02 February 2010

Strange Fruit- Billie Holliday


Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body 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 magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Ironically, this song was penned by a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx, who was member of American Communist Party, the song is one of the strongest Artistic protests against Racism and Fascism.
The bodies of young Negro men hanging on trees after being lynched by God fearing, patriotic white Americans became allegorical symbols for poetic expression as “strange fruits”.

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