Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)

Jimmy Davis, Roger "Ram" Ramirez and Jimmy Sherman wrote the song, and it was published in 1942. A recording ban by the musicians' union meant Holiday did not record it until 1944. She asked Milt Gabler, who was at Decca, to let her do it with strings. She said she went on her knees to him, and after a long struggle with Decca management he gave her what she wanted. On 4 October 1944 she recorded it with Toots Camarata and His Orchestra as Decca 23391. Camarata recalled that when she walked in and saw the string ensemble she was so overwhelmed that she turned around and walked out.

It reached number 5 on the R&B chart and number 16 on the pop chart, and the Grammy Hall of Fame inducted it in 1989. The success made her a staple of the pop world and led to solo concerts, which were rare for jazz singers in the late 1940s.