Everything about Strange Fruit totally explained
"
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 the North for decades before this was written. 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 (the names of his two children who died in infancy).
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 1937 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. However, Columbia did allow Holiday a one-session release from her contract in order to record it in 1939 for
Commodore,
Milt Gabler's alternative jazz label. 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,
Billie 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."
Lyrics
(as sung by Billie Holiday)
Strange Fruit - Lewis Allan
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 magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then 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 the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Meaning
The "strange fruit" referred to in the song are the bodies of African American men 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 2002, the
Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year by 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.
Inspiration
The 1944 novel
Strange Fruit by author
Lillian Smith, was said to have been inspired by Billie Holiday's version of the song.
The short film,
Strange Fruit, written and directed by Christopher Browne.
(External Link
)
Seattle literary magazine
the strange fruit is named after the song.
The opera "Strange Fruit" was inspired by the novel by Lillian Smith (above). A commissioned work, it premiered on June 15, 2007 at the Long Leaf Opera Festival
(External Link)in Chapel Hill. Chandler Carter was the composer and Joan Ross Sorkin was the librettist.
Covered by
Further Information
Get more info on 'Strange Fruit'.
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