Billie Holiday with Nine ~ "Fine and Mellow"<br />Vintage Collection 1958-1961<br />"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".<br />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):<br />Ben Webster – tenor saxophone<br />Lester Young – tenor saxophone<br />Vic Dickenson – trombone<br />Gerry Mulligan – baritone saxophone<br />Coleman Hawkins – tenor saxophone<br />Roy Eldridge – trumpet<br />Doc Cheatham – trumpet<br />Danny Barker – guitar<br />Milt Hinton – double bass<br />Mal Waldron – piano<br />Osie Johnson - drums<br />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.<br />"Fine and Mellow"<br />Single by Billie Holiday<br />Released: 1939<br />Recorded: April 20, 1939<br />Written by Billie Holiday<br /><br />My man don't love me<br />Treats me oh so mean<br />My man he don't love me<br />Treats me awfully<br />He's the, lowest man<br />That I've ever see<br /><br />He wears high trimmed pan<br />Stripes are really yellow<br />He wears high trimmed pan<br />Stripes are really yellow<br /><br />But when he starts in to love me<br />He's so fine and mellow<br /><br />Love will make you drink and gamble<br />Make you stay out all night long repeat<br />Love will make you drink and gamble<br />Make you stay out all night long repeat<br /><br />Love will make you do things<br />That you know is wrong<br /><br />But if you treat me right baby<br />I’ll stay home everyday<br />But if you treat me right baby<br />I’ll stay home everyday<br /><br />But you're so mean to me baby<br />I know you're gonna drive me away<br /><br />Love is just like the faucet<br />It turns off and on<br />Love is just like the faucet<br />It turns off and on<br /><br />Sometimes when you think it's on baby<br />It has turned off and gone<br /><br />© Commodore Records Ltd.
