Philadelphia Freedom (song) honour Billie Jean King, and so asked Taupin to write a song called "Philadelphia Freedom" as a homage to her tennis team, the Philadelphia Freedoms. In "His Song: The Musical History of Elton John", Elizabeth Rosenthal recounts that Taupin said, "I can't write a song about tennis," and did not. Taupin maintains that the lyrics bear no relation to tennis, Philly Soul, or even flag-waving patriotism. Nonetheless, the lyrics have been interpreted as patriotic and uplifting, and even though it was released in 1975, the song's sentiment, intentionally or not, meshed perfectly with an American music audience gearing up for
Lover Man: A Tribute to Billie Holiday Lover Man: A Tribute to Billie Holiday Lover Man: A Tribute to Billie Holiday is a trio album led by pianist John Hicks, recorded in 1993. The album was recorded in 1993. The musicians were pianist John Hicks, bassist Ray Drummond, and drummer Victor Lewis. Hicks's playing imitates the vocal style of Billie Holiday: "on 'God Bless the Child', for example, Hicks uses broken chords to imitate the way Holiday would slide into a phrase, build it up and then let it trail off. He preserves the melody of the song but surrounds it with tenderly crushed chords that capture