Added: 4 years ago
From: nerdhoe
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  • THE BEST JAZZ SINGER EVER... SHE IS SO SWEET AND TENDER. BILLIE WILL NEVER DIE!

  • ~ A talented, tormented lady sings a melancholic and sad song just like a lullaby, in a way that brings tears to my eyes ~

  • i love you billie- you take me back to my good memories of me and my grandparents- they made me feel loved-just like the way she makes everyone feel

  • Just so beautiful! Listening to her singing this song make me feel sad, but I really enjoy this sensation of sadness...

  • Rhythm ----- and Blues

    ever so subtle

    only Miss Billie coulod

  • She's such a great storyteller.

  • Billie's delivery turns this into the most understated but saddest song ever written.

  • Wow... so amazing! Love her.

  • This composition is incredible, I don't know how all of this ethereal orchestration couldn't reduce somebody to tears...

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  • BILLIE EN EL OLYMPIA DE PARIS!!!!!!! ELLA

     ES LA MEJOR!!!

  • excelente... ES LA MEJOR CANTANTE DE JAZZ

  • That's a tremendous performance! I love the way she rolls her eyes at 2:26

  • awe billy

  • This is wonderfull, man.

  • you can hear her earrings.....and her soul!

  • @likanyc

    This is my favorite performance of "Travelin' Light" and I think it's the best one that she ever gave out of her other live and studio recordings of it. It's just something about this performance of the song that I keep coming back to and I love the simple yet beautiful piano playing. And I love hearing her earrings jingle. Someone commented on this page that she still burns bright. I agree, she certainly does and always will.

  • Hey Thank You Dude . . !

  • I Think thi concert it was recorded in milan (italy ) in the last year of her life . her voice was quite distroied ma always full of phatos. Very rare document . Thanks for posting.

  • can you watch this without crying? I can't...

  • This is one of the greatest voices that has ever sung a song.

    Now ask yourself if someone walked out of stage of one of these talent tv shows with that voice what would you think would happen?

  • ‎"Travelin' Light" written by Jimmy Mundy and Trummy Young lyrics by Johnny Mercer

  • i love you love you so much my only sorrow is not being able to meet you in person

  • One of the saddest videos I've ever seen...Can anyone else see the deep Gut-wrenching pain in her eyes???  Or, Is it only me? She is near total grief-stricken sobbing......Gosh, it kills me. Diana Ross in Lady sings the blues..and not even an Emmy for her performance.....The most incredible performance I've ever seen. YET....does not even touch the pain in this beautiful woman's eyes. Those were not JUST words. She is devastated... beyond Hope...God please help her.

  • @quirkyartist I was thinking that she looked a bit high.

  • @drpreatorius.....Thats why I felt so bad for her drpreatoius.....she's in big trouble here. turns out she die only few months after this

  • One of the saddest videos I've ever seen...Can anyone else see the deep Gut-wrenching pain in her eyes??? Or, Is it only me? She is near total grief-stricken sobbing......Gosh, it kills me. Diana Ross in Lady sings the blues..and not even an Emmy for her performance.....The most incredible performance I've ever seen. YET....does not even touch the pain in this beautiful woman's eyes. Those were not JUST words. She is devastated... beyond Hope...God please help her.

  • Bellissimo documento!

  • Wow, where did you find this? Thanks much!!!!!

  • omg! what a genius.

  • One jewel...♫

  • just utterly amazing....does anyone notice the EXPRESSIVENESS of her face when she sings? it's as if the entire story of her life, all the joys the sorrows, the highs and the lows can be read on her face; it just blows me away every time i see this video. such an amazing, talented and troubled woman.

  • Beautiful!

  • God, how I love this song and Billie's voice.

  • does aNYONE KNOW THE YHEAR THIS WAS RECORDED???

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  • @triptoheaveandho, this performance was from a performance in November 1958 - Paris, France.

  • @robdagun thank you so much!!!! i adore this video!

  • @robdagun this was 1959 she was very ill here.She only had 4 or 5 months left to live

  • thank you billie we will never forget you, your voice sounds bad but your heart sing so beatifull. see you bille.

  • Such a beautiful woman w/ a sultry voice.

  • thank you so much.

  • I love Billie

  • THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS BY HER .

  • This is so sad. Her voice was totally shot. Thank God for the recordings of the 30's and early 40's. Listen to those. She was whole then.

  • @JeffRebornNow John, I want to suggest you listen to "Lady In Satin." I agree definitely that the voice was different and had a much harder edge, but Miss Billie still found a way to reach your heart and soul. I think both phases of her life had a magic and charm that always did justice to what she sang. Give it a chance and I think you'll hear it for yourself.

  • @JeffRebornNow True , but I care about this artist and feel the pain in some way, it's not just about the rendition. Atticus had it in "To Kill a Mockingbird" - "you don't understand a person until you get into their skin " can't explain it well but I appreciate this recording as well....

  • @JeffRebornNow i have all the recordingfrom beginniung toi end \

    i wouldnt say her vocie was shot

    buy rougher

    but actually i think most of us who arre long term Billie fans realize her interpretive powers were actually better duroing this time period than when she was younger she put more depth intoher perfromances later in her career

  • she is everything to me.wonderful, beautiful lady.her music is a pure magic.

  • She was definitely one of a kind. No one could replace her.

  • What timing!! Lady Day was such an expressive vocalist . . .

  • This performance from Lady Day just shows how much of a genius that she was. Everytime I see a live performance from her my eyes are locked onto her face as she sings the lyrics bringing the audience to an emotional journey whether it be a ballad that is full of sadness and heartbreak or a song that swings that makes us snap our fingers and make our hearts full of excitement and eagerness. Whether she sings with a piano, acappella, or with strings you can't help but be entranced as she sings.

  • Of any vocal artist I have heard Billie had the greatest influence on me.This is an unknown quote I found about Lady "A voice like no other human sound ever brought to music." Ain't it the truth.

  • @loulou2lou

    I totally agree with that quote and Billie Holiday was one of a kind! The way that she phrased the lyrics to a song, the way that she was able to express the lyrics of a song by digging deep into the meaning of the song and to be able to emote the feelings of a song to the audience are just some of the things that made her such a skillful artist and add so much to jazz. Billie Holiday is defintely influential and influenced many jazz singers and instrumentalists.

  • @loulou2lou i couldn't have said it better myself....thank you!

  • I blow a thousand kisses to this wonderful woman.....

  • I like this song but i dont really understand it.

    will someone kindly explain it to me?

    

  • thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

  • hmm this video is haunting

  • amazing how much feeling you can put out when after youve been bangin morphine

  • I have a quick question. There is a new Billie Holiday DVD out called "Billie's Blues: Her Best Performances on Film". I read that "Traveling Light" was on it but I wonder if this particular performance of this song is on it? I really would love to own this beautiful and heart breaking performance!

  • @MusicLoverBrian1

    Yes, according to the Amazon listing, it does include this particular performance of  Travelin' Light. It also includes most of her known television appearances in the 50s, including the BBC performance of Strange Fruit, the 1950 short with Count Basie, and her legendary 1957 televised performance of Fine and Mellow for CBS.

  • @billiefan2001

    Thanks! I'm glad that this beautiful performance of Travelin' Light is on the DVD . . . I can't wait to own it!

  • This is pure beauty and NOTHING but beauty

  • beautiful with a ghostly quality to it, thanks for the posting it. did you know she was billy crystals babystitter.

  • Amazing. I LOVE Lady Day!

  • she is simply beautiful...

  • BEAUTIFUL!

  • Love those earrings!

  • Billie's last few recordings have to be some of the most beautiful and painful in the history of recorded music. Such a peculiar and wonderful voice.

  • @ChickenGoujons

    What makes Billie Holiday so unique is that peculiar voice that she has and though it didn't have much range like other singers she used it in such a unique way. Her phrasing, impeccable timing, putting so much emotion into the lyric, going behind the beat of the song, and the inflections she placed in her voice all made up for the little range that she had. I love this performance of Travelin' Light. You can hear and feel the pain and loneliness in her voice.

  • @MusicLoverBrian1

    I totally agree. The most wonderfully expressive voice.

  • @ChickenGoujons Congratulations, my friend. You listened and found the heart and spirit of Miss Billie. What a joy to know that her legacy of beautiful songs are still reaching the hearts and minds of people who appreciate her artistry. I salute you!

  • best of the best lady

  • no one but me, and my memories...... love this song from my Fave!

  • Simply wonderful. Simply great. Simply beautiful!!!

  • beautiful ..looks a littl high though..heh

  • maravillosa voz que sin mayores estridencias comunica sentimientos y mucha pasion atraves del tiempo eterno .

  • I agree...her vocal style was so different, yet hot!

  • So sad to think she only lived a short time after this filming. She left such a legacy to us in her ability to interpret a song and make it so believable, so hers. I had heard that she died with $750 cash pinned in her girdle. I hope she found the peace she so longingly wanted, she deserved so much better than she got.

  • he said goodbye...and took my heart away....

  • thank you brian. what blows my mind is that the story goes Miss Billie walked into a club one night, broke and hungry and looking for any work that would give her a few bucks for some food.  They asked her if she could sing and she agreed to try. The rest was history. It breaks my heart to think such an elegant woman was so down on her luck in the beginning, but thank God she took the chance and got up to sing. What an incredible legacy of music from this incredible soul. God bless her!

  • This was one of Miss Billie's signature songs. As far as I am concerned, it was hers alone, because no one else ever sang it the way she did. Listen, and you can feel every word of that song. Simply wonderful. Simply great. Simply beautiful, Miss Billie.

  • @butfulmuzik Agreed!

  • @butfulmuzik I'm quite fond of Anita O'day's version. I think she really puts feeling in it as well.

  • @evlog I also enjoy Anita O'Day's artistry. I think Miss Anita and Miss Billie both had a bunch of lousey breaks because of drug charges that took away their cabaret licenses to perform their artistry. They both had so much heart and soul in their music and, despite whatever personal problems they may have had, their music was always wonderful. For me, it has always been: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" Two fabulous artists.

  • @butfulmuzik I agree with you entirely.

    Both singers were constantly harrassed by the police, til the end.

    Yet despite this, they shone through, and will always remain unforgettable.

  • @butfulmuzik how very eloquent of you to say that. i couldn't agree more.

  • @butfulmuzik

    No one ever sang anything the way Billie did.

  • i have a lot of her on 78' she was the blues for me to others Ella but for me this lady brought it home

  • This is 1959 she had only about 8-10 weeks to live .This is in Paris

  • mysteriously enchanting woman, what a soul

  • the way she interpret the songs, the shades of each single words she sings makes me crazy!

    she comes from a different planet!!!

  • Wow! Thank you nerdhoe! I've never seen this clip before. How did you find this? It's wonderful! Thank you for sharing.

  • This is mesmerizing and Billie Holiday is simply fabulous. Thank you. :)

  • Thanks for posting this video ..

    She looks and sounds really marvelous

  • The true power of Youtube.

    Thank you so much, nerdhoe, for making this clip available!

  • I just love her voice...its all heart...........

  • This clip has everything that Billie was: soulful, charismatic, a consummate performer, a deep spirit. A wonderful find... sixty years later, she still burns bright....

  • Seems so natural, so easy for her to be so completely and absolutely extraordinary...

    Awesome.

  • First time I've seen this, THANK YOU so much, Beautiful.

  • Beautiful voice I ever heared!

  • lovely voice,performance...and my god....her eyes are so sexy!:D

  • I'm absolutely mesmerized by this performance, as well as Billie in general. I feel SO blessed to know of her, and only wish I could have known her personally. She brightens my day, any day. Thank you, Lady Day.

  • whoa look how gorgeous she is...yikes...damn i cant get over how beautiful this woman is. girl with a voice nothin sexier

  • rip...

  • This is one of my favorite songs by Billie. It was a huge hit for her and Paul Whiteman in 1942. In this clip she seems a little unnerved by the cameras, but is still magical.

  • Only Ms Day can take these lyrics and sing it this way. I feel it.

  • She flying high here!

  • She was a drug addict...OK, WE GOT IT!!!

  • That may be... but she flyin' light.

  • Die beste.

  • Reminds me of my friend Selda, who met Billie in NYC when she was a young girl and her brother a nightclub promoter. She used to say she wanted to have a stereo installed at her crypt to play this song!

    R I P friend

  • moving . . . takes one back . . .

  • Thanx 4 posting....Wonderful view of Billie...!!..Not her greatest show but ....Damn her timing's always good even when its bad.......If only the rest knew how tall her shoulders were.

  • Wonderful, just wonderful. I love Billie Holiday's voice, she's such a beautiful woman and singer.

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  • Some may see her off her head, I see her so very into the moment and using what is left of her abused god-given talents phenomenally well. Never been another like her, never will.

  • She is hypnotic !!!

  • She really looks like's she's off her head in this one. Amazing she could sing so well, considering.

  • I'm tired of the drama queens running around calling themselves diva. Who cares? Miss Holiday was the real deal. She oooozed with soulfulness and pain and hope. And something the others have missed the boat on...compassion for others. Won't ever be another.

  • i love the sound of her aerrings it makes her alive again beautiful wonderful billie

  • I will always love this woman... phenomenal, just phenomenal

  • BB

    la cantante más auténtica.

    te amo billie

  • that makes me fuckin cry!!!!

    billie is awesome

  • Gotta Love Billie Holiday, The version that Queen Latifah did on her album titled Trav'lin Light i liked much more but gotta appreciate the original for what it is!

  • ty so much

    cheers

  • the fucking REAL THING!!!

  • Sorry, I meant to hit the thumbs up hand. I totally agree with you, Billie was the true essence of soul. the real "FUCKING" thing. Love me some Billie Holiday. Just heard her "What a little Moonlight Can Do" and she's rocking.

  • When was this filmed?

  • She performed the song on a French TV broadcast on 11/18/1958. The show was Music Hall Parade. The musicians were Mal Waldron on piano and Michel Gaudry on bass.

  • at 1;54, I'm pretty sure you can hear her eariings tingle...

  • i'm crying

  • It sounded wobbly at the start but wow.

    It makes you cry.

  • i think this song is my favourite out of all the ones i've heard her sing. and hers is always my favourite version, whatever the song (:

  • This looks like a screen test or home movie made shortly after WWII. Lady Day is still beautiful and what a gift it is that this film has been preserved. Thanks

  • Soooo BEAUTIFUL !!

    THX 4 SHARING :~)

  • What a fantastic video! Lady Day in all of her musical glory! Thanks for sharing this.

  • she encapsulates beauty and sadness that is on a much deeper and higher plane no other human being has been able to project.

  • encapsulate.. ive learned something new today

  • fantástica, you see her with your mouth open , no breathing, holding your tears.

    Que Dios te cuide siempre querídisima

    Billie.

  • WOW!!!!!! a million stars!!!!! *****

  • Oh, man. Where you did get this ? Thank you !

  • sing it lady!

  • what a treasure, it is now in my memory.

  • This in 1959 she died less than 3-4 months after this.She is very ill in this video.

  • puro corazon y sentimiento un angel.

  • God through a woman's voice

  • overwealming..

  • unbelievable pain

  • Thanks sooo much for this video, it's stunning to see her.

    And to all you fans outthere, remember she wasn't that poor woman they always show.

    She had a career, made money, wore fur coats etc., something which most black people in those days didn't have.

    But like so many she was unlucky in love, that's why we love her so much I guess.

    Beautiful Billie!!!

  • jvorreuter= i concur.

  • BILLLIE FOREVER !!!!!

  • IT SEEMS LIKE A AWESOME SONG TODAY!!!

  • SO, SO REAL, EVEN THE EARRINGS NOISE !

  • wow she is so beautifulfull on here. what a amazing voice and so sad.

  • gracias Billie.

  • her timing always makes my head explode

    you cant sing with her, her way of singing is simply inimitable

  • people imitating her makes my head want to explode

  • i agree

    its painful

  • billie will you marry me?

  • i never write comments, but i was so moved by this performance, i had to make one- this is one of those youtube video gems that help remind us youtube is more powerful than exploading ass rockets or angry german kid playing unreal tournament. honestly, this is the best thing i've ever seen uploaded.

  • she simply wrings my heart dry with that rendition. love her

  • there for the grace of god go I and anyone else who has been through things... after my son died.. I have felt like this everyday

  • i just bought the album with thid song on her turns out shes not lip syncin i like this version better you know u can hear shes holding back on tears the studio recordings good but i like this one better more pain

  • great footage love billie rip

  • Wow! You Tube is a gift from God!

  • Great...never knew this version existed. My favorite is by Shirley Horn.

  • thanks god for youtube and who posted.

    How wonderful to get to see this so many years letter

  • Je n'avais jamais vu cette vidéo auparavant. Billie Holiday est une femme ravissante, sa voix me bouleverse. Est-ce une réponse à l'existence que d'entendre pareille merveille ?

  • this is amazing once i read a book about drugs and music through history and i felt amazed about the life of billie. that was sad..

  • nobody can sing the blues like Billie Holiday did

  • it's too bad she died a poor drug addict.

  • Fantastica... Unica Billie.

  • stunning!

  • i really like billie. she is one of the best jazz singer.