Angela - Chapter 4

In the biography Lady Sings the Blues, written by Billie Holiday, Eleanora Fagan a.k.a Billie Holiday struggles through life to support herself and maintain a career. In chapter 4 entitled “If My Heart Could Only Talk,” Eleanora talks about the people who played a role in her life and helped to guide her. In the beginning of the chapter she focuses mainly on her mother and she mentions that she is a much respected individual. Eleanora also stressed the idea that her mother always found the good in people, even in robbers or murders, and was never judgmental towards anyone. The mother was even able to put up with the father and the fathers new wife, even after the wife knocked her over the head with her pocketbook. The next character that she focused on greatly was Lester Young; a musician who played the saxophone. The chapter expresses how Eleanora looked up to Lester because although he did not play with the largest volume or tone, he always played his heart out. Eleanora greatly looked up to him and because of that she gave him the nickname of “Prez”, after Franklin D. Roosevelt, because she felt that he was as great as the president at the time. In return Lester had given the nickname “Lady Day” to Eleanora. Another character that was mentioned in the chapter was Benny Goodman, a fellow musician, whom she was originally good friends with, but she eventually fell in love with him. I feel that the quote that best captures the main idea of the reading is, “In those days everything that happened, happened at a jam session somewhere.” I feel that summarizes that chapter greatly because everything that Eleanora seemed to mention originated at a show or during a musical session. For example, when the mother saw her ex-husband and his new wife it occurred at one of Eleanora’s shows. Also I feel that quote is appropritate because that is ultimately where she meets all of her friends and possible love interests. One question that I would ask is why Eleanora felt the need to go after a married man, and why exactly did the relationship turn sour?