Billie Holiday’s ‘God Bless the Child’ Gave Blacks Their Own Mournful But Hopeful ‘Over the Rainbow’

Of all the words of wisdom my mother has passed on to me, the earliest ones I remember have been the most useful.

She told me I could achieve any goal I set for myself, but being Black, I would have to work harder than most.My mom inspired my DIY work ethic, and Billie Holiday’s inspired her to write her best-known song, the classic “God Bless the Child.” The jazz and blues legend also known as Lady Day shared its origin story in her 1956 autobiography “Lady Sings the Blues,” published three years before her death from complications of cirrhosis of the liver at age 44.

She got the idea for the song after approaching her mother for a loan.

When the woman who had given birth to her and who had often benefited from her daughter’s financial assistance refused, Holiday shouted back: “God bless the child that’s got his own.

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