Billie Holiday, The Arranger, Part 2: Ellington, Armstrong, and "Them There Eyes"

In the previous installment I presented evidence that Holiday was very involved in creating her versions—her arrangements—of each song. Today let’s take a case in point: “Them There Eyes.”

Louis Armstrong recorded this before Billie did, and she surely knew his version. We already mentioned that as a youth, Billie was inspired by Armstrong’s wordless vocal on “West End Blues.” Later on, Billie and Louis knew each other professionally, appeared together in the movie New Orleans (released in 1947), and performed on the same bill on occasion (I discussed one such engagement here). On a recording of Armstrong performing at a San Francisco club in 1952, you can hear Billie coming in and yelling “Pops---Hey Pops!,” and Louis acknowledges her presence by saying “Hello, Billie!” And—guess what?-- he’s in the middle of performing her childhood favorite, “West End Blues”! Listen as Billie calls out, Louis replies, takes his scat vocal, and then throws in her name again at the end of his vocal:

Before his next song, he dedicates it to Billie:

(The entire track is part of an album of previously unavailable Armstrong performances, selected and annotated by Ricky Riccardi of the Louis Armstrong House Museum.)

Billie took some songs that had been recorded by Louis and put her own spin on them. One of her most direct tributes to Armstrong is on “Them There Eyes.” The song was published in 1930, and written by black composer Maceo Pinkard (who also wrote “Sweet Georgia Brown”) with credited assistance from white lyricist William Tracey and songwriter Doris Tauber (in that order on the original sheet music, and William mis-spelled ‘Tracy’). Before Armstrong, it was recorded by Hal Kemp, Duke Ellington and others.

As was common in Ellington’s output during that time, his January 1931 recording of the song uses a “stock” arrangement (something any band could buy), not his own. (For most of his career, Duke recorded his own music, but especially during about 1930 and 1931, he was given a number of songs by others, with pre-written “stock” arrangements, which, however, he often edited.) On take 1, there is a short intro, and during the vocal, Harry Carney’s baritone sax plays the same melody that white singer Chick Bullock croons, identical to the sheet music. Yes, even that “Going in a big way with sweet little you” is as written, except that the sheet music says “Going in a sweet way.” Probably they decided that saying the word “sweet” twice in one phrase didn’t work as well. (During takes 2 and 3, the melody is no longer doubled by the sax—presumably Chick knew the song well enough by then that he didn’t need that assist, and perhaps Duke also suggested leaving it out.) Here is the intro to Duke’s version, followed by the vocal so that you can hear the original melody as written:

Louis’s version was recorded in April 1931. The proof that Duke was using a “stock” arrangement is that Armstrong’s recording starts with the same introduction! Notice how he intensifies the melody by singing it mostly on one note. At the mid-point, instead of “Going in a big way” (or “sweet way”), he sings “Falling in a great big way for you.” Also, instead of “You’d better watch them, if you’re wise,” he sings, “You’d better look out, if you’re wise.” And the ending of the original song is “You're overworkin' 'em, There's danger lurkin' in, Them there eyes!” But he just sings, “Oh, baby, Them There Eyes!” What he sings is vastly different from the sheet music, yet to me—and probably to you—everything he does is an improvement! As with the Ellington above, I’m giving you the intro, followed by the vocal:

On Billie’s 1939 recording, she also focuses on one pitch. Like Louis, she sings “You’d better look out” but she adds, “little brown eyes.” And she uses Armstrong’s abridged version of the final line, pronouncing it “Ah, Baby” and putting her all into it!

When she returns to sing after some instrumental solos, she starts with a little climb up the scale which became a trademark, as we’ll see. Her version is completely original and personalized. She sings “They make-a me” (which I believe is a reference to an old-time entertainer, but I can’t quite recall the name). Instead of “They sparkle, they bubble,” she has the band break and she just sings “sparkle, bubble.” At the very end, she tags on her own ending: “Ah mister, talkin’ about those eyes!”:

Great music, yes? In the next installment, we will hear how she developed her arrangement over the years.

All the best,

Lewis