Song · Billie Holiday
“God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday
From the album Lady Sings the Blues (1956)
“God Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday appears on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2004 and 2026. It was first released in 1956 on the album Lady Sings the Blues. Its best result is #471 on the WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,401 indie & aaa song of all time.
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Billie Holiday wrote "God Bless the Child" with Arthur Herzog Jr. back in 1939, first put it on wax in May 1941 and saw Okeh issue it the next year. She recorded it three times in all, and this later reading comes from her 1956 album Lady Sings the Blues, which borrows its title from her autobiography. In that book she traced the song to a row with her mother over money, and she still sings it like someone who hasn't let that argument go.
The band is small and unhurried: Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Paul Quinichette on tenor sax, Tony Scott on clarinet, Kenny Burrell on guitar, Wynton Kelly on piano, Aaron Bell on bass and Lenny McBrowne on drums. Holiday's version went into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1976, and in 2026 CBS News counted the song among 250 essential American songs.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 814 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2020 | 1125 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2026 | 471 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
Also listed as: God Bless The Child.
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