Billie Holiday – Moanin’ Low

I’m not a huge jazz aficionado, but sometimes it hits the spot. On Christian’s blog on Sundays, he usually features a jazz song on his Sunday Six. I often enjoy that more than the rock songs. I was looking through YouTube, and I instantly fell for this song. I picture a smoky black and white bar at 3am in the 40s or 50s, with Holiday giving her all for each song. 

I’ve heard other versions of this song, and some are slick and radio-friendly. Holiday’s is not slick, it’s real and as close to authentic as you can get. What I hear in this song is a weariness in Billie’s voice that feels older than the song itself. She doesn’t belt it, and she doesn’t show off. She just leans into the melody like someone savoring the last dance of the night. 

When I listen to her songs, I have a feeling like I’m eavesdropping on something intimate. Only a few singers have made me feel that way; she will always be special. In this song, she gave pain a voice, and it’s still being felt. 

This song was released in 1936 and peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. One stat that I found floored me. Out of the 38 singles she released, 35 of them were in the top 20. It was written by Ralph Rainger and Howard Dietz in 1929. popularized in the revue The Little Show, where it was sung by Libby Holman. It’s been covered 66 times by artists such as Dinah Shore to Hot Sugar Band & Nicolle Rochelle in 2020.

The live version below is near the end of her tragically short life, but like always, she gives her all. 

Moanin’ Low

Moanin’ low, my sweet man, I love him soThough he’s mean as can beHe’s the kind of man needs the kind of a woman like me

Gonna die if my sweet man should pass me byIf I die where’ll he beHe’s the kind of a man needs the kind of a woman like me

Don’t know any reason why he treats me so poorlyWhat have I gone and done?Makes me troubles double with his worriesWhen surely, I ain’t deserving of none

Moanin’ low, my sweet man is gonna goWhen he goes, oh LordyHe’s the kind of a man needs the kind of a woman like me

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

51 thoughts on “Billie Holiday – Moanin’ Low”

    1. Thanks Shelia…I was under the weather yesterday a bit and missed this comment. I love Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith…greatness defined.

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    1. Yes she did have a fine unique voice. I don’t know if a record company would sign her today because they want people to sound like everyone else…she didn’t. She has some really strong music.

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  4. Pingback: Billie Holiday – Moanin’ Low – MobsterTiger

    1. I’m liking it more and more I hear it. Of coure Holiday seems like a cross between Jazz and Blues… I so admire the musicians that play it…it’s not easy at a ll.

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      2. I like the older stuff like this…probably my favorite artist…and she is again mixed with Jazz and Blues is Bessie Smith.

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  8. She’s going on automatic pilot on the live version. She was in tough shape but it adds to the vibe of the song. Another one of my all time favorite musical artists. The studio cut is awesome also. Great stuff today Max. Billie was another person that picked me. I had no choice but to dig her.

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    1. CB…when I watched that documentary you pointed out…I noticed that voice…yea she wasn’t well but damn that voice…it was still there. It was so different and you could pick it out anywhere….like I said…she gave pain a voice.

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      1. Some truly unique talented people in the music world. She was one of them. What a wealth of sound is available to us. Dont have to settle for the stuff that is assembly lined in the publics ear. Why I live in these kinds of choices. Everytime i see her near the end I just want to give her a big hug.

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      2. Yea I like coloring outside the lines. I have to admit I felt so bad for her at the end of that doc…so I get totally what you are saying.

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      4. Damn CB…she has been around for a long time. I just pulled her up on spotify…I have an album here in 1969 I was going to give a listen. It’s called “It’s So Hard To Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best”
        On the first song…love that intro bass in Little Bit of Rain. Her voice…very different.

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  9. I’m another one who’s less than keen on a lot of Jazz. Like M. Y. that scoobie-doo-dat-cool cat scat stuff irks me rather than works for me, but there are some great voices out there in the Jazz field I have to admit. Billie works.

    We once saw Cleo Laine (RIP 24 July this year!) back in the 70s, maybe early 80s and though my sweetie is even less of a Jazz fan than I am we were hugely impressed with her voice, scatty or not.

    (Not many acts tour NZ, even less get down to the South Island, so back then you took what you could, be it Mungo Jerry or Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, or Bo Diddley. Well, we did draw the line at Foster and Allan. And Nana Mouskouri.)

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    1. Some of the jazz I do like…but like both of you…I don’t like all of it.
      I just looked up Cleo Laine…yea that music moves and it’s those musicians are out of this world. I couldn’t carry their picks lol…
      Yea I could see that trip to New Zealand could turn some away…I just looked up Foster and Allan…yea…I can see avoiding that.

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      1. Yes, a little Jazz is good, a lot of Jazz- not too good.

        Yeah, here talent wise it was… wait for the poor pun… ‘slim pickings.’🙄😬. (Sorry, so sorry, but there you have it.)

        Foster And Allen was the equivalent of todays Andre Rieu fan, beloved by the flowery frocked/beige cardigan and brogues brigade. One sad sentimental chorus of ‘Danny Boy’ by Fozzy and Ally and you’re reaching for the tissues and a sick bag.

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      1. Yes he was, I can’t remember now but the tour may have been ‘Cleo Laine And John Dankworth’ rather than ‘!CLEO LAINE’! (and jd.)

        Nana’s still waiting for the letter to come, it must have gotten lost in the mail somehow.😉. I do wonder if there’s a Hall Of MOR Fame. There’s a few who deserve to have their likeness hung in the Hall of Mediocrity. Can I nominate Nana and F & A first? Ooh- then Richard Clayderman- please please please?

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      3. Yes it was great, not our usual cuppa as I say, but true talent is obvious.

        ‘Come for the acceptance speech, jam in the earplugs- hard- for the celebration concert that follows.’

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  10. First of all, thanks for the shout-out, Max, and I’m glad you enjoy the jazz tunes in my Sunday Six series. I’m not a jazz afficionado either but enjoy listening to it occasionally. I don’t know what exactly it is about jazz and Sunday morning, but for some reason, I think they generally go very well with each other!

    I like your pick by Billie Holiday. That lady truly was an incredible artist. On a previous Sunday Six, I featured her 1962 rendition of “Blue Moon,” which I also dig.

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    1. No problem! They do go together well. I’m usually in a peaceful mood on Sundays and it just adds to it.
      Yes she was…I like that one as well and almost picked that one.

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  13. Can’t listen to this without crying for so many reasons. Billie is a true hero. She reminds me so much of Marilyn Monroe, consumed by the appetites of men. I can imagine the men they loved would do anything to keep them, even destroy them. Her voice is like no other.

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    1. Her voice is so dang unique and that last documentary style concert of her was both sad and amazing. Even as bad of shape she was in…she delivered.

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