#16 'Strange Fruit' by Billie Holiday (1939)

SONG

"This song is both beautifully haunting and absolutely sickening (due to the subject matter). It conjures up all kinds of vile images but it reminds me that not-so-long-ago a large proportion of people in the 'civilised' world thought that lynching people they deemed to be different was the way forward. Watching her sing it almost made me cry." - LC

Written by: Abel Meeropol (credited as Lewis Allan).
Producer:Uncredited
Label:Commodore

FACTS

• It was written by teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem and condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all other regions of the United States.
• In 1978 Holiday's version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
• Because of the poignancy of the song, when Holiday performed shows she would close with it, the waiters would stop all service in advance, the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday's face, and there would be no encore.

LYRICS

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Recommended songs by this artist..

Fine and Mellow (1939)

Gloomy Sunday (1941)

God Bless The Child (1941)

Love For Sale (1954)

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