Notoriamente, pochi suoni sono amari e struggenti quanto quelli polverosi provenienti dal sipario che cala. E "Lady in Satin" ne è certamente ulteriore dimostrazione. Questo celebre e controverso album contiene le ultime registrazioni della divina Billie Holiday, effettuate nel febbraio del 1958.
Celebre perché costituì una sorta di testamento artistico di colei che, con la sua magica voce, aveva dato in pasto il jazz alle masse, dipingendolo con infuocate iridescenze blues: dì lì a poco il fegato e il cuore di Eleonara Fagen (suo vero nome) si sarebbero arresi dopo una vita disseminata da abusi chimici, laceranti passioni e infelicità. Ciò conferì drammaticità e intensità spaventosa al piglio con cui la Holliday rese standard come "You've changed" o "You don't know what love is".
Controverso in quanto l'ultimo viaggio terreno di Billie fu traghettato da un'orchestra di 40 elementi, diretta magistralmente da Ray Ellis. Un accompagnamento monumentale, dal sapore cinematografico e a tratti debordante, che ancora oggi fa storcere il naso a puristi jazz e agli stessi esegeti hollidiani.
Non ci interessa sviscerare in questa sede tale annosa diatriba. Ciò che è certo è che la stessa Holiday considerava questo il suo album più riuscito. Forse perché conscia che, essendo le sue capacità vocali state inficiate dalle variegate vicissitudini della sua esistenza, proprio col sagace e romantico uso degli archi si poteva supplire, e invertire con un colpo di coda la tendenza di una carriera da tempo declinante. L'ascolto di "Lady in Satin" in effetti lascia intuire come certi arrangiamenti, in alcuni frangenti così estatici e maestosi da sembrare usciti dalla penna di Morricone o John Barry, abbiano costituito una spinta emotiva non indifferente per la Holiday.
E poi quella voce, per quanto ferita e incrinata, era ancora in grado di incantare, di riaffermare un archetipo fondamentale per tutto il Novecento (un nome a caso: Portishead) e di fendere la pur imponente corteccia orchestrale. Semplicemente lancinante, come nella quintessenziale "I'm a fool to love you", epitome di tutti i tormenti che costellarono la vita di Billie Holiday.
Il migliore degli addii possibile, dunque: non solo al mondo, ma soprattutto a una parte di se stessa che non avrebbe mai potuto rinnegare.
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Elenco tracce testi e video
01 I'm a Fool to Want You (03:26)
J. Wolf / Herron / Frank Sinatra
I'm a fool to want you
I'm a fool to want you
To want a love that can't be true
A love that's there for others too
I'm a fool to hold you
Such a fool to hold you
To seek a kiss not mine alone
To share a kiss that Devil has known
Time and time again I said I'd leave you
Time and time again I went away
But then would come the time when I would need you
And once again these words I had to say
Take me back, I love you
...I need you
I know it's wrong, it must be wrong
But right or wrong I can't get along
Without you
06 Violets for Your Furs (03:27)
It was winter in Manhattan
Falling snowflakes filled the air
The streets were covered with a film of ice
But a little simple magic that I'd heard about somewhere
Changed the weather all around, just within a trice
You bought me violets for my furs
And it was spring for a while, remember?
You bought me violets for my furs
And there was april in that december
The snow drifted on the flowers and melted where it lay
The snow looked like dew on the blossoms
As on a summer day
You bought me violets for my furs
And there was blue in the wintry sky
You pinned the violets to my furs
And gave a lift to the crowds passing by
You smiled at me so sweetly
Since then one thought occurs
That we fell in love completely
The day you bought me violets for my furs
07 You've Changed (03:19)
Bill Carey / Carl Fischer
I've an awfully feelling
That this thought that's been a stealin thru my brain
Is not to be ignored
But to really tell the truth
Though I'm not a well known sleuth
I honestly believe that you are bored
You've changed
That sparkle in your eyes is gone
Your smile is just a careless yawn
You're breaking my heart
You've changed
You've changed
Your kisses now are so blase
You're bored with me in every way
I can't understand
You've changed
You've forgotten the words, "I love you"
Each memory that we've shared
You ignore every star above you
I can't realize you've ever cared
You've changed
You're not the angel I once knew
No need to tell me what we're through
It's all over now
You've changed
09 But Beautiful (04:32)
Johnny Burke / James van Heusen
Love is funny or it's sad
Or it's quit or it's mad
It's a good thing or it's bad
But beautiful
Beautiful to take a chance and if you fall, you fall
And I'm thinking I wouldn't mind at all
Love is tearful or it's gay
It's a problem or it's a play
It's heartache either way
But beautiful
And I'm thinking if you were mine
I'd never let you go
And that would be
But beautiful
I know
Love is beautifull
I know
10 Glad to Be Unhappy (04:10)
Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers
Look at yorself.
If you had the sense of humor,
You would laught to beat the band.
Look at yourself.
Do you still belive in rumor
that romance is simply grand?
Since you took it right
on the chin,
you have lost that bright
toothpaste grin.
My mental state is all a jumble.
I sit around and sadly mumble.
Fools rush in, so here I am,
very glad to be unhappy.
Unrequited love's a bore,
and I've got it pretty bad.
But for someone you adore,
it's a pleasure to be sad
Like a straying baby lamb
with no mammy and no pappy,
I'm so unhappy,
but oh, so glad.
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