Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday Lyrics
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies 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
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Abel Meeropol
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday. It condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all regions of the United States. Holiday's version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Author Read Full Bio"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday. It condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all regions of the United States. Holiday's version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Author
"Strange Fruit" began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high-school teacher from the Bronx, about the lynching of two black men. He published under the pen name Lewis Allan. Meeropol and his wife adopted Robert and Michael, sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of espionage and executed by the United States.
Meeropol wrote "Strange Fruit" to express his horror at lynchings after seeing Lawrence Beitler's photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. He published the poem in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magazine. Though Meeropol/Allan had often asked others (notably Earl Robinson) to set his poems to music, he set Strange Fruit to music himself. The song gained a certain success as a protest song in and around New York. Meeropol, his wife, and black vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at Madison Square Garden.
Barney Josephson, the founder of Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub, heard the song and introduced it to Billie Holiday. Holiday performed the song at Cafe Society in 1939. She said that singing it made her fearful of retaliation. Holiday later said that because the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father, she persisted in singing it. The song became a regular part of Holiday's live performances.
Holiday approached her recording label, Columbia, about recording the song. Columbia, fearing a backlash by record retailers in the South, as well as negative reaction from affiliates of Columbia's co-owned radio network, CBS, refused to record the song. Even her great producer at Columbia, John Hammond, refused. In frustration she turned to her friend Milt Gabler (uncle of comedian Billy Crystal) whose Commodore label produced alternative jazz. Holiday sang the song for him a cappella which so moved Gabler that he wept. In 1939 Gabler worked out a special arrangement with Vocalian Records to record and distribute the song and Columbia allowed Holiday a one-session release from her contract in order to record it.
She recorded two major sessions at Commodore, one in 1939 and one in 1944. "Strange Fruit" was highly regarded. In time it became Holiday's biggest selling record. Though the song became a staple of her live performances, Holiday's accompanist Bobby Tucker recalled that Holiday would break down every time after she sang it.
In her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, Holiday suggested that she, together with Lewis Allan, her accompanist Sonny White, and arranger Danny Mendelsohn, put the poem to music. David Margolick and Hilton Als dismissed that claim in their work Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song. They wrote that hers was "an account that may set a record for most misinformation per column inch". When challenged, Holiday—whose autobiography had been ghostwritten by William Dufty—claimed, "I ain't never read that book."
Meaning
The "strange fruit" referred to in the song are the bodies of African American men being hanged during a lynching. They contrast the pastoral scenes of the South with the ugliness of racist violence. The lyrics were so chilling that Holiday later said "The first time I sang it, I thought it was a mistake. There wasn't even a patter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began to clap nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping and cheering."
Impact
Barney Josephson recognized the impact of the song and insisted that Holiday close all her shows with it. Just as the song was about to begin, waiters would stop serving, the lights in club would be turned off, and a single pin spotlight would illuminate Holiday on stage. During the musical introduction, Holiday would stand with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer.
The song ultimately became the anthem of the anti-lynching movement. The dark imagery of the lyrics struck a chord. It also contributed to what would later become the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s.
The song became an instant success and was most identified with Holiday. Numerous other singers have performed it. In October 1939, Samuel Grafton of The New York Post described "Strange Fruit": "If the anger of the exploited ever mounts high enough in the South, it now has its Marseillaise."
In December, 1999, Time (magazine) magazine called it the song of the century.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed the song as Number One on 100 Songs of the South. Bob Dylan cited "Strange Fruit" as an influence in the 2005 documentary No Direction Home. The movie also had a brief clip of Holiday singing.
Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer Dejan Cukić wrote about "Strange Fruit" among forty-five other songs that changed the history of popular music in his book 45 obrtaja: Priče o pesmama.
Author Read Full Bio"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday. It condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all regions of the United States. Holiday's version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978. It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Author
"Strange Fruit" began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high-school teacher from the Bronx, about the lynching of two black men. He published under the pen name Lewis Allan. Meeropol and his wife adopted Robert and Michael, sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of espionage and executed by the United States.
Meeropol wrote "Strange Fruit" to express his horror at lynchings after seeing Lawrence Beitler's photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. He published the poem in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magazine. Though Meeropol/Allan had often asked others (notably Earl Robinson) to set his poems to music, he set Strange Fruit to music himself. The song gained a certain success as a protest song in and around New York. Meeropol, his wife, and black vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at Madison Square Garden.
Barney Josephson, the founder of Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub, heard the song and introduced it to Billie Holiday. Holiday performed the song at Cafe Society in 1939. She said that singing it made her fearful of retaliation. Holiday later said that because the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father, she persisted in singing it. The song became a regular part of Holiday's live performances.
Holiday approached her recording label, Columbia, about recording the song. Columbia, fearing a backlash by record retailers in the South, as well as negative reaction from affiliates of Columbia's co-owned radio network, CBS, refused to record the song. Even her great producer at Columbia, John Hammond, refused. In frustration she turned to her friend Milt Gabler (uncle of comedian Billy Crystal) whose Commodore label produced alternative jazz. Holiday sang the song for him a cappella which so moved Gabler that he wept. In 1939 Gabler worked out a special arrangement with Vocalian Records to record and distribute the song and Columbia allowed Holiday a one-session release from her contract in order to record it.
She recorded two major sessions at Commodore, one in 1939 and one in 1944. "Strange Fruit" was highly regarded. In time it became Holiday's biggest selling record. Though the song became a staple of her live performances, Holiday's accompanist Bobby Tucker recalled that Holiday would break down every time after she sang it.
In her autobiography Lady Sings the Blues, Holiday suggested that she, together with Lewis Allan, her accompanist Sonny White, and arranger Danny Mendelsohn, put the poem to music. David Margolick and Hilton Als dismissed that claim in their work Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song. They wrote that hers was "an account that may set a record for most misinformation per column inch". When challenged, Holiday—whose autobiography had been ghostwritten by William Dufty—claimed, "I ain't never read that book."
Meaning
The "strange fruit" referred to in the song are the bodies of African American men being hanged during a lynching. They contrast the pastoral scenes of the South with the ugliness of racist violence. The lyrics were so chilling that Holiday later said "The first time I sang it, I thought it was a mistake. There wasn't even a patter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began to clap nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping and cheering."
Impact
Barney Josephson recognized the impact of the song and insisted that Holiday close all her shows with it. Just as the song was about to begin, waiters would stop serving, the lights in club would be turned off, and a single pin spotlight would illuminate Holiday on stage. During the musical introduction, Holiday would stand with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer.
The song ultimately became the anthem of the anti-lynching movement. The dark imagery of the lyrics struck a chord. It also contributed to what would later become the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s.
The song became an instant success and was most identified with Holiday. Numerous other singers have performed it. In October 1939, Samuel Grafton of The New York Post described "Strange Fruit": "If the anger of the exploited ever mounts high enough in the South, it now has its Marseillaise."
In December, 1999, Time (magazine) magazine called it the song of the century.
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed the song as Number One on 100 Songs of the South. Bob Dylan cited "Strange Fruit" as an influence in the 2005 documentary No Direction Home. The movie also had a brief clip of Holiday singing.
Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer Dejan Cukić wrote about "Strange Fruit" among forty-five other songs that changed the history of popular music in his book 45 obrtaja: Priče o pesmama.
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Shannon MO
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burnin' 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 the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Keziah Osei-Agyemang
@Nathan Holmes To start, the original commenter (is that the word?) wasn't "pointing the finger at white America." He was acknowledging the meaning of this song in relation to the experiences of his own grandparents/great-grandparents who lived through lynchings and other violent racist behavior. There is nothing wrong with that and if you are honestly offended by it, I feel that you should think a bit what sort of person you are and the beliefs you hold.
Secondly, acknowledging the part that the white majority has (unwittingly or not) played in the oppression of black people up until today isn't the same as ignoring the suffering of others or believing only black people have suffered in life. White people, for the majority of human history, have been the ones in power and the ones with the power to oppress others. Not all white people have chosen to use the power they have to harm others, but unfortunately many do, and have contributed to creating the cruel, divided world we live in today.
Thirdly, in this life suffering is universal. Even then, people of color and those who suffer from economic inequality (the former is usually the latter) are more likely to be discriminated against and denied the opportunities freely given to their lighter-skinned, European counterparts simply because of the skin they were born. White people on the other hand are more likely to have a stable economic situation, graduate college, have a well-paying job, start a stable family with both parents present, etc.
This isn't to say that hardworking Americans (who happen to be born white) don't work every day for what they earned and the life they have, but rather that if they had been born black, or latino, etc. they would've likely had to work twice as hard for half the pay and recognition.
To repeat what I said above, suffering is universal. The degree of that suffering varies. The truth of the matter is that white people suffer, but black people and other minorities are likely to suffer more.
While I do agree with you that not all violence that hurts black people is necessarily racial injustice and that committing crimes leads to conflict with the police and inevitably ends in consequences, those consequences should not involve being shot to death like an animal. Criminals should be punished for their crimes according to their crimes. Stealing a joint, resisting arrest, drug possession, etc. are all bad things to do, but none of them should end with the perpetrator being shot and killed. Going to jail, paying fines, and being tried and sentenced, etc. should be the consequences. Not bleeding out on a sidewalk, dying of asphyxiation, or being put in enough pain that you're driven to tears. Implying otherwise is quite heartless and dismissive of the suffering of others.
If you actually got this far, thank you for reading this really long reply and I hope managed to communicate something of substance to you. Have an awesome day and God bless you!
92reshaun
Alma Reyes
No sweat!
if you’re familiar with the Old Testament you’ll read in the book of “Exodus” that The Most High brought a people (the Israelites) out of a 400 year slavery to the Egyptians.
These people the Egyptians had enslaved are the descendants of (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) who God promised to Abraham; he would be “their God” in “everlasting covenant.”
(Genesis 15:13) - (Genesis 17:6-7)
Isaac is Abraham’s son, Jacob is Isaac’s son. The Most High would later change the name of “Jacob” to “Israel” (Genesis 32:28)
Now, Jacob had four wives who gave him 12 sons. These twelve children are the “twelve tribes of Israel” called “Israelites.”
As the sons of Jacob grew older, they would take wives and multiply. Each one of the twelve represents a separate tribe in Israel as follows:
Judah, Benjamin, Reuben, Asher, Simeon, Levi, Gad, Dan, Issachar, Joseph, Naphtali, Zebulun.
These are all the names of the Sons of Jacob The Most High made his promise for. If you’re a descendant of one of them then you are an Israelite (Jew) and partaker of the promises.
👍🏾 Moving on..
Now, when the Israelites had become greater in number; They found their way into Egypt.. directly south west of Israel. They would frequently visit Egypt but in this case they were fleeing famine. As they made Egypt their temporary new home; they began to multiply greatly. So much so that “New” Pharaoh at the time feared their numbers; that they might one day rise up against Egypt. He would go on to treat the Israelites harshly and make them as slaves to Egypt to control them.
You can read all about the Egyptian captivity in the Book of (Exodus 1)
These were the days of captivity foretold of the seed of Abraham, regarding the promise.
The Most High would go on to intervene in this harsh slavery. Making himself known to the Israelites through his chosen prophet
“Moses” (Exodus 3).
Moses would earn the trust or “Faith” of the Israelites through great signs and wonders at the hand of God. He would plead with pharaoh saying “Let my people go” (Exodus 9:1).
But The Most High hardened the heart of Pharaoh; that he would not let them go. In doing so.. he made his power known to Israel, By punishing the inhabitants of Egypt harshly, every time pharaoh refused, with plagues.
(Exodus 7)
This would go on for a space of time until ultimately- The most high led his people out of captivity as he said he would.
- END SUMMARY.
Now, it came to pass that in the days after “Israel’s” captivity- The Most High would enter into “Everlasting Covenant” with Israel.
(Exodus 19:3-6)
The agreement was that Israel as a nation would keep the laws of God. And in return, The Most High would be their God.
This was a blood sealed covenant between The Most High and the Israelites.
(Exodus 24)
HERE’S WHERE “WE” COME IN‼️
(assuming you’re a descendant of a tribe)
In the book of “Deuteronomy” The Most High speaks to the children of Israel in warning.
To inform them that if they should not keep the laws of the covenant as agreed; certain curses will fall upon them for punishment.
(Deuteronomy 28:15)
These are no mere punishments!
It was written that these curses would be upon the children of Israel- “for a sign” throughout our generations. This is how we know who we are today. (Deuteronomy 28:46)
The list of curses can be found in (Deuteronomy 28:15-68)
All of the curses are important but some play out in different time frames. Some starting in 70 AD with the destruction of the second temple and the rest occurring in our “new” captivity.
Curse: (Deuteronomy 28-68)
68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
To “Buy” means to redeem or set free.
So no man shall recover you out of this.
Egypt: literally referred to as a place of “Slavery/Bondage”
(Exodus 20:2)
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE.
So in (Deuteronomy 28:64)
The Most High says that he will scatter us into all nations. (Deuteronomy 28:68) says
“by ships” will we be scattered “again” into bondage.
(Deuteronomy 28:47-48)
47 Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
This is the slavery of the “Black” man and woman.
And it only matches them.
Now, you might wonder how the Native Americans are actually a part of Israel?
If so, write me back and I’ll give you that information also. This post is already long enough. The answer is in (2 Esdras 13) though.
Shalawam!
Jennuine
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies 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 magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Casey5693
Billie Holiday was a badass. She was threatened by Harry Anslinger, the Head Of the FBI, to stop singing about lynching. She did it anyway and continued to do it no matter what the monster tried to do to ruin her life. Now, Holiday and “Strange Fruit” are still remembered. Anslinger is not. I pray one day to be as brave as Billie was.
23LBJ SupremeKing
She didn't listen to the devil
Brien
@Jeanette Dawson in the 10 commandments it doesn't say no drug use. It does however say no killing.
Paddy O'Furniture
@Eve Frac racist? trumptard? are you ok? do you need medical help?
Eve Frac
@Paddy O'Furniture you racist are always cloaked come out of the closet coward troll why are you commenting on this post anyway., get a job tumptard !!!!
Eve Frac
@Paddy O'Furniture I forgive you hope you forgive yourself before you go.
Mary Freebed
She DIED for this song. It is almost an obligation to her to hear it.
Ladyghoster
@bubbatommy82 She was getting better in the hospital when Anslinger ordered her docs to stop all methadone and medication. That is how the FBN killed her.
Ladyghoster
@Mint Mastering She had liver disease and was forcibly taken off methadone by Anslinger's order.
bubbatommy82
Don’t twist facts. She had substance and alcohol abuse issues. She literally died from cirrhosis. How do the feds control that?