paul robeson was among those. he speak out against the song?ever spoke out about it. you know, there are a lot of-- one person told me that. it was never recorded anywhere that this was the way he felt. there were many, many issues pertaining to this song that i tried to research for this book and couldn't get definitive answers to. it kind of falls between the cultural cracks. so i don't know if paul robeson ever wrote that. i never came across any reference to it. my feeling is that as originally sung by billie holiday, it was not a song about victimhood so much. i mean, she was-- but as it became associated with her and-- because of her attitude when she first did it-- as it became associated with her and as it became more poignant to listen to, perhaps that's the coloration that it took on. she certainly grabbed ownership of it even, as you point out, in suggesting in her autobiography that she had some part in shaping it. and she objected when other people performed it? well, she objected when josh white performed it. josh white also playe