God bless the child

Billie Holiday, 1917

Mama may have,
Papa may have,
But God bless the child
That's got his own!
That's got his own.

In her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday wrote that during an argument about money her mother spitefully said: "God bless the child that's got his own."  Later she turned her mother's words into a song she wrote with Arthur Herzog. "God Bless the Child" was first performed by Billie Holiday in 1939, and remains one of her enduring vocal masterpieces.

The lyrics refer to an unspecified Biblical verse: Them that's got shall get, them that don't shall lose, so the Bible says, and it still is news.

This is probably a reference to the (chilling) verse Matthew 25:29:  "For to every one that has shall be given, he shall have abundance: but from him that has not it shall be taken away, even that which he has." 

 
If you have nothing to start with, how can it be taken away?

Jerry Pinkey (born 1939) is a renowned American illustrator who has won many honors for his beautiful children's books.  When I was reading about this song, I found out Pinkey created a picture book interpretation that tells the story of a family moving from the rural South to the urban North during the 1930's.  It looks like an extraordinary book and even comes with Billie Holidays' recording of "God Bless the Child."