| "Strange Fruit" | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Single by Billie Holiday | |
| A-side | Fine and Mellow |
| Released | 1939 |
| Format | 78 rpm |
| Recorded | April 20, 1939[1] |
| Genre | Blues |
| Label | Commodore |
| Writer(s) | Abel Meeropol |
"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday. It condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all other regions of the United States. Holiday's version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1978.[2] It was also included in the list of Songs of the Century, by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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"Strange Fruit" began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high-school teacher from the Bronx, about the lynching of two black men. He published under the pen name Lewis Allan.[3] Meeropol and his wife later adopted Robert and Michael, sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of espionage and executed by the United States.[4]
Meeropol wrote "Strange Fruit" to express his horror at lynchings, possibly after seeing Lawrence Beitler's photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. He published the poem in 1936 in The New York Teacher, a union magazine. Though Meeropol/Allan had often asked others (notably Earl Robinson) to set his poems to music, he set Strange Fruit to music himself. The song gained a certain success as a protest song in and around New York. Meeropol, his wife, and black vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at Madison Square Garden.[5] Barney Josephson, the founder of Cafe Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub, heard the song and introduced it to Billie Holiday. Holiday performed the song at Cafe Society in 1939. She said that singing it made her fearful of retaliation. Holiday later said that because the imagery in "Strange Fruit" reminded her of her father, she persisted in singing it. The song became a regular part of Holiday's live performances.[6]
Holiday approached her recording label, Columbia, about recording the song. Columbia, fearing a backlash by record retailers in the South as well as possible negative reaction from affiliates of Columbia's co-owned radio network, CBS, refused to record the song.[7] Even her great producer at Columbia, John Hammond, refused. In frustration, she turned to her friend Milt Gabler (uncle of comedian Billy Crystal), whose Commodore label produced alternative jazz. Holiday sang "Strange Fruit" for him a cappella, and the song moved Gabler so much that he wept. In 1939, Gabler worked out a special arrangement with Vocalion Records to record and distribute the song [8] and Columbia allowed Holiday a one-session release from her contract in order to record it.
She recorded two major sessions at Commodore, one in 1939 and one in 1944. "Strange Fruit" was highly regarded. In time, it became Holiday's biggest selling record. Though the song became a staple of her live performances, Holiday's accompanist, Bobby Tucker, recalled that Holiday would break down every time after she sang it.
In her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, Holiday suggested that she, together with Lewis Allan, her accompanist Sonny White, and arranger Danny Mendelsohn, put the poem to music. David Margolick and Hilton Als dismissed that claim in their work, Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song. They wrote that hers was "an account that may set a record for most misinformation per column inch". When challenged, Holiday—whose autobiography had been ghostwritten by William Dufty—claimed, "I ain't never read that book."[9]
Barney Josephson recognized the impact of the song and insisted that Holiday close all her shows with it. Just as the song was about to begin, waiters would stop serving, the lights in club would be turned off, and a single pin spotlight would illuminate Holiday on stage. During the musical introduction, Holiday would stand with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer. Numerous other singers have performed it. In October 1939, Samuel Grafton of The New York Post described "Strange Fruit": "If the anger of the exploited ever mounts high enough in the South, it now has its Marseillaise."
In December, 1999, Time magazine called it the song of the century.[10]
In 2002, the Library of Congress honored the song as one of 50 recordings chosen that year to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution listed the song as Number One on 100 Songs of the South.[11]
Bob Dylan cited "Strange Fruit" as an influence in the 2005 documentary No Direction Home. The movie also had a brief clip of Holiday singing.
Serbian rock musician, journalist and writer Dejan Cukić wrote about "Strange Fruit" as among forty-five other songs that changed the history of popular music in his book 45 obrtaja: Priče o pesmama.
The 1944 novel Strange Fruit by author Lillian Smith, was said to have been inspired by Billie Holiday's version of the song.
The short film, Strange Fruit, written and directed by Christopher Browne. [3]
Seattle literary magazine the strange fruit is named after the song.
The opera "Strange Fruit" was inspired by the novel by Lillian Smith (above). A commissioned work, it premiered on June 15, 2007 at the Long Leaf Opera Festival[12] in Chapel Hill. Chandler Carter was the composer and Joan Ross Sorkin was the librettist.
Caryl Phillips' first play was named after the song.
Strange Fruit the novel, by Avenda Burnell Walsh was inspired by the song.[13]
   | PBS - Independent Lens . STRANGE FRUIT | PBS |
| | Strange Fruit - California Newsreel - STRANGE FRUIT |
| | on Youtube - YouTube - Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit |
| | poem - Bibliomania: Free Online Literature and Study Guides |
| | News Reel - California Newsreel - STRANGE FRUIT |
| | Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday | Strange Fruit lyrics |
| | Strange Fruit - Welcome to Strange Fruit! |
| | Strange fruit lyrics - Nina Simone | Strange Fruit lyrics |
| | YouTube - YouTube - Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit |
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