Strange Fruit

Song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Web007rzSOI

The song that stood out to me was “Strange Fruit,” recorded by Billie Holiday. I am a huge fan of her as an artist and listen to her music regularly. While going over this assignment in class, I went back to this song I recalled hearing. It is difficult not to feel sad, angry, or empathetic while listening to Holiday’s words. The lyrics speak for itself, “Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze” (Holiday). The words are full of emotion as she describes the horrific scene of the lynches of African Americans in the South during the 20thCentury. The repeated phrase “strange fruit” is used as a metaphor and “for the sun to rot, for a tree to drop” (Holiday), follows as they were often forgotten and thrown away. “Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees” (Holiday), then becomes a sense of foreshadowing as she later goes more into detail, confirming the song refers to the lynches.

 After doing research on the song, I discovered it was originally written as a poem by a teacher named Abel Meerpol. Holiday felt so strongly that she risked her life to sing the ballad publicly to raise awareness. Listeners heard the pain in her voice and were shocked by the imagery portrayed in the song. Its purpose was to spread a message and bring change through peace and literature, as it touched society. After searching for someone to record the song, it quickly became popular in the movement. 

“Strange Fruit” reminds me of the poem discussed in class, Ballad of Birmingham. Both poems include violent topics and phrases, the truth of what was going on at the time, yet they also include beauty. “Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh” was followed with “And the sudden smell of burning flesh”(Holiday) in“Strange Fruit.” Randall’s poem mentioned, “rose petal sweet” along with“dogs are fierce and wild.” Both artists supply the image of something beautiful or peaceful just to pair it with gruesome and frightening excerpts. Why did both writers use such comparisons?