My dad who would have been 96years this month, was friends of the late singer. He played her music often, however; he never played “Strange Fruit” because my dad grew up in the south and there were lynchings often in the 1930s, so the song was to close to home for him.. Thank you for playing the song for our youth to be aware of the pain and heartache our people have endured..🙁😢
1990 I was 8 months pregnet at 20 yrs old. My husband and I was gassing up at a convenience store in Suwannee, Florida. The clerk looked at me and said, “ You look like a nice girl so I’m telling you we don’t like your kind here after dark.” I looked up confused I didn’t understand but my husband understood. He said we got to go. Then I got it I understood. We got into our car and hung on the glass window was a poster with black babies that said gaterbait. It’s the weirdest thing in the world to experience racism. To know that strange fruit could be you. The ignorance of it all self proclaimed Christians. Not listening to a word Christ said when he told us, “Love Thy Neighbor.”
She's singing about lynchings in the south in the early part of the 20th century. It's a very poignant song and she owns it. It brings horrifying images to mind and makes me cry every time.
Yes, you're right, it's about lynchings. Most venues and radio stations refused to play it.A brave and beautiful woman. Heartbreaking song. Cannot hear it without crying.
Yep! You’re perfectly correct in your interpretation. Powerful song, deep sentiment, sad history. Not a lot of vocalists would touch this song at the time. Billie Holiday’s emotive rendition tears your heart to pieces. Billie is one of my favourite jazz vocalists. Try Nina Simone’s version too.
Delve into her younger singing days. Her voice was angelic before the drugs took their toll. She'll always be one of my top three favorites. Her summertime is out of this world.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia...Strange Fruit" is a song written by Abel Meeropol, recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939, while the poem the lyrics were drawn from was published in 1937. It protests the lynching of Black Americans, with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century, and the great majority of victims were black.[2] The song has been called "a declaration" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement".[3] Meeropol set his lyrics to music with his wife and singer Laura Duncan and performed it as a protest song in New York City venues in the late 1930s, including Madison Square Garden. The song has been covered by numerous artists. Holiday's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978.[4] It was also included in the "Songs of the Century" list of the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.[5] Yes Billie Holiday had a very unique voice, however; this song is more about the time than her voice...she was jailed, fined and much more...please do more research to get a better understanding of the pain and suffering of black folks. Educate yourself...we have not moved to much from this sung when it was sung by Ms. Holiday.
I also never knew before this year of the existence of this song. And it is so powerful, it truely makes you feel the horror of the times. Just aswell as any book ever could tell a tale of the times or any movie could attempt to show in their limited capacity of how much they're allowed to show. It was a time of terror, mixed with as regular a life as you could imagine, never knowing if the day you send your son off to school is the day he might be lynched by a mob for no reason other than being black. It may not have been what the 1800's was in terms of horror, but the fifties was a rough time of some fighting for change, both black and white, and the wicked others wanting to hold fast to a way of life they felt slipping away from them
Billie Holiday aka Lady Day. This song was a poem written by Abe Meeropol. It’s about the lynching that was being done in the South at the time. Her voice is clear and pain filled.
Check out one of my all-time favourite albums/LPs, Billie Holiday’s “LADY IN SATIN”. The whole album is great, but there are three particular songs on it that are my favourites, one of which I myself have recorded (I won’t say which). These favourites of mine on this LP are: • “I’m a Fool To Want You” • “You Don’t Know What Love Is” • “The End Of A Love Affair”
Abel Meeropole's union bulletin poem was made legend when Ms. Holiday set it to music. Her vocals were so powerful she was constantly at risk of losing her caberet license by disgruntled club owners who wanted dancing and drinking tunes - not a civil rights dirge. This '59 video, from a TV special may be the only one in existence. By this time she was deep within the clutches of drug addiction. Still... twenty years after recording it... she was unable to it on US airwaves. The pain that came with each performance never left her. BTW... Meerepoole aka Lewis Allan, later adopted the two Rosenberg boys.
When I was in 6th grade my teacher showed us this song except it had like actual pictures of lynching. and 12 yr old me about had a panic attack and was wondering why she was showing us. but now I understand why.
Not one person. More than 7000. Over a 70 yr period. Please do a reaction to the movie "Lady Sings the Blues", the story of her life. Ms. Holiday was played by Diana Ross of the Supremes in the movie, she gave a very true, strong, moving performance.
I've grown up being pretty educated about those horrible unforgivable days, but like you. I'd just learned about her when I watched The United States vs Billie Holiday. At 54 years old, I've never been so deeply affected by a song. It hurt my soul to its core to think of what she had witnessed & seen as well as this sing just makes it that much more real. Literally made me vomit. I really have no words, literally speechless, but I can confidently say had I been alive during that time period, I'd probably be in jail cause I'd be a massive supporter of hers as well as an ally to the race. I would've been that white guy helping people through the underground to what was perceived as freedom up north, but, she was in NYC & in the late 20's/30's and the local govt/police outlawed hee from performing it live because it made things real. They didn't like that. In NYC.... FREEDOM? yeah right. I can't stop listening to this song.
Lady Day's original recording was done April 20, 1939--ironically Hitler's 50th birthday. My father bought the single when it first came out. I played it after the George Floyd murder.
Been a fan of hers since I was 16. Gloomy Sunday spoke volumes to me, dealt with the death of the man I loved. I'm in my 30s now. She's just one of those rare flowers with a voice like nectar. For her to sing this song when she did, which was in the late 1930s was monumental. To think that lynching is still not considered a crime blows my mind!
Hi sister, she the original singer That will make you cry . You need to look at Diana Ross, lady sings The blue's strange fruit This explains the reason For the song, then hear Nina Simone sing the Strange fruit song You will cry 💔.
It was about racist lynching in the 30-s. Billy Holiday was one of the greatest singers in 20th century. She died in this year. Her life was filled with violence, pain and drugs. But her voice turned all that into beauty, painful beauty, but heartfelt beauty...
Yes, Tysheen, this song was about the lynching of Black people in the South. It was so controversial that radio stations were hesitant to play it. Many people didn't want to face up to the horrors that were taking place there. Billie Holiday was one of the all time great jazz singers. She had a very difficult life . You can read books about her. Also, check out the movie "Lady Sings the Blues" starring Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. One of the great songs from the movie is "Good Morning Heartache" which is on youtube. You should check it out.
Basically my dear it's a song about lynching and I'm sure and poor Billie Holiday's life time she seen so many horrific things but they are the weird thing about it is the man who wrote it was it Jewish composer and a communist so I'm sure he probably saw his fair share of Horrors 2 he voted for Billy but then she was tormented about singing it she was threatened she was told she cannot sing it they tried to stop her but thank God she managed to sing it and open up a lot of people's eyes to the horrific lynchings of innocent black men and women
Such a painful song about lynching. She was brave and strong to do this stark raw song in 1959. As strong as it is, sadly it had limited impact. We can see that even today with the twisted rhetoric around BLM. Billy had legendary talent.
Lynchings ma, black bodies are the fruit, it hurts every single time this song is played, and the feds turned her life apart 4 this song in particular.
So powerful! If you’ve never heard Andra Day’s Rise Up, it will heal your heart just a little after this song. Andra is actually starring in a new movie playing Billie Holiday! Please listen to Rise Up! I’ll come back and attach a link. ❤️❤️❤️
There's nothing like a live version but . . . this doesn't have that haunting trumpet intro. This is a song you only have to hear once and it stick with you forever. It was a poem written by a white man named Abel Meeropool and set to music. You're not wrong; the song is about lynching. The images contrast - fuit (sweet and lush) vs dying bodies; Magnolia scent vs burning flesh; gallant South vs inhumanity.
Rarely played during her lifetime, especially by radio and concert promoters, because it didn't fit the stereotypical women's "blues" song....: "......... I'm all tore up, cuz my man done gone and left me....!"
You need to do some homework. Miss Billie was threatened and lost jobs because she insisted on singing and recorded it. I cry every time I hear her and her pain singing Strange Fruit. It took friends, the biggest names in music and Hollywood to force it to be released. Please learn more about miss Billie.
React to this Billie holiday song (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-roKDHGGggEw.html). I knew of Billie holiday but this was the song I had to listen and study for a music class freshman year of college.
