Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr., words and music · First recorded by Holiday in New York, May 1941
God Bless the Child
Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. wrote this slow song, and Holiday first recorded it in 1941. Holiday said an argument with her mother over money led to it. Guitarists, saxophonists, pianists and a rock band have recorded it since, from Grant Green to Blood, Sweat & Tears.
Listen in this order
The path starts with Billie Holiday's 1941 record, then follows instrumentalists: Grant Green's quartet, Eric Dolphy alone on bass clarinet, Sonny Rollins with Jim Hall and Bobby Timmons at the piano. It ends with Lee Morgan's septet, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Keith Jarrett's trio.
1980sKeith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette1983 · Post-bop
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Billie Holiday and Her Orchestra · 1941
OKeh 6270 single
Billie Holiday recorded the song in New York on 9 May 1941 with a band that included Roy Eldridge on trumpet and Eddie Heywood on piano. OKeh released it in 1942 on a single with Solitude on the other side.
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Listen for
Holiday's voice stays out front, with a small band of trumpet, saxophones, piano, guitar, bass and drums behind her. The whole record runs under three minutes.
Try it on your instrument
On piano or guitar, play 1 to 4: , and in each of bars 1 and 2, then and E♭7 in each of bars 3 and 4. A smaller version: play only E♭ for bars 1 and 2 and then E♭ for bars 3 and 4, and hum the melody over it.
Grant Green's quartet recorded it at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey on 4 June 1961. Blue Note issued it in 1962 on the album Sunday Mornin'.
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Green's guitar leads, with Kenny Drew's piano, Ben Tucker's bass and Ben Dixon's drums behind him. The track runs 7 minutes 22 seconds, more than twice as long as Holiday's record.
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Play 5 to 8: , , , . The A♭ turns minor in bar 6, and the last two bars lead back to E♭. A smaller version: play A♭, , , , one chord per bar.
Eric Dolphy played the tune alone on bass clarinet at the Studenterforeningen in Copenhagen on 8 September 1961. The Debut label issued it in 1962, and Prestige reissued it in 1964 on Eric Dolphy In Europe, Vol. 1.
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One instrument plays by itself for about seven minutes, with no band behind it. It is a live recording, made in front of an audience.
Try it on your instrument
Play the alone, 21 to 28, with no one else: , , , , Cm Cm(maj7), Cm7 Cm6, Gm7 , . A smaller version: play only the first four bars of it, Cm Cm(maj7), Cm7 Cm6, Gm7, Dm7♭5 G7♭9.
Sonny Rollins recorded it in New York on 30 January 1962 with Jim Hall on guitar, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Harry Saunders on drums. RCA Victor issued it that March on The Bridge.
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Listen for
Rollins's tenor saxophone leads and Jim Hall's guitar backs him, with bass and drums keeping time. The sound is open and sparse, with room around each player.
Try it on your instrument
Play one bass note per for bars 1 to 8: E♭, E♭, B♭, B♭, A♭, A♭, G, F. Hum or play the melody over them. A smaller version: play bars 1 to 4 only.
Bobby Timmons played it alone at the piano at Plaza Sound Studios in New York, in sessions held on 18 and 19 June 1962. Riverside issued it on Sweet and Soulful Sounds.
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Timmons plays by himself for about five minutes, so the melody and the come from one pair of hands.
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Play the ending that sends the tune back to the top: , then . Play it after bars 1 to 8, then start again at bar 1. A smaller version: E♭, then , then B♭.
Lee Morgan led a seven-piece group, with an arrangement by Duke Pearson, at Rudy Van Gelder's studio on 13 January 1967. Blue Note first issued it in 1998 on the album Standards.
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Morgan's trumpet leads, joined by alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, with piano, bass and drums underneath. The arrangement lets the horns play together as one group.
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Play 7 and 8 slowly: , then . These two bars lead back to E♭, so the next bar sounds like home. A smaller version: , C, , B♭, one per half bar.
Blood, Sweat & Tears recorded it on 7 October 1968 at Columbia's 30th Street studio in New York, with David Clayton-Thomas singing. It came out that December on the band's second album.
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Clayton-Thomas sings, with a nine-piece band of horns, organ, guitar, bass and drums behind him. The track runs just under six minutes.
Try it on your instrument
Play the , 1 to 10, with plain major and minor : E♭, E♭, E♭, B♭m E♭, A♭, , C, B♭, E♭, Fm B♭. Keep a steady beat as you play.
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette · 1983 · Post-bop
Standards, Vol. 1
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette recorded it at the Power Station in New York in January 1983. It is on Standards, Vol. 1, the first album by Jarrett's Standards Trio, and runs 15 minutes 33 seconds.
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Listen for
Piano, bass and drums play together for over fifteen minutes, more than five times as long as Holiday's record.
Try it on your instrument
Play one full pass of the form at a slow tempo: 10 , 10 bars, 8 bars, 10 bars, 38 bars in all. If that is too much, play only the , bars 21 to 28, over a slow count.
Billie Holiday records it in New York on 9 May 1941 with a band that includes Roy Eldridge and Eddie Heywood, and OKeh issues it in 1942 on a single with Solitude.
1950s
J.J. Johnson's sextet records it for Columbia in New York in March 1959, with Nat Adderley on cornet, for the album Really Livin'.
1960s
Instrumentalists take it up: Eric Dolphy plays it alone on bass clarinet in 1961, and Sonny Rollins records it with guitarist Jim Hall in 1962. Blood, Sweat & Tears record it with a singer and horns in 1968.
1970s
Gene Ammons records it with electric piano and electric bass at Van Gelder's New Jersey studio in November 1972. In June 1973 he plays it live in Baltimore at a concert shared with Sonny Stitt.
1980s
Keith Jarrett's trio, with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, plays it for 15 minutes 33 seconds in January 1983, on Standards, Vol. 1, the trio's first album.
2000s
Etta Jones records it in New York in June 2001 with Houston Person on tenor saxophone, for Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, her last studio album.
More great versions
6 more, from 1959 to 2001. Tap a cover to play it here.
J.J. Johnson's sextet recorded it for Columbia in New York in March 1959, with Nat Adderley on cornet. The track runs 5 minutes 19 seconds on the album Really Livin'.
Johnny Griffin recorded it in New York in July 1961 for White Gardenia, an album of Billie Holiday songs for Riverside, with arrangements by Norman Simmons.
Wes Montgomery recorded it with a string orchestra at Plaza Sound Studios in New York in April 1963, for the Riverside album Fusion! Jimmy Jones wrote and conducted the string parts.
Gene Ammons recorded it at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey on 1 November 1972, in a session that used electric piano and electric bass. Prestige issued it in 1973 on the album Got My Own.
Gene Ammons played it live at the Famous Ballroom in Baltimore on 24 June 1973, at a Left Bank Jazz Society concert shared with Sonny Stitt. The 5-minute 48-second track came out in 2001 on God Bless Jug and Sonny.
Etta Jones recorded it in New York on 21 June 2001, with Houston Person on tenor saxophone. It is on Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, her last studio album, issued by HighNote that year.
The tune's layout, its keys and the chord chart, for anyone who wants to play along.
Show the form and chords
How the tune works
E♭ majorusual key
38 barsA · A · B · A form
E♭ major → C minor → E♭ majorkey centers
A10 bars
A10 bars
B8 bars · bridge
A10 bars
E♭
C m
E♭
The tune has four sections: A, A, B and A, 38 in all. Each runs 10 bars: eight bars of the main tune, then a two-bar ending. The first eight bars go , and in each of bars 1 and 2, then and E♭7 in each of bars 3 and 4, then , , and . The first A ends with and Fm7 B♭7, which send it back to the top. The second A, bars 11 to 20, ends with E♭6 and , which lead into the . The B section, bars 21 to 28, moves to : , , Gm7, Dm7♭5 G7♭9, Cm Cm(maj7), Cm7 Cm6, Gm7 , Fm7 B♭7. The last A, bars 29 to 38, brings E♭ back and ends on E♭6 and Fm7 B♭7. These follow the iReal Pro chart; other lead sheets may spell some differently.