Queens of Heartache


Queens of Heartache

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# Good morning, heartache

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# You old gloomy sight... #

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They have voices that make you weep, songs of heartbreak and betrayal,

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lives that seem to mirror their music and deaths that came too soon and made myths of them all.

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Yet their voices triumph over tragedy.

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# Take another little piece of my heart... #

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They are icons of the 20th century.

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Queens of heartache.

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# Take another little bit of my heart, yeah, yeah, yeah... #

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Janis Joplin, the wild queen.

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She was joy-bringer

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and ecstasy, although, you know, she sang about doom.

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# Somewhere over... #

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Judy Garland, the showbiz queen.

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She had a lot of yearning in her voice.

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She was always striving for happiness and never could seem to find it.

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Maria Callas, drama queen.

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I think her life was at times as tragic as the roles she played.

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You could absolutely hear the heartache in her voice.

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# God bless the child that's got his own... #

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Billie Holiday, troubled queen.

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There is a pining, that yearning.

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Every word she says make you go like "Ah, if I can only give it to you.

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"What is it you want?"

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APPLAUSE

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And Edith Piaf, the urchin queen.

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Alone in the spotlight she stood small but strong,

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# Non! Rien de rien... #

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She became both the voice of her nation and of everyone who's ever made a mistake.

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It was only feeling.

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Only emotion. Only truth.

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# Ni le mal tout ca m'est bien egal!

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# Non! Rien de rien... #

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I remember exactly where I was when I first heard her.

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I just thought she had such a stunning voice, very rich.

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And there was a pure emotion in her singing.

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# ..oublie, je me fous du passe... #

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Those who have seen Piaf on stage, they have never forgotten that.

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She was touching the public and she wanted to touch the public.

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# Non! Rien de rien... #

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TRANSLATION: It was instinctive, it was in her.

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It came from her heart, all of her.

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# Car ma vie

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# Car me joies

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# Aujourd'hui

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# Ca commence avec toi.. #

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APPLAUSE

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Edith Piaf was born in a poor part of Paris during the First World War.

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She's said to have been born on these steps.

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Her mother abandoned her when she was little.

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TRANSLATION: She had a lot of talent too.

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She had a magnificent voice, apparently, but all the vices.

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She died of drugs, an overdose.

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Edith then lived with her grandparents in a brothel

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till she joined her father, an acrobat and street singer.

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She never went to school, but started making money singing with him.

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# ..On s'en fout

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# Nul ne s'y accroche... #

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At 17, she had a baby girl, who died aged two.

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TRANSLATION: It was a mistake of youth.

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A good song if it is written well makes you feel that emotion,

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A good song if it is written well makes you feel that emotion,

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even if you haven't been in that specific situation.

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Someone who really has gone through the hardships

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like Edith Piaf, she's really singing from the heart.

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# Je revoie la ville en fete et en elire

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# Suffoquant sous le soleil et sous la joie... #

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Edith was 19 when she was discovered singing on a street corner.

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Her career on the music hall stage took off.

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Her fame as a singer grew in occupied France.

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Later she would become a symbol of French survival if not active resistance -

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the voice of the people.

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TRANSLATION: She was a symbol of the strength of a country.

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She was the soul of her people called France.

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# C'est merveilleux

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# La vie peinte en bleu

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# Un grand coup de soleil... #

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In films, she usually played herself, an urchin who becomes a star.

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Straight after the war she had an affair with Yves Montand.

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Her fame was spreading round the world.

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Charles Aznavour lived in her very Bohemian house.

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It was a crazy house. Not too much furnitures,

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good cook -

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important, and crazy moments.

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You have to realise it was not a long time after the war

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and we used to enjoy freedom.

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We were thinking about songs and music

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and going around Paris night clubs till three or four in the morning.

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# Quand il me prend dans ses bras

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# Il me parle tout bas

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# Je vois la vie en rose... #

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She had a great appetite for everything.

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She was what we call in French a 'monstre sacre', a sacred monster.

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She was what we call in French a 'monstre sacre', a sacred monster.

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It's a compliment.

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She used to eat like a monster, love like a monster and drink like a monster.

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She was what we call bigger than life.

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She was really bigger than life.

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On stage she was mesmerising.

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If you've ever sung on the street, you gain a very particular sort

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of knowledge which is about grabbing people.

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It's about getting them right in.

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She had that.

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She carries that absolutely into her concert career.

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# Quand y reviendra de la guerre

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# Ils prendront une maison

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# Elle sera la caissiere Et lui, sera le patron... #

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TRANSLATION: Basically she made love to the public.

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She made love with songs. She always believed in a song.

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It wasn't just music, it meant something.

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# ..la java Qu'elle fredonne tout bas

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# Elle revoit son accordeoniste

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# Et ses yeux amoureux

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# Suivent le jeu nerveux

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# Et les doigts secs et longs de l'artiste... #

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Even when she's singing something which is about

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Even when she's singing something which is about

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how dreadful life can be, there's a strength and resilience in her...

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how dreadful life can be, there's a strength and resilience in her...

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all the time.

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# Arretez la musique! #

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She believed, she felt it was real.

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But it was also an act.

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She knew what worked.

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She found out very fast that her way was the tragic songs.

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She used to say you have to find me something, a new death, a new way to die.

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TRANSLATION: She was very perfectionist, very professional.

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It was me doing the lights. The dark was very important to her.

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It had to be timed just right,

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so that it coincided precisely with a gesture or a note.

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She used to have one gesture a song, not two.

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But that gesture was the right one.

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# ..Foule qui nous traine, nous entraine

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# Et nous eloigne

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# L'un de l'autre je lutte et je me debats... #

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Once, Piaf went on stage drunk and was booed off.

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The public was against her.

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She sang two hours and she came out with a standing ovation.

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And I had that...

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Means you know I made it.

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As with the audience, so with her loves.

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Aznavour remembers introducing her to one.

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She turned to me and...

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I knew...

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she was in love, already.

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It never lasted long, about two years.

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It was always before a new opening in Paris,

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but she was sincere.

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Each time she was totally sincere.

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The older she got, the younger they got, like Georges Moustakis, 18 years her junior.

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The older she got, the younger they got, like Georges Moustakis, 18 years her junior.

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The way I felt her was somebody very completely free.

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She didn't care about nothing.

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If she wanted something, if she believed in something,

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she would do it like an adolescent.

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She was passionate in every second of her life.

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People were saying her days on stage were numbered.

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She was ill and exhausted from a lifetime of excesses, performing, drinking, car crashes, morphine.

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Charles Dumont had written a song for her.

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TRANSLATION: She didn't want to see Charles Dumont, she hated him.

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He'd sent other songs she didn't like at all.

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One day, reluctantly, she let him in.

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TRANSLATION: I was in a rage.

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I hit the piano hard shouting, "No, nothing, nothing." I regret nothing.

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And she said, "Young man,

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"you've made a song there that will be heard all over the world."

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# Non! Rien de rien

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# Non! Je ne regrette rien

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# Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait... #

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There's a sense of triumph.

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She's like a phoenix coming out of the ashes in that song. I just love it.

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TRANSLATION: When she said those words 'I regret nothing,'

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she summed up her life because she was a completely straight woman.

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She was a block of granite.

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In 1962, she married one of her boys and a year later, she died.

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She was only 47.

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Love was not her big subject.

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It was her reason of living.

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She was...

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something quite extraordinary

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something quite extraordinary

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something quite extraordinary

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and we have never replaced Piaf.

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Piaf's exultant energy brought vast crowds to their feet.

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But in the USA, a cooler queen was born in the same year as Piaf.

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Where one became the voice of liberated France, the other was defiant but never triumphant.

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I give you, Billie Holiday.

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I give you, Billie Holiday.

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The trouble queen was more melancholy, altogether more intimate.

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# My man don't love me

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# He treats me oh so mean... #

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You can't sound like that

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without having gone through something.

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I really believe that.

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# My man don't love me, he treats me awful mean

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# It was a growl

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# It was haunting.

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# He's the lowest man

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# That I've ever seen... #

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You always knew that it was Lady.

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Lady sang with authority and emotion.

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# Love is just like a faucet... #

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It was really something from another world.

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It was really something from another world.

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It's like being confided in by someone.

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# Love is just like a faucet... #

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She did say to me whatever you do when you sing, tell the truth.

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Tell the truth, speak the truth.

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# Some times when you think it's on, baby

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# It has turned off and gone... #

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# Them that's got, shall get

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# Them that's not, shall lose... #

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Billie 's mother was an occasional prostitute, her father a musician who drifted in and out of her life.

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Her dad was 17 when she was born.

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Her dad was 17 when she was born.

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She had no money, no security,

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molested early in life, sexually exploited.

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It's amazing she survived.

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# God bless the child that's got his own... #

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She sang like she'd been through the mill...

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..and she had in many ways.

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I think she never really got to experience a childhood.

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There seemed to be a yearning that never got fulfilled.

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There seemed to be a yearning that never got fulfilled.

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When you're a performer at least you have a way to release that.

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# Please keep me in your dreams

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# In your sweet dreams, let me... #

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And Billie became a performer, starting off in small bars and clubs in Harlem.

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She used to be a waitress and sing for tips.

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So I guess a lot of her voice was kind of directed to the people just in front of her.

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It feels like she's singing just to you.

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# Please keep me in your dreams... #

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As soon as she started singing in clubs she didn't like doing something the same way.

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She has this elastic timing where she'll go either side of the beat.

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Utterly made her Billie Holiday right from the start.

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# You don't have to have a hanker to be a broker or banker... #

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Jazz musicians loved her.

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She played a victim in a jazz film and toured with a white band.

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It wasn't easy on the road for a black singer.

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They were selling her records, her name was on the marquee but

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she had to enter through the back of the hotel because they wouldn't let her come through the front.

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# She sets the world on fire

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# Just wished she'd make it proper

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# To call my old man, Papa... #

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She didn't take it lying down.

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Once a sailor came into a bar she was in and asked the bartender when he started serving nigger bitches.

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She smashed his face with her glass.

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Her reputation was what they call 'a salty broad.'

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She would tell you in a minute

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what she thought about this, that or the other.

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# Southern trees

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# Southern trees

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# Bear strange fruit... #

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In 1939 she recorded a song that changed her career.

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# Blood on the leaves

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# And blood at the root... #

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That was deeply personal...

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# Black bodies swinging... #

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..because it was her race, her people that this had been done to.

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It was such a graphic, graphic song.

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# ..from love poplar trees. #

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It was 20 years before the civil rights movement.

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The fact that she has the bravery to sing a song about people being tortured and killed is

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just incredible.

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It made her a public figure in a way other

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singers weren't, popular with white liberals as well as other blacks.

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# Cry... #

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And a target for the police.

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She had problems with the police cos they were after her all the time.

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They tried to find her using drugs.

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Every city she went to, the first thing they did was,

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the police would come in and search her room.

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In 1947 they got her.

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She was jailed for eight months.

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As a child she'd been in prison.

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She never escaped her past.

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She had been groomed for drugdom

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from the time she was very young.

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Of course she was a pimp's dream.

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She was making money,

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she was an icon...

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They got a hold of her and they turned her on to heroin.

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She didn't choose the greatest company, but there you go.

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A criminal conviction meant she couldn't play in clubs in New York.

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But there was no law against playing the prestigious Carnegie Hall.

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People loved it so much so we had to repeat that concert a few weeks later.

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And at that time there were people seated on the stage.

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I had to lift my bass up over the crowd.

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Billie had triumphed, but getting work wasn't the only problem...

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# It cost me a lot

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# But there's one thing that I've got

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# It's my man... #

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The men she hung around with took what she did earn.

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And they were violent, like one of her boyfriends and managers.

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He was a pimp and a hustler and that was his trade.

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They'd have a fight before the show and we had to tape up her ribs cos she was having trouble breathing.

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# He isn't true

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# He beats me too... #

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We went ahead and played the job that night and that was it.

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# What can I do? #

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Punches, beatings,

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these guys would hit you over the head with a bottle.

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I knew that Lady...

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liked ladies...

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Of course she would have been better off.

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# Hush now, don't explain... #

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Billie had affairs with women and men and married three times.

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# Just say you'll remain... #

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It was a constant search for a father figure.

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It was a constant search for a father figure.

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To be loved and protected and looked after, it was a constant search.

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# You're my joy and pain... #

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She brought a world weariness and poignancy to jazz singing.

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# Skip that

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# Lipstick, don't explain. #

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When she sang you knew exactly what the song was about,

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what the music was about and what she was about.

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# You know that I love you

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# And what love endures

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# All my thoughts of you... #

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She read a lyric like she lived it and some instances it was exactly like she lived it.

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# Cry to hear folks chatter... #

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It was just very calm and relating the lyric in such a way that

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you felt a part of it.

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# ..when you're with me, sweet. #

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One thing Lady always wanted and never had was a child.

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Luckily, one of her ladies did.

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Holiday was like another mother to me.

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Almost the instant I was born my mom said that Holiday took me and proceeded to breast feed me

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Almost the instant I was born my mom said that Holiday took me and proceeded to breast feed me

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even though she had no milk

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and so she made up for that by smoking a copious amount of marijuana

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and as a result I ate a lot and slept a lot.

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I could hear them laughing and smoking.

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She loved a good time

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and she loved to laugh.

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This was one of her last performances.

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# Please don't talk about me when I'm gone

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# No, our friendship ceases from now on... #

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A lot of people,

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had just thrown their friendship away with her because of the drugs and the notoriety.

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# Just don't talk at all

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# That's my advice. #

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Billie died in hospital, aged just 44.

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She was arrested for heroin possession on her deathbed.

0:22:220:22:27

After you're dead and gone, then you're the greatest thing that ever happened.

0:22:270:22:30

But at the time you're doing it, you get a lot of criticism.

0:22:300:22:35

It's the system.

0:22:350:22:37

# We're parting You go your way, I'll go mine... #

0:22:370:22:41

People think, "Oh, it was such a tragic life."

0:22:410:22:45

Therefore this is how she sings, this is her voice.

0:22:450:22:48

Instead of appreciating the actual genius of her voice.

0:22:480:22:52

Lots of people have desperately sad things happen to them...

0:22:520:22:56

..but they aren't able to communicate that in a medium you would call art.

0:22:570:23:02

That's what's incredible about Billie Holiday.

0:23:020:23:07

Please don't talk about me when I'm gone...

0:23:070:23:18

Billie became a true icon only after her death.

0:23:180:23:22

The next queen was a legend in her own lifetime, but had all the problems a '50s woman could have.

0:23:220:23:27

The next queen was a legend in her own lifetime, but had all the problems a '50s woman could have.

0:23:270:23:27

And then some.

0:23:290:23:31

# Somewhere over the rainbow... #

0:23:310:23:36

Judy Garland, showbiz queen.

0:23:360:23:39

# Way up high

0:23:390:23:41

# There's a land that I heard of

0:23:420:23:47

# Once in a lullaby... #

0:23:470:23:51

It is a song about lost childhood more than anything

0:23:520:23:55

and this place that you can't really get back to.

0:23:550:23:58

It's a really sad song and it shouldn't be.

0:23:580:24:02

She had such a pure voice, a very crystal clear one

0:24:040:24:08

and an innocence in the voice.

0:24:080:24:12

Judy Garland's iconic status for the gay community, it's all connected to the Wizard Of Oz, going

0:24:120:24:18

some place beautiful where you won't be discriminated against,

0:24:180:24:21

accepted for who you are.

0:24:210:24:23

People lived their life through Judy.

0:24:250:24:28

Much of her audience wanted to be Judy Garland.

0:24:280:24:31

She could make you like a song that you didn't like.

0:24:350:24:39

That poor baby went through a lot too.

0:24:390:24:42

Why oh why can't I...?

0:24:440:24:50

She was so at peace and at home when she sang.

0:24:500:24:56

It was all the other things that caused her chaos.

0:24:560:25:00

Judy Garland started life on the stage and never really left it.

0:25:040:25:09

We were about 12 years old when we first met.

0:25:090:25:12

She was singing,

0:25:120:25:15

# "I just adore the boy next door #

0:25:150:25:19

and all the great songs that they had at the time.

0:25:190:25:22

Maybe Cupid is there!

0:25:220:25:24

She came to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

0:25:270:25:29

We became great friends.

0:25:290:25:32

Her fresh face and big voice instantly made her a hit.

0:25:320:25:35

'There is a new star in the heavens.

0:25:350:25:37

'Young, fresh, beautiful and you discovered her.'

0:25:370:25:41

This'll be a world record. I'm gonna put on my tuxedo and opera hat!

0:25:410:25:45

'It was a conveyor belt system.

0:25:450:25:47

'We made seven pictures a year.'

0:25:470:25:49

You didn't read the scripts. They told you what you were going to do.

0:25:490:25:54

And so we did it.

0:25:540:25:55

'Each new picture brought Judy Garland closer to stardom.'

0:25:550:25:59

In those days you worked six days a week

0:25:590:26:02

and Mickey Rooney and I would work sometimes 72 hours at a time.

0:26:020:26:07

Neither one of us grew very tall. They worked us so hard we became munchkins.

0:26:070:26:12

# He's sweet just like chocolate candy... #

0:26:120:26:17

They would give Judy a little bumper, a little boost.

0:26:170:26:20

It started out coffee and cocoa at night.

0:26:200:26:24

But then as they matured, it required more and more to stimulate and sedate, stimulate and sedate.

0:26:240:26:31

# Meet the reason I beam so

0:26:310:26:34

# Why I am happen and seem so-o-o...

0:26:340:26:37

# Delighted, excited... #

0:26:370:26:40

It can be incredibly destructive, which it was.

0:26:400:26:43

# ..the beat of my heart... #

0:26:430:26:46

You could see the tornado all around this little person because of her talent.

0:26:480:26:52

'When we arrived in New York, I'll never forget, there was 40,000 people to greet us.

0:26:560:27:02

'Judy was frightened at all the crowds, when people tear your clothes and this and that.'

0:27:020:27:08

Get back, young lady, get back...

0:27:080:27:10

She told me, "Mickey, I think we oughta go home, let's go home."

0:27:100:27:15

CROWD SHOUTS

0:27:150:27:18

And I said, "Just stick around, and we'll be all right."

0:27:180:27:23

It was quite out of hand.

0:27:260:27:28

# They're writing songs of love

0:27:300:27:36

# But not for me... #

0:27:360:27:38

Judy was big box office as the girl next door.

0:27:380:27:42

People just fell so in love with her because she had this ability

0:27:420:27:45

People just fell so in love with her because she had this ability

0:27:450:27:48

to make you feel that you were her best friend and it was only you who knew her.

0:27:480:27:54

She put her audience at ease, but didn't find real life so easy.

0:27:550:28:00

I played her sister in a film.

0:28:000:28:03

She did this very emotional scene of crying and she didn't say hello to anybody.

0:28:030:28:07

She just got up and walked away after it was over and I thought, "Wow that's something."

0:28:070:28:14

But her voice was full of feeling.

0:28:150:28:17

# I guess he's not

0:28:170:28:24

# For me-e-e... #

0:28:240:28:29

You can hear the vulnerability in it.

0:28:290:28:31

Heartache singers are about taking a song,

0:28:310:28:35

take inside themselves and then when it comes back out it's something different.

0:28:350:28:40

You have a transformative power over songs.

0:28:400:28:43

And I think Judy Garland definitely had that.

0:28:430:28:46

By 1950, aged 28, Judy had had two failed marriages,

0:28:470:28:51

a nervous breakdown and several attempted suicides.

0:28:510:28:56

The studio decided to get rid of her.

0:28:560:28:59

They fired her because she was difficult.

0:28:590:29:01

They fired her because she'd sometimes get late and

0:29:010:29:03

sometimes she'd use some artificial stimulants

0:29:030:29:08

and perhaps a little adult beverage and she was a handful.

0:29:080:29:13

She re-invented herself as a stage performer.

0:29:130:29:16

She made her problems part of her act.

0:29:160:29:18

It was like a contract with the audience.

0:29:180:29:21

She expressed and exaggerated their emotions and they loved her for it.

0:29:210:29:26

My mother came out there and just took the audience and said "Let's go"

0:29:270:29:32

and put her arms around them and they went with her.

0:29:320:29:34

# The road gets rougher

0:29:340:29:38

# It's lonelier and tougher

0:29:380:29:42

# With hope you burn up

0:29:420:29:46

# Tomorrow, he might turn up... #

0:29:460:29:49

It was a complete roller coaster because she could make you weep.

0:29:490:29:53

She brought you up onto your feet with these unbelievable soaring notes.

0:29:530:29:56

She brought you up onto your feet with these unbelievable soaring notes.

0:29:560:29:59

# Da-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-y

0:29:590:30:03

# Ever since this world began

0:30:030:30:11

# There is nothing sadder than

0:30:110:30:16

# A one man woman

0:30:190:30:25

# Looking for a man that got

0:30:250:30:34

# Away. #

0:30:340:30:39

She'd hit that stage like a marine.

0:30:430:30:45

She wanted to pulverise an audience.

0:30:450:30:48

Of course, the audience loved everything she sang

0:30:480:30:51

and knew every note and they just couldn't get enough of her.

0:30:510:30:55

The publicity for her films played up the parallels with her own life and career.

0:30:580:31:04

'Yes, a star is born and you'll know it when you

0:31:050:31:10

'experience the joy and jubilation as Judy Garland as the star.

0:31:100:31:14

'A story that only life itself could have inspired.'

0:31:140:31:19

It was getting hard to tell what was stage heartache and what was real.

0:31:190:31:23

'From theatre to theatre...

0:31:230:31:24

'From one lonely stage to another, yearning for the warmth no spotlight could give her.'

0:31:240:31:30

# No more that all time thrill

0:31:300:31:36

F# or you've been through the mill...

0:31:360:31:42

People thought they knew about my mother, OK.

0:31:420:31:47

What she hated was the fact when people thought that she was this tragic figure.

0:31:470:31:51

She had tragedies in her life but she wasn't tragic.

0:31:510:31:55

She was funny and gifted and the people who really knew her will tell you that.

0:31:550:31:59

The humour was the surprise, always, her love of jokes.

0:31:590:32:03

JUDY GARLAND: The next one is a sort of striptease tempo.

0:32:030:32:06

We don't do it, we just talk about it.

0:32:060:32:09

'And her stories. She was one of the great story tellers...'

0:32:090:32:13

No, not in Carnegie Hall, it wouldn't look right!

0:32:130:32:16

'She was a very bawdy lady...'

0:32:160:32:18

If somebody moans, do you moan?

0:32:180:32:20

A little bit like living in a volcano, but we had fun.

0:32:200:32:25

Her weight yo-yoed, her marriages and her health crumbled.

0:32:260:32:30

Her pact with the audience was feeding them but destroying her.

0:32:300:32:36

By the time she was through the audience was crazy and she was really, really up.

0:32:360:32:40

And then everybody went home and left her.

0:32:400:32:44

And here she was adrift. Here she was alone.

0:32:440:32:47

She couldn't come down off of what had to be one of the highest of highs.

0:32:480:32:54

She lost a lot of her friends...

0:32:550:32:58

They said, "I don't wanna be bothered."

0:33:000:33:02

That can be the saddest thing in the world.

0:33:020:33:06

# Somewhere over the rainbow... #

0:33:060:33:12

On stage she was now almost like a sacrifice, with her daughter Liza holding her hand.

0:33:120:33:18

Come on now, sing along!

0:33:180:33:19

'Her audience wanted to push her closer to the edge.

0:33:190:33:23

'They wanted to see at what point she would just collapse or break.'

0:33:250:33:29

# Somewhere over the rainbow... #

0:33:290:33:36

Keep singing!

0:33:360:33:38

I saw the London Palladium show

0:33:380:33:40

where Judy Garland is clearly not in control.

0:33:400:33:44

People watched it happen in a kind of Christians and lions way.

0:33:450:33:46

People watched it happen in a kind of Christians and lions way.

0:33:470:33:50

# Oh why

0:33:500:33:53

# Can't

0:33:530:33:55

# I... #

0:33:550:34:02

In 1969 Judy Garland died of an overdose.

0:34:020:34:07

I was surprised she lasted that long,

0:34:070:34:10

She'd tried to take her own life too many times.

0:34:100:34:13

The whole world was sad

0:34:130:34:16

but not surprised.

0:34:160:34:18

# Somewhere over the rainbow... #

0:34:180:34:27

As a child she was lonesome.

0:34:270:34:29

I don't know whether she wanted show business as her life...

0:34:290:34:33

..but then finally she couldn't live without it. It was so addictive.

0:34:350:34:39

And that's the way show business is.

0:34:390:34:42

Judy lived her life in the spotlight.

0:34:430:34:47

She ushered in the celebrity age.

0:34:470:34:50

Our next queen was always in the headlines and always lamenting it.

0:34:540:34:58

Maria Callas, the drama queen put the showbiz into opera.

0:34:580:35:04

# Casta Diva

0:35:040:35:08

# Che inargenti... #

0:35:080:35:12

Her voice was not deemed as perfect as some sopranos but is all the more moving for that.

0:35:120:35:18

For me her voice was kind of dark.

0:35:180:35:21

It's almost got a weepy sort of sound to it.

0:35:210:35:25

But it's also very dramatic.

0:35:280:35:30

And it has, it kind of has a really strong element of truth in it.

0:35:300:35:34

When she was singing quietly, people wept.

0:35:370:35:39

She was able to express it from her heart, you know,

0:35:390:35:43

just straight out like that.

0:35:430:35:45

She could fill the notes with something that few singers could do.

0:35:450:35:48

The moment she began to sing I was frightened.

0:35:560:36:00

# Ah ah ah ah! #

0:36:000:36:05

I didn't know if this was something wonderful or something terrible.

0:36:050:36:11

I had never heard any sounds like that in my life.

0:36:110:36:15

Maria was born in New York to Greek immigrant parents who didn't get on.

0:36:190:36:24

Her mother soon became the classic pushy parent.

0:36:270:36:31

She was treated like an infant prodigy.

0:36:330:36:36

"It is not", she said "A toy that I remember but I was made to sing and sing and sing to exhaustion."

0:36:360:36:46

Her mother was always on the lookout for competitions for Maria to win.

0:36:460:36:52

RADIO: 'What do you want to sing? Something like Madame Butterfly.

0:36:520:36:56

'Un bel di, vedremo

0:36:560:37:02

# Levarsi un fil di fumo... #

0:37:020:37:06

The little shy girl, who felt podgy,

0:37:060:37:09

didn't like it, to sort of compensate for that, she was eating more, and she became really fat.

0:37:090:37:15

Even as a child, she understood the feeling of loneliness and being almost abandoned.

0:37:150:37:22

In 1937, aged 13, Maria left New York for Greece

0:37:250:37:28

In 1937, aged 13, Maria left New York for Greece

0:37:280:37:32

with her mother and didn't see her father again for nine years.

0:37:320:37:36

Maria used to say, "I didn't have a childhood.

0:37:360:37:39

"My mother didn't understand me. And my father couldn't help me."

0:37:390:37:43

At times I think her voice was really all that she had.

0:37:450:37:48

That's what drove her.

0:37:480:37:51

By 1945, she'd become a star in Greece.

0:37:510:37:54

Now she had to conquer the world, which wasn't so easy.

0:37:560:38:00

She travelled, auditioned, rehearsed, gained weight...and a husband.

0:38:000:38:05

He was an Italian industrialist, who could have been her father.

0:38:050:38:08

And he was dull at home.

0:38:080:38:11

Her passion went into her singing.

0:38:120:38:14

In 1949 she was doing a German opera in Venice when the soprano in another lighter opera fell ill.

0:38:140:38:21

She was summoned to an instant audition.

0:38:250:38:28

I went down...

0:38:280:38:30

and he said "Sing."

0:38:300:38:31

She was actually alternating one of Wagner's most dramatic roles

0:38:410:38:45

with one of bel canto's lightest roles.

0:38:450:38:47

All of Italy was agog talking about this incredible feat that had happened.

0:38:470:38:54

Callas had won. Now everyone wanted to hear this versatile voice with its extraordinary range.

0:38:540:39:00

Callas had won. Now everyone wanted to hear this versatile voice with its extraordinary range.

0:39:000:39:02

She didn't have what is traditionally called a beautiful voice.

0:39:070:39:12

Lots of people didn't like her voice.

0:39:120:39:14

But when they heard her sing in person, the sheer drive,

0:39:140:39:19

the electricity of her performances, they were bowled over.

0:39:190:39:22

CALLAS SINGS AT HIGH PITCH

0:39:220:39:24

By the 50s, Maria Callas was the most sought after opera singer in the world.

0:39:240:39:30

Helped they say by a tapeworm, she morphed into a slinky celebrity.

0:39:300:39:34

The new look fascinated the public.

0:39:340:39:38

She set out to look like Audrey Hepburn and she did.

0:39:380:39:44

People didn't recognize her.

0:39:440:39:46

When she lost the weight, I think it was just another sign of her determination to be this huge star.

0:39:460:39:53

Nothing was going to stand in the way of this happening.

0:39:530:39:57

Callas reached out beyond opera.

0:39:570:40:00

Before Callas, singers used to stand on the stage and gesture with their hands.

0:40:000:40:04

And then after Callas the public weren't happy with that.

0:40:040:40:08

They wanted real acting.

0:40:080:40:09

She would become the person, that's why she was unforgettable.

0:40:160:40:21

It wasn't a question of make-believe, it was a living emotion.

0:40:250:40:31

# ..diedi fiori agli altar... #

0:40:310:40:38

What she did was almost slow motion, very contained, almost understated...

0:40:380:40:45

but what mattered was when she did do something it was so perfectly one

0:40:450:40:50

with the music and when she did make a grand gesture, when she threw those arms out, it was like the fingertips

0:40:500:40:56

went from one side of the stage to the other side of the stage,

0:40:560:40:59

it was just immense.

0:40:590:41:01

# Dol...or... #

0:41:010:41:18

Many people thought Maria WAS the women she played on stage.

0:41:180:41:22

Tosca is a famous example.

0:41:220:41:24

You know, this woman who was very short-tempered and very jealous, but very courageous.

0:41:240:41:30

And in a kind of way, that is a picture of Maria.

0:41:300:41:33

She loved playing battling heroines like Bellini's Norma.

0:41:330:41:38

'I don't say she resembles me but maybe yes in a certain way,'

0:41:400:41:44

and she's very strong and very...

0:41:440:41:47

..ferocious at times.

0:41:490:41:50

You can imagine how strong and powerful she must be to be able to dominate these people.

0:41:500:41:55

The power struggle with her mother now came to a head.

0:42:000:42:03

Maria vowed never to speak to her again and never did.

0:42:030:42:07

In 1956, just as she was making her debut in New York, the row became public.

0:42:100:42:15

Maria had to fight to win back her audience.

0:42:150:42:18

These are very personal and intimate problems.

0:42:180:42:21

I would love to have a little bit of privacy on this thing.

0:42:210:42:25

This was a wound that never healed.

0:42:250:42:28

A mother... there's nothing extraordinary about how wonderful she is.

0:42:280:42:32

She's got to be wonderful, otherwise don't have children.

0:42:320:42:35

But if you do, don't expect anything in return.

0:42:350:42:38

That is what she's supposed to do.

0:42:380:42:40

To her great sadness, her own marriage remained childless.

0:42:400:42:45

Callas won a reputation as the world's most difficult diva.

0:42:450:42:48

NEWS: 'Ppera makes headlines with a performance that didn't happen.

0:42:480:42:52

'Soprano Maria Callas has been known to walk out before,

0:42:520:42:56

'so if you want to be sure of hearing her, don't get all dressed up, just go to a rehearsal.

0:42:560:43:00

'She usually stays to the end of those.'

0:43:000:43:04

She even fell out with the New York Met.

0:43:040:43:07

We started quarrelling, unvoluntarily on my part,

0:43:070:43:11

they offered me the old repertoire, that is the old Norma staging, which you all saw.

0:43:130:43:18

Which she's done, time and time again.

0:43:180:43:21

I hate the word "firing" in connection with such a distinguished artist, such as Maria Callas.

0:43:210:43:25

I prefer to say that our ways parted.

0:43:250:43:28

I suppose that made him angry.

0:43:280:43:30

I don't know. I can't explain it otherwise.

0:43:300:43:32

She said, "I am not a monster.

0:43:350:43:39

"But I can be very difficult if it's a question of art.

0:43:390:43:44

"All serious artists handle very important material.

0:43:440:43:49

"All serious artists handle very important material.

0:43:490:43:49

"For that I will always fight."

0:43:490:43:53

There's one standard for music and that is perfect musicianship.

0:43:530:43:57

Same thing with love.

0:43:570:43:59

She fell in love with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and ended her ten-year marriage.

0:44:020:44:07

Onassis was a collector of women.

0:44:090:44:11

For nine years, they had a very intense relationship.

0:44:110:44:15

Not always happy, lots of fights.

0:44:150:44:17

He liked her because she was such a strong personality, you see.

0:44:170:44:21

They had no children and didn't marry but were always together.

0:44:210:44:26

But suddenly Onassis proposed to Jackie Kennedy, without telling Maria.

0:44:260:44:30

Miss Callas, are you going to the wedding?

0:44:300:44:34

When was the last time you saw Mr Onassis?

0:44:340:44:37

Onassis was not the only loss.

0:44:550:44:58

Callas knew that her voice was going...and knew what it had been.

0:44:580:45:01

She was only a shadow of herself.

0:45:020:45:04

Yet there were some moments where the miracle was present.

0:45:040:45:12

I remember once she said, "Shall we hear some music?" I knew by then,

0:45:120:45:18

what she meant, was, "Shall we hear some of my recordings?"

0:45:180:45:22

She was looking at me, expectantly, and I thought, "What can I say?"

0:45:220:45:27

After all, she was probably the greatest singer in a hundred years.

0:45:270:45:32

So I ventured with,

0:45:320:45:36

"It's marvellous singing."

0:45:360:45:38

"Marvellous? Marvellous?" she said.

0:45:380:45:41

"It isn't marvellous. It's bloody miraculous."

0:45:410:45:44

Maria died in Paris, aged 53.

0:45:480:45:52

The last two years of her life, she was lonely...

0:45:530:45:56

but she's been lonely all her life.

0:45:560:46:00

The tragedy in her life was not Onassis

0:46:010:46:06

or the curtailment of her career and all that, no,

0:46:060:46:11

two things, that she was unable to have had children

0:46:110:46:15

two things, that she was unable to have had children

0:46:160:46:17

and she never acquired

0:46:170:46:19

the love of her mother.

0:46:190:46:21

These are the tragedies

0:46:230:46:25

in Maria Callas's life.

0:46:250:46:27

Callas' voice was poised, our last queen's was wild.

0:46:350:46:39

She wanted to break free of it all.

0:46:390:46:41

Janis Joplin - the wild queen.

0:46:410:46:46

# Baby

0:46:490:46:51

# Cry baby

0:46:510:46:59

# Welcome back home... #

0:46:590:47:02

She's going back to some sort of animal howl.

0:47:020:47:05

It's sort of somebody almost dispensing with language altogether.

0:47:050:47:08

There's a huge amount of rage in Janis's singing, and pain.

0:47:080:47:12

# Much much more that I did... #

0:47:120:47:16

Janis when she sings is incredibly jubilant.

0:47:160:47:20

You could hear pain in there, you could hear grief, or you could hear,

0:47:200:47:24

having a really good time.

0:47:240:47:26

# That I'll always be... #

0:47:260:47:29

She would reach these extremes.

0:47:290:47:32

# ..if you ever want me

0:47:320:47:33

# Come on and cry, cry, baby

0:47:330:47:39

# Cry baby!

0:47:390:47:41

"Cry baby!"

0:47:410:47:46

She must be ripping her muscles when she was singing, but.

0:47:460:47:51

she kept doing it. she kept drinking.

0:47:510:47:53

I'm sure she didn't do her three litres of water a day that you're meant to.

0:47:530:47:58

But I suppose she only made it to 27.

0:47:580:48:01

Janis started her 27 years in small town conservative Texas.

0:48:040:48:09

The part of Texas where she's from, the women all

0:48:090:48:14

kind of look like Charlie's angels, it's like a head cheerleader look.

0:48:140:48:19

Janis had a complex about her looks always from really very early on from when she was a little girl.

0:48:190:48:20

Janis had a complex about her looks always from really very early on from when she was a little girl.

0:48:200:48:25

She had a big weight problem, bad skin problem.

0:48:250:48:30

People threw things at her, not rocks but pieces of paper,

0:48:300:48:36

"You're a pig," She was simply different.

0:48:360:48:40

She didn't care what anybody thought, except at the same time she did care what they thought.

0:48:400:48:46

She was very fragile.

0:48:460:48:48

She was voted the ugliest man on campus, quite famously,

0:48:480:48:52

which can't have been good for anybody's self esteem.

0:48:520:48:55

In the racially divided South, Janis had black friends.

0:48:550:48:59

She loved the music, loved it.

0:48:590:49:02

They called her nigger lover.

0:49:020:49:04

Teenage Janis started to sing the blues.

0:49:040:49:08

# Gimme whiskey, gimme bourbon, give me gin... #

0:49:080:49:12

I started singing when I was about 17,

0:49:130:49:16

and I could sing...

0:49:160:49:19

it was a surprise.

0:49:190:49:21

In 1963 I couldn't stand Texas any more and I went to California...

0:49:210:49:26

it's a lot freer, you can do what you wanna do, nobody bugs you.

0:49:260:49:32

# Gimme gin

0:49:320:49:34

# It don't matter what I'm drinkin'

0:49:350:49:39

# As long as it drowns the sorrow I'm in. #

0:49:390:49:41

She knocked on the door of a music cafe.

0:49:410:49:43

There was this scruffy, dishevelled,

0:49:430:49:48

what I thought was an ugly boy at the door.

0:49:480:49:51

She didn't have a guitar, she didn't have a tambourine.

0:49:510:49:57

She had nothing. She just clapped.

0:49:570:50:01

And she sang all these slave songs and everything, but the people loved her.

0:50:010:50:07

When she sang she was beautiful.

0:50:070:50:10

# Oh Lord, won't you buy me, "a Mercedes Benz?

0:50:100:50:15

# My friends all drive Porsches, and must make amends... #

0:50:150:50:20

With me, she was always terribly sweet

0:50:200:50:24

but when we went public, she would put on this other persona which was

0:50:240:50:31

nasty and vulgar.

0:50:310:50:35

It was like...

0:50:350:50:38

another person.

0:50:380:50:41

Nobody's gonna hurt me.

0:50:440:50:46

Nobody is gonna hurt me.

0:50:460:50:48

It's quite an obvious transition for a shy person to become completely outward

0:50:510:50:58

and mental and drink too much and take too many drugs to offset that insecurity.

0:50:580:51:04

But she hides it incredibly well.

0:51:040:51:07

You just see this self assured, drunk, brilliant character

0:51:070:51:12

who absolutely was one of the boys.

0:51:120:51:16

Soon Janis was fronting one of the top bands on the scene, Big Brother the Holding Company.

0:51:190:51:24

She had affairs with women and men...

0:51:240:51:27

one with the singer of another band.

0:51:270:51:30

When I was with her, she was very exuberant...

0:51:320:51:33

When I was with her, she was very exuberant...

0:51:330:51:36

I think she was enjoying being one of the only girls

0:51:360:51:41

in a scene dominated by men.

0:51:410:51:43

She was having a great time.

0:51:450:51:47

Janis was the hottest chick in San Francisco at that time.

0:51:470:51:52

Gutsy, glowing. Our whole image of sort of recreating Eden

0:51:540:51:59

in San Francisco.

0:51:590:52:01

It was the Monterey Pop Festival that thrust Janis onto the national stage.

0:52:010:52:07

For her first set she wore jeans but when she knew the cameras were rolling, she startled everyone.

0:52:070:52:13

This was not the Janis Joplin I knew.

0:52:150:52:19

She had sequins on her eyelids and she was all made up.

0:52:190:52:23

And I went "Oh, my god it's Janis Joplin."

0:52:270:52:32

And she was fabulous.

0:52:320:52:34

# Just like a ball and a, and a cha-a-in! #

0:52:340:52:43

Monterey was a big turning point.

0:52:430:52:45

Monterey was a big turning point.

0:52:450:52:45

They started saying she was the greatest blues singer that had ever lived.

0:52:500:52:56

They started stroking her in a way

0:52:560:52:59

that really started driving her crazy I think.

0:52:590:53:04

Professionally it was a great thing for her,

0:53:070:53:10

but in the long run it was devastating.

0:53:100:53:13

Hitting the big time meant leaving Big Brother And The Holding Company behind.

0:53:150:53:19

From day one she knew she wanted to be a star,

0:53:190:53:22

and if we would have known that,

0:53:220:53:24

we would have been horrified, because it was very uncool in that

0:53:240:53:28

hippy counter culture for anyone to want to push themselves forward.

0:53:280:53:32

Everyone wanted to push themselves forward but it was really uncool to admit that.

0:53:320:53:36

Queens of heartache are solo singers.

0:53:420:53:44

And despite their many partners, their true love affair is with their audience.

0:53:440:53:51

# Come on, come on, come on

0:53:510:53:54

# And take it

0:53:540:53:56

# Take another piece of ... #

0:53:560:53:58

There's nothing that can really compare with that love, that's oceanic, all-encompassing.

0:53:580:54:05

The whole performance is sort of an orgasmic kind of situation.

0:54:050:54:09

# You know you got if it makes you feel good!

0:54:090:54:13

# Sing it right now! #

0:54:130:54:15

She was highly sexual.

0:54:190:54:21

And she was also that on stage.

0:54:210:54:25

But what made Janice so great

0:54:250:54:30

was the ecstatic experience.

0:54:300:54:34

# Take it, take another little piece of my heart now, baby,

0:54:340:54:39

# Break up! Break another little bit of my heart... #

0:54:390:54:44

It was like the atoms in the whole place, started

0:54:440:54:46

to vibrate, and everyone was tuned into this queen bee kind of vibe.

0:54:460:54:52

They loved everything that she did, they loved the self-destructive things that she did.

0:54:520:54:58

Some people who are entertainers don't always buy into their own

0:54:580:55:01

publicity, and their own myths, but she bought into it big time.

0:55:010:55:05

Liberated woman I think is a sort of understatement.

0:55:050:55:10

These guys would go backstage, say, "I really loved your performance.

0:55:100:55:14

She said "Take your pants off."

0:55:140:55:16

When the woman is an aggressor, it's often pretty intimidating, you know.

0:55:160:55:23

# Summer time... #

0:55:260:55:29

She could out ball the guys... but always knew she was different.

0:55:290:55:33

# Child

0:55:330:55:36

# You're living easy

0:55:360:55:39

'Women, to be in the music business, give up more than you'd ever know.'

0:55:390:55:45

'Home life,

0:55:470:55:51

'an old man, probably, you give up children and friends.

0:55:510:55:56

'You give up any constant in the world except music...

0:55:560:56:00

that's the only thing you've got, man.

0:56:000:56:05

She once told me it was very difficult being Janis Joplin.

0:56:050:56:10

Whenever people saw her in a bar or anything, she was on.

0:56:100:56:14

It was as if she was performing 18 hours a day, really.

0:56:140:56:19

In August 1970 Janis went to a reunion at her old school.

0:56:200:56:25

She wanted the approval.

0:56:250:56:28

She wanted to come back as a star

0:56:280:56:31

and have them love her, which they did not.

0:56:310:56:34

How were you different from your school mates? I don't know.

0:56:340:56:38

Why don't you ask them?

0:56:380:56:41

Was it they who made you different?

0:56:410:56:42

No. You were different in comparison to them?

0:56:420:56:45

I felt apart from them.

0:56:470:56:49

I didn't go to the high school prom.

0:56:490:56:53

You were asked, weren't you? No, I wasn't.

0:56:530:56:56

I don't think they wanted to take me.

0:56:560:57:00

Two months later, Janis died of an accidental heroin overdose.

0:57:020:57:06

TV: 'On January 13th, Colombia Records released the album which Janis Joplin had been recording

0:57:080:57:15

'at the time of her death.'

0:57:150:57:16

It's the record for which she is most remembered.

0:57:190:57:22

# ..rode us all the way to New Orleans... #

0:57:220:57:26

Part of the romance of the blues is that here is someone destroying

0:57:280:57:34

themselves, and at the same point, generating this incredible art.

0:57:340:57:39

It's like somebody like falling off a building,

0:57:390:57:42

shouting something to you as they're falling, which makes it

0:57:420:57:45

all the more intense and passionate.

0:57:450:57:49

# Freedom is just another word

0:57:490:57:51

# For nothing left to lose

0:57:510:57:53

# Nothing don't mean nothing, hon, if it ain't free... #

0:57:530:57:56

It's horrible in some ways because you take pleasure in listening to a song that's produced by their pain.

0:57:560:58:02

It's like they're making a sacrifice

0:58:020:58:06

but with these women, you're making something beautiful out of something terrible.

0:58:060:58:11

With their voices full of fire and fight, these women weren't just singers...

0:58:130:58:19

they were moments in history.

0:58:190:58:21

# La la la la na na na

0:58:220:58:26

# La la la la la la la la na na na

0:58:260:58:29

# Hey now Bobby McGee, yeah

0:58:290:58:33

# Lord, I'm calling my lover, calling my man

0:58:330:58:36

I said I'm calling my lover just the best I can

0:58:360:58:38

# C'mon, where is Bobby now, where is Bobby McGee, yeah

0:58:380:58:43

# Ah la la la la, la la la la la la la la la la la la

0:58:430:58:49

# Hey hey hey, Bobby McGee... #

0:58:490:58:51

Do you have an explanation why you're so popular?

0:58:510:58:55

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