Music / Lady in Satin

You don't know what love is until you know the meaning of the blues

Lady in Satin is a 1958 album by Billie Holiday. It was the last record she released during her lifetime and her personal favorite. At the time critical reaction to the album was mixed. Years of drug addiction had ravaged her voice, though the emotional power of a woman who's been through a lot shines through. In that regard, this record paved the way for similar troubled female musicians expressing their ravaged souls such as Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Marianne Faithfull and Amy Winehouse.

The orchestral arrangements were conducted by bandleader Ray Ellis.

Tracklist

Side One

1. "I'm a Fool to Want You" (3:23)
2. "For Heaven's Sake" (3:26)
3. "You Don't Know What Love Is" (3:48)
4. "I Get Along Without You Very Well" (2:59)
5. "For All We Know" (2:53)
6. "Violets for Your Furs" (3:24)

Side Two

1. "You've Changed" (3:17)
2. "It's Easy to Remember" (4:01)
3. "But Beautiful" (4:29)
4. "Glad to Be Unhappy" (4:07)
5. "I'll Be Around" (3:23)

Tropes in Satin

• Added Alliterative Appeal: "You Don't Know What Love Is"
  Until you've loved a love you've had to lose
• Alliterative Title: "But Beautiful".
• Break-Up Song:
  • "Easy to Remember"
  I hear you whisper: "I'll always love you."
  I know it's over and yet
  It's easy to remember, but so hard to forget.
  • "I Get Along Without You Very Well"
  I get along without you very well
  Of course, i do
  Except perhaps in spring
  But i should never think of spring
  For that would surely break my heart in two
  • "I'll Be Around"
  And when things go wrong
  Perhaps you'll see you're meant for me
  So, I'll be around when she's gone
  • "You've Changed"
  That sparkle in your eyes is gone
  Your smile is just a careless yawn
  You're breaking my heart
  You've changed
• Broken Bird: Holiday was only in her forties when this album was recorded, but years of alcohol and heroin addiction caused her to sound like someone way older.
• Cover Album: All songs are covers.
• Darker and Edgier: A large part of the album's appeal is listening to a woman in decay and the knowledge that she would die the next year, with her final album recorded during her lifetime being released posthumously.
• Despair Event Horizon: In Holiday's case, death was already on the corner when she recorded this album, making her songs about unrequited love and breakups even more tragic than they already are.
• Drugs Are Bad: While Holiday's delivery remains exquisite, her vocals sounds rough and raspy, and express the weariness and despair she went through her entire life. All of it, due to her alcohol and heroin addictions.
• Face on the Cover: Billie's face in close-up.
• Have a Gay Old Time: "But Beautiful"
  Love is tearful or it's gay
  It's a problem or it's a play
  It's heartache either way
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: "I Get Along Without You Very Well" is a list of all the ways she isn't getting along very well.
• Love Hurts:
  • "But Beautiful"
  Love is funny or it's sad
  Or it's quiet or it's mad
  It's a good thing or it's bad
  • "You Don't Know What Love Is"
  You don't know how lips hurt
  Until you've kissed and had to pay the cost
  You don't know how lips hurt
  Until you've flipped your heart and you have lost
  You don't know what love is
• Love Makes You Dumb: "I'm a Fool to Want You"
  Time and time again I said i'd leave you
  Time and time again I went away
  But then would come the time when I would need you
  And once again these words I had to say
  Take me back, I love you
  I need you
  I know it's wrong, it must be wrong
  But right or wrong, I can't get along without you.
• Lyrical Dissonance: The sweet string arrangements try to cover up Holiday's gloomy delivery.
• Non-Appearing Title: The title alludes to Holiday herself, not the lyrics.
• Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: More breakups, drugs and jazz, but still.
• Unrequited Love: "Glad To Be Unhappy"
  Unrequited love's a bore
  And I've got it pretty bad
  But for someone you adore
  It's a pleasure to be sad

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