Billie Holiday’s recording is very moving in regards to the melody produced by the horn and the piano.  She changes her pitch to express emotion throughout the song.  From the lyrics, it seems that she had a man but other factors played into their relationship. He left her for other ventures, but she’ll love him until the day she dies because he is what she fancies.  As we mentioned in lecture, Holiday follows the flexible use of pitch as did early African-American music in the 19^th century.

The first verse seems to be A A’ A, and she uses her voice to introduce the listener to the overview of her situation.  The second verse, B B B, explains to us that she isn’t happy with what is going on and knows that tomorrow will be just like today is, sad.  The third verse, A A B C, she gets a higher pitch to show emotion towards the other woman that her man has left her for; also, she changes her pitch between the double “nowhere”. The fourth verse, B B B, she emphasizes St. Louis and then keeps the same level pitch throughout the rest of the verse.