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.
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