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Torch

University of Texas at Austin

A torch song is a song about unrequited love. The torch song originated in Tin Pan Alley music publishing houses and flourished on post-World War I vaudeville and speakeasy stages in the performances of Edith Piaf, Libby Holman, Billie Holiday, Lee Wiley, and countless others. But just who is the torch singer? What are her history and her place in history? Might her performance move beyond a blind and narcissistic obsession with doomed love affairs? Is her lament a feminist art, a cultural power play? What do her words and movements teach us about autobiography, performance, and culture? This article explores how the author's experience--as a scholar, feminist, music lover, writer, and woman--burns with these questions. This article enacts a performance ignited by a history of torch singers. Put on your favorite sad song and join in. And by all means, sing along.

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