Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan in 1915, was a legendary American jazz singer known for her unique voice and emotive performances. Holiday had a difficult upbringing, growing up in poverty and experiencing abuse and neglect. She turned to music as an escape, and began singing in nightclubs in her early teens.
Billie Holiday quickly gained a reputation as a talented performer, and her career took off in the 1930s. She became famous for her soulful renditions of jazz and blues standards, and her recordings of songs like “Strange Fruit” and “God Bless the Child” remain iconic to this day.
Holiday was also known for her troubled personal life, which was plagued by drug addiction, abusive relationships, and encounters with the law. Despite these struggles, or perhaps because of them, she continued to perform and record music throughout her life, and her influence on the world of jazz and popular music is immeasurable.
Holiday’s voice was unique and instantly recognizable, with a raspy quality that lent itself perfectly to the emotional intensity of the songs she sang. Her phrasing and improvisations were elegant and inimitable, and many jazz musicians have cited her as a major influence on their own work.
Holiday’s life and legacy have been the subject of numerous books, films, and documentaries. She remains an important figure in the history of American music and a symbol of resilience and creativity in the face of adversity.
Billie Holiday knew the dangerous power of “Strange Fruit” when she first sang it at a Manhattan club in 1939. As written by the schoolteacher Abel Meeropol, with its images of black bodies hanging like bruised fruit, the ballad was already a vivid protest of lynching. But filtered through Holiday’s smoky vocals, it took on an even greater urgency. It was so incendiary that Columbia Records refused to let her record it, some radio stations banned it, and federal agents tried to stop her from singing it.
TIME
The song “Strange Fruit” is a powerful and haunting protest song that was first recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. Written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher and poet from the Bronx, the song is a stark and brutal indictment of the horrific practice of lynching in the United States.
The lyrics of the song paint a vivid picture of the atrocities that were committed against black Americans during this dark period in American history. “Southern trees bear strange fruit, blood on the leaves and blood at the root,” Holiday sings in a haunting voice that conveys the pain and suffering of those who were subjected to this brutal form of violence.
The imagery in the song is both powerful and disturbing. The “strange fruit” that the trees bear refers to the bodies of black men and women who were lynched and left hanging from trees as a warning to others. The blood that is mentioned throughout the song symbolizes the violence and brutality that was inflicted upon these individuals.
At the time the song was written and recorded, lynching was a common practice in the American South. According to the NAACP, between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,743 lynchings in the United States, with the vast majority of the victims being black Americans.
Meeropol was inspired to write the song after seeing a photograph of a lynching in Indiana. The image of the bodies hanging from the trees stayed with him, and he was moved to write a poem that would eventually become “Strange Fruit.”
Holiday’s recording of the song was groundbreaking in its time. It was one of the first popular songs to address the issue of racism and violence against black Americans, and it became an anthem for the civil rights movement.
The song was also controversial, however, and Holiday faced backlash from some quarters for daring to speak out on such a sensitive issue. She was threatened with violence and subjected to racist abuse, but she refused to back down. In fact, she continued to perform the song throughout her career, even when some venues refused to let her sing it.
“Despite the controversy surrounding the song, “Strange Fruit” has endured, and will continue to endure, as a powerful reminder of the horrors of lynching and the need for racial justice. It has been covered by numerous artists over the years, including the greats Nina Simone and Kanye West, and it continues to be a touchstone for those fighting for civil rights and social justice.
In recent years, the song has taken on new relevance in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing struggle for racial equality. Its stark and uncompromising message remains as powerful today as it did when it was first recorded more than 80 years ago.
SIDEBAR: Interestingly the author of this song, Abel Meeropol, was also the adoptive father of the orphaned children of the infamous Rosenbergs‘, Michael and Robert, who were orphaned after their parents’ executions for espionage. Michael and Robert took the surname Meeropol.
(Written by Abel Meeropol)
Thanks to Genius.com.
[Verse 1]
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
[Verse 2]
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
[Verse 3]
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