About the Song
Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”. Now that’s a song that leaves a mark. You might remember it from the smoky jazz clubs back in the day, a hauntingly beautiful melody laced with a message that hit you right in the gut. Billie Holiday, with her voice like warm velvet laced with a touch of gravel, made that song her own.
“Strange Fruit” wasn’t your typical love song or catchy tune. It wasn’t written to make you tap your feet or hum along. This song, written by Abel Meeropol under the pen name Lewis Allan, was a stark confrontation with a horrific reality of American life in the 20th century: the lynching of Black Americans in the South.
Imagine you’re sitting in a dimly lit club, a glass of amber liquid swirling in your hand. The band’s playing a smooth jazz tune, the saxophone weaving a melancholic melody. Then, the lights dim even further, a spotlight falls on Billie Holiday, and the music takes a somber turn. Her voice, rich and low, starts weaving a tale – not of love and moonlight, but of “Southern trees bear strange fruit”.
A shiver might run down your spine as you hear her words paint a picture both beautiful and horrifying. “Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,” she sings, the lyrics contrasting the idyllic image of the South with the brutal reality of racial violence. The song doesn’t shy away from the gruesome details – the “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,” the “bulging eyes and the twisted mouth.” It’s a powerful image, a stark reminder of the injustices faced by Black Americans.
But “Strange Fruit” wasn’t just a song of protest. It was a lament, a mournful expression of the pain and suffering caused by lynchings. The melody itself, though melancholic, had a strange beauty to it, mirroring the way Billie sang – with a quiet dignity and a deep well of emotion.
This song wasn’t always easy to hear. It wasn’t meant to be. It was a challenge to look away from the ugliness of racism, a plea for empathy and justice. And Billie Holiday, with her unmatched talent and unwavering courage, brought that challenge to the forefront, making “Strange Fruit” a song that resonated deeply then, and continues to do so even today.