Billie and Diana

The playlist I'm currently listening to includes the contents of The Billie Holiday Songbook. By chance, it also includes a Diana Ross album from around the time of Lady Sings the Blues. As a result, there are a number of songs which appear twice - once in Billie's original, once in a cover by Diana. Now, I love Diana Ross' voice; I always have. Billie Holiday's voice is, to my ear, harsher; it has a metallic edge to it that makes it less pleasant to hear. But, on reflection, I have to say that Billie's voice is better suited to most of her songs - e.g., Good Morning Heartache - than Diana's is. Diana doesn't quite convince me that she's in pain in those songs. It's odd, because she can present hurt convincingly, in, for example, Love Child and I'm Living in Shame. (Actually, I'm not sure Billie Holiday could have sung the latter song convincingly; it comes out of a distinctly different experience.)

Then there's My Man. Now, if I understand correctly, Fanny Brice was the first to release that song, but I've never heard her version. But my, if it was anything like Billie's, they sure prettied it up for Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. Billie's "man" was a drunken, abusive tomcat; I don't recall any of those words applying to Nick Arnstein in the movie.

(I can't imagine either Diana or Barbra singing Strange Fruit. That's a powerful song, but I don't know whether I'll keep it on the playlist. Some things you don't need to hear twice.)