Artist: Billie HollidayComposer: Leo Robin & Ralph RaingerGoChords.com
Living for you is easy liv ing, it's easy to do.....when you're in love, and
I never regret the years that I'm giving, they're easy to give.............when you're in love, and
I'm so in love there's nothing in life but you................................................................................
I'm happy to do what ever you want me to..................................................................................
ever you want me to...................................................................for
you................................maybe I'm a fool but it's fun...........................people say you rule me with
one, wave of your hand; darling it's grand, they just don't under-stand
Living for you, is easy liv ing; it's easy to do, when you're in love,
I'm so in love there's nothing in life but you...................................................(trem).................
One of Billie Holiday's signature tunes. It was written in 1930 and has been an iconic Jazz ballard since it was first performed. Sung by every self respecting Jazz torch singer of the 20th century, but never to better effect than "Lady Day's" release. So let's dwell for a moment on Billie Holiday's story.
Conceived in an act of rape in 1915 and herself raped as a child, Holiday's life was as miserable as one might ever imagine. Even for a black woman.
She had a passing relationship with her mother but was raised mostly by her older 1/2 sister's family in Baltimore. On one occasion her mother, returning to fetch her, surprised a neighbour who was raping the 11 yr old child.
Both mother and daughter were soon working in a New York brothel, Holiday charging 5$ a time at age 14yrs!
But she was also singing around Harlem clubs and getting a reputation for having a natural genius for improvisation, like a fully trained Jazz musician. In 1931, Benny Goodman heard her and soon she was working the night spots regularly. Her greatest collaborations were with the quicksilver fingered pianisdt, Teddy Wilson and Lester Young, Tenor Sax virtuoso - who named her "Lady Day". But Holiday was never far from trouble with the law for rent arrears, drug taking, prostitution and other petty crimes. She died at the conclusion of a performance in a New York Jazz cellar of an overdose in 1959 at age 44 yrs. Since her death , countless female Jazz singers have paid tributes to her effortless ability to "get into" a band's playing style, to sing with the assurance of a master Jazz improviser. Her sense of timing was only matched by old blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, who would later describe how he had spent many hours listening to her and copying her unique rhythmic phrasing ability. She never trained in music. It all came from the heart. She was the one muso who could make a very ordinary song sound like a very extraordinary hit!
In this arrangement I use Glen Rose's major and minor Jazz chord progressions freely.
Warwick Steele, April 2013
One of Billie Holiday's signature tunes. It was written in 1930 and has been an iconic Jazz ballard since it was first performed. Sung by every self respecting Jazz torch singer of the 20th century, but never to better effect than "Lady Day's" release. So let's dwell for a moment on Billie Holiday's story.
Conceived in an act of rape in 1915 and herself raped as a child, Holiday's life was as miserable as one might ever imagine. Even for a black woman.
She had a passing relationship with her mother but was raised mostly by her older 1/2 sister's family in Baltimore. On one occasion her mother, returning to fetch her, surprised a neighbour who was raping the 11 yr old child.
Both mother and daughter were soon working in a New York brothel, Holiday charging 5$ a time at age 14yrs!
But she was also singing around Harlem clubs and getting a reputation for having a natural genius for improvisation, like a fully trained Jazz musician. In 1931, Benny Goodman heard her and soon she was working the night spots regularly. Her greatest collaborations were with the quicksilver fingered pianisdt, Teddy Wilson and Lester Young, Tenor Sax virtuoso - who named her "Lady Day". But Holiday was never far from trouble with the law for rent arrears, drug taking, prostitution and other petty crimes. She died at the conclusion of a performance in a New York Jazz cellar of an overdose in 1959 at age 44 yrs. Since her death , countless female Jazz singers have paid tributes to her effortless ability to "get into" a band's playing style, to sing with the assurance of a master Jazz improviser. Her sense of timing was only matched by old blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, who would later describe how he had spent many hours listening to her and copying her unique rhythmic phrasing ability. She never trained in music. It all came from the heart. She was the one muso who could make a very ordinary song sound like a very extraordinary hit!
In this arrangement I use Glen Rose's major and minor Jazz chord progressions freely.
