Billie Holiday with Nine ~ Fine and Mellow
- 12 years ago
Billie Holiday with Nine ~ "Fine and Mellow"
Vintage Collection 1958-1961
"Fine and Mellow" is a jazz standard written by Billie Holiday, who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the Commodore label. It is a blues lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of "my man".
The song was famously performed by Billie Holiday in 1957 in a television special, The Sound of Jazz. The lineup included several jazz legends (the first six are listed in the order of their solos):
Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
Lester Young – tenor saxophone
Vic Dickenson – trombone
Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone
Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone
Roy Eldridge – trumpet
Doc Cheatham – trumpet
Danny Barker – guitar
Milt Hinton – double bass
Mal Waldron – piano
Osie Johnson - drums
It has been covered several times, sometimes with a change in lyrics or emphasis. For example Lou Rawls switched the gender to a girlfriend and Eva Cassidy sang it in a defiant tone. Notable cover versions were sung by Nina Simone (on the 1959 At Town Hall), Dee Dee Bridgewater on her Billie Holiday tribute album, and Ella Fitzgerald on her eponymous album.
"Fine and Mellow"
Single by Billie Holiday
Released: 1939
Recorded: April 20, 1939
Written by Billie Holiday
My man don't love me
Treats me oh so mean
My man he don't love me
Treats me awfully
He's the, lowest man
That I've ever see
He wears high trimmed pan
Stripes are really yellow
He wears high trimmed pan
Stripes are really yellow
But when he starts in to love me
He's so fine and mellow
Love will make you drink and gamble
Make you stay out all night long repeat
Love will make you drink and gamble
Make you stay out all night long repeat
Love will make you do things
That you know is wrong
But if you treat me right baby
I’ll stay home everyday
But if you treat me right baby
I’ll stay home everyday
But you're so mean to me baby
I know you're gonna drive me away
Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone
© Commodore Records Ltd.
Vintage Collection 1958-1961
"Fine and Mellow" is a jazz standard written by Billie Holiday, who first recorded it on April 20, 1939 on the Commodore label. It is a blues lamenting the bad treatment of a woman at the hands of "my man".
The song was famously performed by Billie Holiday in 1957 in a television special, The Sound of Jazz. The lineup included several jazz legends (the first six are listed in the order of their solos):
Ben Webster – tenor saxophone
Lester Young – tenor saxophone
Vic Dickenson – trombone
Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone
Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone
Roy Eldridge – trumpet
Doc Cheatham – trumpet
Danny Barker – guitar
Milt Hinton – double bass
Mal Waldron – piano
Osie Johnson - drums
It has been covered several times, sometimes with a change in lyrics or emphasis. For example Lou Rawls switched the gender to a girlfriend and Eva Cassidy sang it in a defiant tone. Notable cover versions were sung by Nina Simone (on the 1959 At Town Hall), Dee Dee Bridgewater on her Billie Holiday tribute album, and Ella Fitzgerald on her eponymous album.
"Fine and Mellow"
Single by Billie Holiday
Released: 1939
Recorded: April 20, 1939
Written by Billie Holiday
My man don't love me
Treats me oh so mean
My man he don't love me
Treats me awfully
He's the, lowest man
That I've ever see
He wears high trimmed pan
Stripes are really yellow
He wears high trimmed pan
Stripes are really yellow
But when he starts in to love me
He's so fine and mellow
Love will make you drink and gamble
Make you stay out all night long repeat
Love will make you drink and gamble
Make you stay out all night long repeat
Love will make you do things
That you know is wrong
But if you treat me right baby
I’ll stay home everyday
But if you treat me right baby
I’ll stay home everyday
But you're so mean to me baby
I know you're gonna drive me away
Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Love is just like the faucet
It turns off and on
Sometimes when you think it's on baby
It has turned off and gone
© Commodore Records Ltd.