Solitude

By Duke Ellington, Eddie DeLange & Irving Mills
1934

Few songs are as associated with Billie Holiday as this aching ballad of love in isolation, even though it was Ellington himself who introduced it. Perfectly suited to Lady Day's unique voice, this tune became an instant classic the moment she first recorded it in 1941. It has since become one of the all-time most revered jazz standards.

Lyrics:

In my solitude, you haunt me
With reveries of days gone by.
In my solitude, you taunt me
With memories that never die.

I sit in my chair,
Filled with despair.
Nobody could be so sad.
With gloom ev'rywhere,
I sit and I stare,
I know that I'll soon go mad.

In my solitude, I'm praying,
Dear Lord above, send back my love.

Recorded By:

Billy Eckstine
Ella Fitzgerald
Tony Bennett & Count Basie
Nina Simone
Aretha Franklin