January 1, 2008
Lady Sings the Jews
Two thousand eight marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Billie Holiday’s great album, Lady in Satin. Add two years and you’re back to 1956, the year she sang “My Yiddishe Mame” at a rehearsal. Until recently, Holiday’s Yiddishkeit session was available only on Verve’s The Complete Billie Holiday: 1945-1959. But a Venezuelan guy recently put it on Youtube (you’ll have to sit through endless Barbara Streisand photos to listen, but it’s worth it). Here’s the link, un a gutn nayem (goyishn) yor dir (Happy New Year and we’re not talking Rosh Hashana)!
You can also visit this (click here) ex-pat Israeli hipster memoir attesting that “My Yiddishe Mame” was part of Holiday’s repertoire.
‘