A Kiss That Is Never Tasted Is Forever And Ever Wasted

Billie Holiday Quote

A kiss that is never tasted is forever and ever wasted; The sultry tones of one of the worlds best jazz singers Billie Holiday crooning about romantic waste mismanagement.

This beautiful Billie Holiday lyric from the 'For All We Know' track was recorded on her penultimate album 'The Lady In Satin' in 1958. Although this was not the last album she released it was the last one she saw hit the charts in her lifetime as she died in July 1959 before the release of her Last Recording.

The song was originally written in 1934 by J. Fred Coots and the lyrics by Sam M. Lewis, it first hit the US charts in the same year with Hal Kemp and his orchestra.

Since then a small army of top recording artists have released their versions of 'For All We Know' with giants of the recording industry like Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Karen Carpenter just to name a few of the chart topping legends who have paid musical homage to this haunting melody.

With such a stellar cast having sung 'For All We Know' it is a stunning tribute to Billie Holiday that google appears to attribute the line 'A kiss that is never tasted is forever and ever wasted' to her. Add the word 'quote' after the line (in google search) then there is page after page attributing the lyric or quote to Billie.

This is another internet attributed quote with (according to the net) Billie Holiday holding firm onto the microphone, her recorded version is a super cool jazz blues number with her sultry voice and melodramatic singing style still holding up despite the years of alcohol and substance abuse.

The internet is like an voting machine and it is capable of perpetuating any statement, myth or story merely by the volume of people who repeat or re-post the said information.

It would appear the internet has given its opinion and it is a massive thumbs up to Billie Holiday and her version of 'for all we know'.

However it is only right that the person who wrote the original line 'A kiss that is never tasted is forever and ever wasted, should also get a mention so here's a shout out to Sam M. Lewis, long may his immortal words live on in the sultry voices of all modern day and future singers of this beautiful song.

Article By: Michael Joseph Farrelly