☝️ Key Points
- The song is about the justification and need to express pain and sadness.
- It talks about a man who causes a lot of distress to the singer.
- The singer feels miserable and only sees suffering for herself.
- The lyrics symbolize the hope for a change that will free her from her pain.
- The song expresses inner pains and the need for liberation.
Interpretation
The lyrics of the song "I Got a Right to Sing the Blues" by
Billie Holiday are about the legitimacy and need to express pain and sadness. The lyrics describe the feeling that the singer has the right to sing the blues to express her feelings. The lines "I gotta right to moan inside" and "I gotta right to sit and cry" show that she has the right to feel and express her sadness, and that she is in a place where she feels down and sad.
There is also mention of a particular man in town who breaks her heart and causes her a lot of sorrow. She feels miserable and sees only misery for herself. The lines "All I see for me is misery" illustrate her negative mood and unhappiness.
The lyrics also include the thought that love draws her to another place, symbolized by the "deep blue sea". This may mean that she hopes that a change in her life will free her from her pain.
The lyrics emphasize that she has the right to sing the blues to express her feelings and process her sadness. She feels full of misery and sees nothing else for herself. The lyrics of the song express inner pain and the need for liberation.