Preacher Boy

"Preacher Boy" is a jazz song written by singer Billie Holiday, and composer Jeanne Burns and published by E.B. Marks. This is one of seven songs written by or co-written by Holiday that she never recorded.^[1][2]

According to Holiday, she wrote the song as a tribute to her second husband, Louis McKay. Holiday met McKay's family in December 1951 and recalled: "His mother, she's eighty years old and she had this dog and she loved this dog so much. The dog died and he preached over the dog. One day, we were walking down the street (in his home town) and somebody says 'Hey Preach! Hey Preach! What's the matter? You don't know me anymore, man?' Well I asked Louis what he was talking about and he said 'he's talking about me,' so that's how I learned the story."^[3] The song was published by E.B. Marks, but she never recorded it.^[4][5]

• Stuart Nicholson, Billie Holiday, ISBN 1-55553-303-5
• Billie Holiday, THE BEST OF BILLIE HOLIDAY: Songs Recorded and Made Famous By Lady Day. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-7935-3687-1.
• Donald Clarke, Wishing On the Moon. Viking. ISBN 0-670-83771-7.
• John Chilton, Billie's Blues. Da Capo Preess. ISBN 0-306-80363-1
• John White, Billie Holiday: Her Life and Times ISBN 0-87663-668-7
• Ken Vail, Lady Day's Diary. Sanctuary Publishing. ISBN 1-86074-131-2

• MP Three Lyrics Website
• Let It Resound website
• Earfloss, Best of Billie Holiday Sheet Music book reference