version of summertime. The New Haven women's liberation

rock band also have a rewritten version of summertime What shall a few of you folks may have heard them do. The course goes one of these Morning sure going to rise up angry. The next song we're going to hear by Billie Holiday is a fine romance just sort of fun because of the idea of a cold and sterile romance which is actually perfectly representative of most of the middle middle class versions of romance. Yes.

Oh my goodness.

Oh. Yeah yeah. When. I was in. Yes. Yes. The next song expresses more her idea of the ideal romance it's called Body and Soul.

And I know. No one. That we just heard and next we're going to speak by Billie Holiday.

Speak to me. Is that you.

You. Will.

She. Went so. Well you. Know. And when. That was sophisticated lady and before that speak oh next we'll hear

travelin all alone. One of Billie Holiday's most famous songs. Don't we know.

Everyone I want to go home.

Was travelling all alone by Billie Holiday next week for the last song this evening we'll hear Billy's blues. They are the market. What do you mean.

Might. Make everything good.

You've been listening to the music Billie Holiday. This program has been one in a series on women and music as member of the Rounder Records collective and some of them we'd like to thank her for being with us tonight. This is inviting you to join us again next week at this time for the woman show.