A sometimes overlooked musical feat is when an artist is able to cover a song and not just perform it well, but truly make it feel like an authentic creation of their own. This is what Billie Holiday did with her masterful rendition of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” a track that was originally recorded by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal a couple of decades before Holiday’s recording. The likes of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, along with many other prominent artists, have also recorded the track. While they both enjoyed illustrious careers of their own, it is hard to deny that this song feels as though it was written for Holiday to sing.

One of the aspects of Holiday’s rendition that truly sets it apart from the other famous recordings is that the instruments accompanying her voice all cater to her softer vocal tone. Sinatra implemented his usual brazen horns, while Crosby used sharp toned string instruments. While these choices may work in other songs — and they often did for these artists — “I’ll Be Seeing You” is a love song that is able to show its true beauty when sung and played with soft and calm tones.

The song holds a beautiful sentiment about how love persists and appears in daily life, even when a loved one is not physically present. This theme lends itself seamlessly to Holiday’s emotionally charged, yet refined tone. The actual lyrics of the track are truly sincere, as they describe how when someone loves another, they will notice them in everything that is beautiful and pure. It is a heartfelt attitude because the lyrics describe love as though it is an inescapable pleasure of life, essentially valuing it over anything else. The lyrics that follow are a prime example of this theme:

“I’ll find you in the morning sun/

And when the night is new

I’ll be looking at the moon/

But I’ll be seeing you”

Throughout the track, Holiday’s soft tone combined with a subtle static crackle in the recording create a warm and comforting environment that makes it sound lullaby-like. It is a very unique love song in this sense — it is not overly dramatic nor does it build up to a loud chorus like many songs of this variety did at the time. The instruments allow Holiday’s voice to be at the forefront for the entire song, and given her relatively reserved volume, this creates for an incredibly relaxing listening experience.

Billie Holiday’s artistic attitude is extremely prevalent in her version of the song. When many artists cover songs, it feels as though they are overly aware that they must lend their own unique sound to the track, creating a cover that can sound forced and unauthentic. In this case, it seems to be the case that Holiday chose to cover this song because she knew that her voice could match the gentle nature of the lyrics without any alterations. And while the lyrics remain unchanged, she absolutely has something unique to say and project through her calming performance of the song — she bestows a promise to the person that she loves that she will always carry her love for them wherever she goes.