The Billie Holiday Songbook

Billie Holiday The Billie Holiday Songbook Lyrics
1.Billie's Blues

Billie holiday

Lord i love my man, tell the world i do
I love my man, tell the world i do
But when he mistreats me
Makes me feel so blue

My man wouldn't give me no breakfast
Wouldn't give me no dinner
Fought about my supper and put me outdoors
Had the dark clay make black spots on my clothes
I didn't have so many
But i had a long, long way to go

Some men like me talkin' happy
Some calls it snappy
Some call me honey
Others think i got money
Some tell me baby you're built for speed
Now if you put that all together
Makes me everthing a good man needs


2.Don't Explain

Billie holiday / arthur herzog jr.

Hush now, don't explain
Just say you'll remain
I'm glad your back, don't explain

Quiet, don't explain
What is there to gain
Skip that lipstick
Don't explain

You know that i love you
And what endures
All my thoughts of you
For i'm so completely yours

Cry to hear folks chatter
And i know you cheat
Right or wrong, don't matter
When you're with me, sweet

Hush now, don't explain
You're my joy and pain
My life's yours love
Don't explain


3.Fine And Mellow

Billie holiday

My man don't love me
Treats me oh so mean
My man he don't love me
Treats me awfully
He's the, lowest man
That i've ever see

He wears high trimmed pan
Stripes are really yellow
He wears high trimmed pan
Stripes are really yellow

But when he starts in to love me
He's so fine and mellow

Love will make you drink and gamble
Make you stay out all night long repeat
Love will make you drink and gamble
Make you stay out all night long repeat

Love will make you do things
That you know is wrong

But if you treat me right baby
I'll stay home everyday
But if you treat me right baby
I'll stay home everyday

But you're so mean to me baby
I know you're gonna drive me away

Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on

Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone


4.God Bless The Child

Billie holiday / arthur herzog jr.

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

Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, papa may have
But god bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own

Money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
When you're gone, spending ends
They don't come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have, papa may have
But god bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own

Mama may have, papa may have
But god bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
He just worry 'bout nothin'
Cause he's got his own


5.Good Morning Heartache

Irene higginbotham / ervin drake / dan fisher

Good morning heartache
You old gloomy sight
Good morning heartache
Thought we said goodbye last night
I turned and tossed until it seems you heve gone
But here you are with the dawn
Wish i forget you, but you're here to stay
It seems i met you
When my love went away
Now everyday i stop i'm saying to you
Good morning heartache what's new

Stop haunting me now
Can't shake you nohow
Just leave me alone
I've got those monday blues
Straight to sunday blues
Good morning heartache
Here we go again
Good morning heartache
You're the one
Who knows me well
Might as well get use to you hanging around
Good morning heartache
Sit down


6.I Cover The Waterfront

Johnny w. green / edward heyman

Away from the city that hurts and knocks,
I'm standing alone by the desolate docks
In the still and the chill of the night
I see the horizon the great unknown
My heart has an ache
It's as heavy as stone
With the dawn coming on, make it last

I cover the waterfront
I'm watching the sea
Will the one i love
Be coming back to me

I cover the waterfront
In search of my love
An i'm covered
By a starlit sky above

Here am i
Patiently waiting
Hoping and longing
Oh how i yearn
Where are you
Have you thought back time
Will you remember
Will you return

Will the one i love
Be coming back
To me


7.I Cried For You

Arthur freed / gus arnheim / abe lyman

I cried for you
Now it's your turn to cry over me
Every road has a turning
That's one thing you're learning
I cried for you
What a fool i used to be
Now i've found two eyes
Just a little bit bluer
I've found a heart
Just a little bit truer
I cried for you
Now it's your turn to cry over me


8.Lady Sings The Blues

Billie holiday / herbie nichols

Lady sings the blues
She's got them bad
She feels so sad
Wants the world to know
Just what the blues is all about

Lady sings the blues
She tells her side
Nothing to hide
Now the world will now
Just what the blues is all about
The blues ain't nothing but a pain in your heart
When you get a bad start
When you and your man have to part
I ain't gonna just sit around and cry
And now i won't die
Because i love him

Lady sings the blues
She's got 'em bad
She feels so sad
The world will know
She's never gonna sing them no more

No more


9.Lover Man(Oh Where Can You Be)

Jimmy davis / ram ramirez / james sherman

I don't know why but i'm feeling so sad
I long to try something i never had
Never had no kissin'
Oh, what i've been missin'
Lover man, oh, where can you be?

The night is cold and i'm so alone
I'd give my soul just to call you my own
Got a moon above me
But no one to love me
Lover man, oh, where can you be?

I've heard it said
That the thrill of romance
Can be like a heavenly dream
I go to bed with a prayer
That you'll make love to me
Strange as it seems

Someday we'll meet
And you'll dry all my tears
Then whisper sweet
Little things in my ear
Hugging and a-kissing
Oh, what i've been missing
Lover man, oh, where can you be?


10.My Man

Channing pollock/maurice yvain / albert willemetz/jaques charles

It cost me a lot
But there's one thing that i've got
It's my man
It's my man

Cold or wet
Tired, you bet
All of this i'll soon forget
With my man

He's not much on looks
He's no hero out of books
But i love him
Yes, i love him

Two or three girls
Has he
That he likes as well as me
But i love him

I don't know why i should
He isn't true
He beats me, too
What can i do?

Oh, my man, i love him so
He'll never know
All my life is just a spare
But i don't care
When he takes me in his arms
The world is bright
All right

What's the difference if i say
I'll go away
When i know i'll come back
On my knees someday

For whatever my man is
I'm his forevermore


11.Stormy Blues

Billie holiday

I've been down so long
That down don't worry me

I've been down so long
That down don't worry me

I just sit and wonder
Where can my good man be
When it rains in here
It's storming on the sea
When it rains in here
It's storming on the sea

Every time i come here
Everything happens to me
I lose my man
I lose my head
I lose my money
Feel like i'm almost dead
I need you honey
Need you bad as can be

I've been down so long
That down don't worry me


12.Strange Fruit

Lewis allen

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.


13.Trav'lin' Light

Johnny mercer / jimmy mundy

I'm trav'lin' light
Because my man has gone
So from now on
I'm trav'lin' light
He said goodbye
And took my heart away
So from today
I'm trav'lin' light

No one to see
I'm free as the breese
No one but me
And my menories
Some lucky night
He may come back again
So untill then
I'm trav'lin' light

No one to see
I'm free as the breese
No one but me
And my menories
Some lucky night
He may come back again
So untill then
I'm trav'lin' light


14.What A Little Moonlight Can Do

Harry woods

Ooh, ooh, ooh
What a little moonlight can do
Ooh, ooh, ooh
What a little moonlight can do to you
You're in love
Your heart's fluttering all day long
You only stutter cause your poor tongue
Just will not utter the words
'i love you'
Ooh, ooh, ooh
What a little moonlight can do
Wait a while
Till a little moonbeam comes peepin' through
He'll get bored
You can't resist him
All you'll say
When you have kissed him is
Ooh, ooh, ooh

What a little moonlight can do
Ooh, ooh, ooh