'All my life I've waited for this moment to arrive'.

September 18, 2020 11:42 PM

Bettye LaVette's Blackbirds - "LaVette rejiggered the song into the first-person, slowed the tempo to a crawl and added a bed of strings. Her wholesale reinvention of the classic tune became the foundation for an album that would take another decade to blossom."
posted by kliuless (3 comments total)

Don't miss LaVette's version of Strange Fruit, which is linked in the article. It's strenghth, I think, is that it's distinct enough from Billie Holiday's now very familiar version to let us hear the song anew.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:35 AM on September 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

^This article is at the NY Times; if you can't access it, here's the Strange Fruit audio link.
(NYT also links to a 2014 performance of Blackbird, Live at the Jazz Cafe London, & her 2012 memoir, A Woman Like Me.)
Bettye LaVette: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert From The Archives (May 21, 2010); Bettye LaVette's VEVO channel
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:16 AM on September 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

I listened to the live version in the first link and got honest-to-god literal physical chills. Wow.
posted by evilmomlady at 3:56 PM on September 19, 2020