[Dixielandjazz] “God Bless the Child” - Wall Street journal

[Robert Ringwald]

“God Bless the Child”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Billie Holiday's 'God Bless the Child'
Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2013
[Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 66, is the NBA's leading scorer and author of "Sasquatch in
the Paint" (Disney-Hyperion). He spoke with reporter Marc Myers.]
Billie Holiday's singing voice is one of my earliest memories. My dad was in the
Army during World War II, and whenever he was on leave he'd go dancing at Harlem's
Savoy Ballroom. That's where he met my mom. After the war, they married, and my dad
became a police officer and played trombone. They both loved jazz, and at home in
New York I often heard them play Billie's recording of "God Bless the Child."
Billie's voice on that song isn't happy or sad -- it's both at once. You can hear
that the words she's singing are personal. Billie wrote "God Bless the Child" with
Arthur Herzog Jr. in 1939, toward the end of the Depression, as an observation about
basic human needs and the hypocrisy of those who have too much.
I've never really turned anyone on to the song. It has just been a personal thing
-- between me and the record and my memories. When you listen to it now, you realize
the lyrics are still relevant: "Yes, the strong gets more / While the weak ones fade
/ Empty pockets don't ever make the grade."
Her lyrics say that you have to make things happen but within reason. My parents
both sang in a choir so they listened to a lot of recordings by vocalists. But it
was how Billie phrased the lyrics on "God Bless the Child" that made me think about
who has, who doesn't and why.
In the '60s, when I was a teen, the song took on a new meaning with the civil rights
movement. That's when I realized "God Bless the Child" was timeless. Even though
Billie recorded it in 1941, the words and her voice fit the new times -- reflecting
the unfairness of inequality and people demanding a better life. The song also shaped
me as a basketball player -- motivating me to push hard to get my own, as Billie
said in the song.
Like the paintings of Picasso and Monet, Billie's music will never be passe, and
the song always makes me think. Even her voice still sounds fresh -- as though she
recorded the song yesterday.
-30-

-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551

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