The Blood that Binds

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If talent is the blood that binds...
Then Bessie is the grandmother of Madeleine
And Billie is daughter to the former.

To the other
She is mother

To understand exactly
What I speak of
Listen to three generations of
CARELESS LOVE




Bessie Smith


Billie Holiday*


Madeleine Peyroux


* Billie Holiday disguised the family connection
by singing Loveless Love, the W.C. Handy
variation on the theme:

Love is like a hydrant turns off and on
Like some friendships when your money's gone.

As for his family lineage,
Mr. Handy is known as
THE FATHER OF THE BLUES


I had a dream that someday
my children would not be judged
by the color of their skin
but by the content of their talent.
-Charles "Mentor" Robinson
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