VARIOUS ARTISTS / “Don’t Explain Mixtape”
“Don’t Explain” is Billie’s song. Billie Holiday wrote it and her recording remains a touchstone for torch music. Nothing sadder than love that is abused. Especially when both the abuser and the abusee know that the abuse is going down—one of them won’t stop and the other can’t stop, and, well, it’s just sad, which is the way Billie sings it. But also exhibits a touch of defiance.
I’m going to defy all this pain I’m going through just so I can take the briefest taste of joy I can squeeze out of this pot of misery. Oh what a situation. Needless to say, this is not a song to love but rather a song to recognize and, hopefully, never have to experience. Or as the old blues cat sang, if you never had it, I hope you never will.
But the thing that makes this song so everlasting is that after all the centuries, literally hundreds of years, of lovers being done wrong, it seems at some time or another, far too many of us go marching through that particular corner of hell.
Anyway, here’s a baker’s dozen of selections starting off with Ms. Billie Holiday and trooping on through to a hip-hop take on this classic song of love gone wrong. As always pick your own poison; I’m not going to tell you that one version is the standout above and beyond the others.
Some like ‘em tall, some like ‘em stout, so are enraptured by a whisper, others want to shake it til it shout. Whatever be your inclination and carnal orientation, we got something for you in these selections.
Would it be too perverse to say: enjoy. Even if you condition don’t get no better, at least enjoy it when it hurts so good… hush, don’t say nothing. Just shut up and listen to this…
—Kalamu ya Salaam
Don’t Explain Mixtape Playlist
01 The Complete Billie Holiday On Verve – Billie Holiday 
02 For Lady – Webster Young
03 For Lady Day, Vol. 1 – Carmen McRae
04 Mostly Ballads – Steve Khun
05 Altre spezie – Gianni Coscia & Lucia Minetti
06 Almost Like Being In Jazz – Hugh Masekela
07 Let It All Out – Nina Simone 
08 Soul Box – Grover Washington, Jr. 
09 Mystery Lady (Songs of Billie Holiday) – Etta James 
10 Soulin' - Lou Rawls 
11 Lady Sings The Blues Soundtrack – Diana Ross 
12 Let's Stay Here – Oleta Adams
13 The Complete Moon Bay Sessions – DJ Drez & Marty Williams
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011 at 3:13 am and is filed under Cover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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