This is a must see-hear song...
Please watch the youtube video-Written 1939 -
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 cry
-Billie Holiday
Billie is one of my favorite artists of all time. Not only is the song beautiful but it gets inside of you and forces you to see and taste a time that is not comprehensible for our generation. At this time slavery had ended constitutionally, but shared cropping (which was slavery still) and Jim Crow laws were still taking place... Not only was there suffering and poverty through the nation, but there was violent murdering taking place because of the shade of one's skin. I believe this song is an amazing representation of what was happening during her life time... and all those whom had to live through this era.
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 cry
-Billie Holiday
Billie is one of my favorite artists of all time. Not only is the song beautiful but it gets inside of you and forces you to see and taste a time that is not comprehensible for our generation. At this time slavery had ended constitutionally, but shared cropping (which was slavery still) and Jim Crow laws were still taking place... Not only was there suffering and poverty through the nation, but there was violent murdering taking place because of the shade of one's skin. I believe this song is an amazing representation of what was happening during her life time... and all those whom had to live through this era.
Reading the lyrics alone made me cringe, but hearing them sung aloud along with the haunting picture juxtaposed with it was almost unbearable. It's hard to believe lynching was going on in not so long ago. It's strange to hear such a beautiful song about such an ugly practice.
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