The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a new feature-length film from Sky Movies, depicting the federal government’s targeting of Billie Holiday during their 1940s campaign to escalate the war against drugs. The film shows Holiday’s rise as a prominent figure in the Civil Rights movement.
Andra Day stars in the title role, featuring on the film’s particularly stunning soundtrack. It is full of Holiday’s best-loved songs, as well as a few that were specifically written for this release. The federal government was trying to ban Billie Holiday’s controversial song ‘Strange Fruit‘, with the so-called ‘strange fruit’ being the bodies of lynched black men in the Deep South of America. It goes without saying that this song is one of the soundtrack highlights. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the vocals are performed by Billie herself, as Andra Day’s portrayal is so uncannily accurate. Andra Day won the coveted Best Actress Award at the Golden Globes for her performance in this film, the first black actress to win the award since Whoopi Goldberg in 1986 for her role in ‘The Colour Purple‘. With Day’s powerful, smoky voice and the smooth jazz band that accompanies her, this soundtrack is like a time machine straight back to a jazz club in 1940s New Orleans.
Another highlight on the album is Andra Day’s own composition, titled ‘Tigress and Tweed‘. It manages to stick to the vintage feel of the 1940s, whilst simultaneously feeling very modern. It has drum samples, subtle vocal effects, varying distortions and echoes that are layered over a tinny, dissonant piano. With lyrics that mirror those of ‘Strange Fruit’, the song is firmly rooted in Holiday and sounds like something she would produce in the 21st century.
“Strange fruit come down off that tree / Cut it down under your feet / Juicy fruit so bittersweet / Fruit stand tall, these roots go deep”
‘Tigress and Tweed’ is a beautiful tribute to Billie Holiday, written as a celebration of Holiday’s power, both as a musician and an activist. “If Strange Fruit was a call to awareness”, Day says, “Then Tigress and Tweed is a call to action, because she laid the groundwork.”
‘The Devil and I Got Up To Do a Slow Dance‘ is Charlie Wilson’s cool and bluesy track, a powerful comment on the intoxicating lure of jazz music, and the white Americans’ racial prejudice against music they believed came from the devil. Wilson’s deep and soulful voice makes for a nice change in tone, featuring a tongue-in-cheek message directed towards the white American churches: “If I have to dance with the devil in order to enjoy such brilliant music, then dance with the devil I will”. This lightens the mood significantly, after the darkness of the previous tracks.
‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business‘ is another Holiday classic, full of sass, humour, self-confidence and pride: “There ain’t nothing I can do / Or nothing I can say / That folks don’t criticise me / But I’m going to do just as I want to anyway / And don’t care just what people say.” These are wise words that we all could do with taking on board. Retrospectively, these lyrics hit differently, knowing of the challenges that Holiday faced throughout her career. She dealt with racism, the reduced safety of black communities, abuse and police brutality. She was nothing less than an incredibly strong woman, who carved herself a glittering career and a powerful legacy, despite so many people working against her.
This soundtrack is a brilliant album that would make Billie Holiday proud, functioning as both a modern fresh compilation and a classic vintage production. It cleverly mingles new compositions betwixt Holiday’s own, in such as way that even die-hard Holiday fans might find it hard to distinguish between the two. Andra Day is stunning, and a star to keep your eyes on. Judging by this soundtrack alone, she is surely one to watch.
