Billie Holiday: Me, Myself and I

Me, Myself and I is one of the great classics of the Billie Holiday-Lester Young collaborations. The song is recorded here in the key of D major, which rather appropriately is associated with vigor and clarity of expression in classical music -- a feeling sustained through both available takes made available on the Columbia/Legacy set. Over the years there has been some confusion over their identification take 1 ends on the tonic; take 2 on the dominant, which is sorted out on this set. Part of the Holiday-Young magic is the way their collaborations often go beyond leading voice-accompaniment roles into the realms of a duet. Who can say which of the two lines predominates here? An added frisson is added by the presence of Freddie Green, then Holidays lover. How would history have read if she had settled for steady Freddie?