Too Much of Something

By Mr. Moderator on Dec 10, 2009

I can't get into Billie Holiday.

There, I said it.

I don't like the way she sings. I've never liked when white rock singers like Janis Joplin ape her slurred "Baby-you-can't-imagine-how-my-heart aches" style, and after all these years of not liking imitations of that style, I'm comfortable admitting that I don't like the style's root voice either.

I've read essays on the song "Strange Fruit" and Holiday's interpretation of it that make tears well in my eyes. I'm not completely insensitive. I feel a bit of Billie's pain too and am aware that some of the songs are pretty good, but too much of the Billie love in our culture seems wrapped up in that Tortured Artist thing, and that Tortured Artist thing rarely plays well for me. Coupled with the fact that I really don't like the way Billie Holiday sings, I'm comfortable with stating that I don't like Billie Holiday and what her voice suggests to my soul. It's just too much of da blooz to resonate with me. Sorry.

Have you ever held the fact that an artist projects "too much" of something against that artist? Has the "Englishness" of The Kinks or The Smiths, for instance, ever gotten in the way of your appreciating the music? As much as I love British accents and Syd Barrett's solo albums, there are times when I feel like he's putting it on. I ask myself, Can anyone really have that much of a British accent? The same thing goes for me with various American artists and their "country" accents. I've heard people speak that way, but some singers are "too country" for me. I'm uncomfortable. I feel like they're shoving it in my face.

Follow up:

I acknowledge that I may be more proper than some of you.

Tags: da blooz
Comment from: mrclean [Member] Email
I like Holiday...err...I used to like to listen to her. But ever since I heard the writer David Sedaris do his impersonation of her I can't not think of his version when listening to her.

He ruined it for me.

I still like her version of "I've got my love to keep me warm" though. I have that track on a holiday collection that gets spin time around this time of year.

As for English accents - the more the merrier for me.
12/10/09 @ 14:39
Comment from: ramone666 [Member] Email · http://www.ramone666.blogspot.com/
Old bum Jagger´s fake American accent can be a little rich sometimes.
12/10/09 @ 14:50
Comment from: 2000 Man [Member] Email
I often like the watered down reinterpretations of musical styles better than the original styles. I just can't sit around and listen to jazz or blues all day. I can listen to rock bands pretend to play blues and jazz all day and all night, though. Steely Dan? Cool in my book. Mingus? WTF? I don't get it at all.
12/10/09 @ 18:20
Comment from: mwall [Member] Email
I'm going to have to come back to this question with better examples, but speaking generally for me, sometimes a band will just sound too "white" to stand. Squeeze, say. How white are those guys? Is anybody really THAT white?
12/10/09 @ 19:26
Comment from: hank fan [Member] Email
Your criticism of Billie Holiday would apply mostly to her later work. I'm a big fan, but not because of her tortured-artiste thing. The stuff I really like are her early recordings that are available on Columbia. During that period, she wasn't the focal point so much as just a part of the band. The instrumentalists, such as Lester Young, are great. The early stuff is a lot more upbeat and her singing style is fairly straightforward.

(BTW, big love for Mingus here too.)
12/10/09 @ 19:27
Comment from: shawnkilroy [Member] Email
Johnny Rotten is phony English.
Like...extra English.

Boz Scaggs does that Boz Skaggs thing a little too much. I think that might be phony soul man or something.

same with Michael McDonald.

Kenny Loggins and Lindsey Buckingham are too fucking white to live.

Springsteen's "takin a wicked shit" voice is also a put on.

I like all of these artists, they're just puttin us on is all.
12/10/09 @ 19:34
Comment from: andyr [Member] Email

"Springsteen's "takin a wicked shit" voice is also a put on"

Rack that up as post (or line) of the month! Excellent description!
12/11/09 @ 08:13
Comment from: sourbob [Member] Email
Amen on the Springsteen line: solid gold.

I love Billie Holiday, though. She wraps her entire person around every syllable. It's a lot to take in, though.
12/11/09 @ 09:35
Comment from: cdm [Member] Email
To me "Da Blooz" connotes someone who is attempting to copy a style and ends up parodying it. The English equivalent would be: “I’m ‘enery the Aiff, I am. ‘enery the Aiff, I am, I am.”

The Billie Holiday stuff I like is from the early l930’s (with Benny Goodman like What A Little Moonlight Can Do) to the early 1940’s (I Cover The Waterfront, Let’s Do It, Jim, etc). I don’t get the sense that she’s hamming things up so even if she really is, it doesn’t interfere with my enjoying the songs.

It’s show business, so even “sincerity” and “authenticity” are just part of the act. But I acknowledge that things can be pushed too far.
12/11/09 @ 09:48
Comment from: jeangray [Member] Email
Leon Redbone fits into this category for me. I'm not sure exactly what it's too much of, but it's definitly something.

On the other hand, I am able to do a mean impersonation of him. Ooh, the irony!
12/12/09 @ 09:59
Comment from: plasticsun [Member] Email
Have you ever heard British singer of the 60s Chris Farlowe? I cannot listen to him without laughing then cringing - he wants so bad to sound like a soul singer but sounds like he learned the words phonetically.
12/16/09 @ 14:07

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