All of Me

Eleanora Fagan, better known as Billie Holiday, recorded this gem in 1941 which was not part of an album but rather included in early 2000s Legacy and Columbia compilations of her lifetime work.

No other version of this 1931 standard encompasses the emotion behind the lyrics quite like Holiday’s (yes, I include the pitiful John Legend song of the same name here as well, it’s a shame that that his son comes up first before Holiday’s or Sinatra’s…)

She sings her own version of the melody, something which is initially intriguing as it is much flatter and more harmonic minor (sad) sounding than the typical recording. She contrasts the major (happy) sounding background figures and masterfully encapsulates the sadness of a heartbreak within love’s bittersweet memory.

Holiday’s lazy slurs, effortless vibrato, and graceful drop-offs at the end of her phrases are a joy to hear over and over. I see a moonlit street and a lover aimlessly walking down it, singing with a pain and a yearning. If you’re obsessed with scenes of such poetry and beauty that manifest very rarely in our lives then listen to more jazz, it will transport you there.

The ‘solo break’ is the time when the saxophonist is playing unaccompanied just before his solo and this comes after Holiday’s first melody (1:25 in the linked video). Not only does the perfection of that little interlude almost make the listener hold their breath, but the sound of the instrument is so fitting to the theme; soft and lilting.

A piece that marries blues and jazz and takes the listener to some point in their lives. A perfect example of the fact that this music belongs to man and woman, white and black, equally. It’s such a pure thing.

All of me
Why not take all of me
Can’t you see
I’m no good without you

Take my lips
I want to lose them
Take my arms
I never use them

Your goodbye
Left me with eyes that cry
How can I go on dear without you

You took the part
That once was my heart
So why not take all of me

First 3 stanzas repeated then:

You took the best
So why not take the rest
Baby take all of me