God Bless the Child- Billie Holiday 1952
"God Bless the Child" is a song by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr. She first sang it in 1939.
In the movie Lady Sings the Blues Holiday indicated an argument with her mother over money led to the song. She indicated that during the argument she said the line "God Bless the child that's got his own." The anger over the incident led her to turn that line into a starting point for a song, which she worked out in conjunction with Herzog.
In this clip, many years later, Billie performs the song and is backed up by the Count Basie Orchestra