What does the Strange Fruit represent?
First recorded in 1939, the protest song Strange Fruit came to symbolise the brutality and racism of the practice of lynching in America’s South. Now, more than seventy years later, such is the song’s enduring power that rapper Kanye West sampled the track on his latest album Yeezus.
Did Billie Holiday Make Strange Fruit?
“Strange Fruit” is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black Americans with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees.
Was Billie Holiday’s dad lynched?
It’s suggested in the movie that Holiday’s father was lynched, and it’s why Billie recorded “Strange Fruit.” In actuality, the lyrics to the song were written by a Jewish educator from New York named Abel Meeropol, adapted from his poem “Bitter Fruit.” Meeropol was an anti-racist activist responding to the lynchings in …
Why was Strange Fruit so important?
Strange Fruit quickly became an anthem of the anti-lynching movement and the first significant song of the then fledging Civil Rights Movement. The song forced listeners to confront the brutality of lynching.
Who wrote the work Strange Fruit?
Abel Meeropol
Originally a poem called Bitter Fruit, it was written by the Jewish school teacher Abel Meeropol under the pseudonym Lewis Allen in response to lynching in US southern states. “I wrote Strange Fruit because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it,” Meeropol said in 1971.
How old was Billie Holiday when she died?
44 years (1915–1959)
Billie Holiday/Age at death
Why was Billie Holiday in jail?
She was arrested in 1953 after she was caught smoking marijuana in a car, and later spent time in jail on a heroin possession charge—but once she was released she worked for another 40 years and died at the age of 87. Holiday died July 17, 1959, at the age of 44 of complications from cirrhosis.
Is United States vs Billie Holiday true?
Hulu’s Oscar-nominated The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a fictionalized take on the life of the legendary jazz singer, played in the film by “Rise Up” singer and (now Academy Award nominated) actress Andra Day in a Golden Globe-nominated performance.
What religion was Billie Holiday?
In her eleven months at the House of the Good Shepherd, Billie Holiday attended a compulsory Catholic Mass every day and sang every day from the forms set forth in the Liber Usualis, the common book of Gregorian chant used in the Mass, in daily and seasonal devotions, and in all feasts and celebrations in the …
Who covered Strange Fruit?
Billie Holiday recorded her iconic version of Strange Fruit on 20 April 1939. Eighty years on – in the first of our Songs that Made History series – Aida Amoako explores how a poem about lynching became a timeless call to action.
Who originally wrote Strange Fruit?
Strange Fruit/Lyricists
Is Strange Fruit copyright free?
Label. All Strange Fruits music is free to use on YouTube and can be monetized as long as your whitelisted and approved by us by filling in the following submission form.
Why did Billie Holiday go to jail?
On May 16, 1947, Holiday was arrested for the possession of narcotics and drugs in her New York apartment. On May 27, 1947, she had to go to court. Holiday pleaded guilty (admitted that she had the drugs) and was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia.
What is the meaning of the song Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday?
Strange Fruit. In its title, Strange Fruit refers to the song of a lynching made famous by Billie Holiday and to the malign persecution that drove Kamau Brathwaite from his New York home to resettlement in his native Barbados. But the title also points to the enigma of beauty created out of that experience of cultural lynching, in poems of urgency,…
When did Billie Holiday record Strange Fruit?
Audio sample. “Strange Fruit” is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who first sang and recorded it in 1939. Written by teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem and published in 1937, it protested American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans.
What are the lyrics to the song Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday?
Strange Fruit Lyrics. [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.