Summary

"Crazy They Call Me" begins with an unnamed narrator speaking to an unknown subject in what seems like the middle of a conversation: "Well, you certainly don't go out anyplace less than dressed, not these days" (1). The speaker explains that this need for dress is to prevent people from mistaking her as "that broken, misused little girl: Eleanora Fagan" (1). Defiantly, the speaker, whom many may now recognize as Billie Holiday, explains that there should be "no confusion" over the fact that she is a well-off woman with extravagant clothing and accessories" (1). She cites ones of the songs from the broadway musical Guys and Dolls, "Take back your mink, take back your pearls," but notes that she cannot sing that particular song as it is not in her key (1). She explains that "not only is there no more Eleanora, there isn't any Billie, either...