"Preacher Boy" is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

song written by singer

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

, and composer Jeanne Burns and published by

E.B. Marks Carlin America is an American music publisher with a catalog of over 100,000 titles. The company, created under its current name in 1995 by its founder Freddy Bienstock, is headquartered on East 38th Street in Manhattan. Bienstock died on Septemb ...

. This is one of seven songs written by or co-written by Holiday that she never recorded. According to Holiday, she wrote the song as a tribute to her second husband, Louis McKay. Holiday met McKay's family in December 1951 and recalled: "His mother, she's eighty years old and she had this dog and she loved this dog so much. The dog died and he preached over the dog. One day, we were walking down the street (in his home town) and somebody says 'Hey Preach! Hey Preach! What's the matter? You don't know me anymore, man?' Well I asked Louis what he was talking about and he said 'he's talking about me,' so that's how I learned the story." The song was published by E.B. Marks, but she never recorded it.

Notes

References

Stuart Nicholson Stuart Nicholson may refer to: *Stuart Nicholson (footballer) (born 1987), English footballer *Stuart Nicholson (jazz historian) (born 1948), British jazz historian, biographer, music journalist, music critic, and academic * Stuart Nicholson (organ ...

, ''Billie Holiday'', *Billie Holiday, THE BEST OF BILLIE HOLIDAY: Songs Recorded and Made Famous By Lady Day. Hal Leonard Corporation. . *Donald Clarke, Wishing On the Moon. Viking. . *John Chilton, Billie's Blues. Da Capo Preess. *John White, Billie Holiday: Her Life and Times *Ken Vail, Lady Day's Diary. Sanctuary Publishing.

External links

MP Three Lyrics Website

{{Billie Holiday Unreleased songs Billie Holiday songs