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"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a ...
Meeropol wrote the anti-lynching poem "Strange Fruit" (1937), first published as "Bitter Fruit" in a teacher union publication. He later set it to music. The song was recorded and performed by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. [6] Holiday notes in the book Lady Sings the Blues that she co-wrote the music to the song with Meeropol and Sonny White.
Get to know the story behind Billie Holiday's controversial "Strange Fruit," now the subject of Hulu biopic "The United States vs. Billie Holiday."
"The Hanging Tree" received comparisons to other songs such as "Tom Dooley", [19] Billie Holiday's 1939 ballad "Strange Fruit" (which also includes references to hanging and trees), [16] and the civil rights protest song "We Shall Overcome" [16] as well as a passage from Frederick Douglass's memoir My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) about African ...
Today, “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, “A Change is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke and “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye remain relevant to Black America.
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Meeropol set his poem to music, renaming it "Strange Fruit". He performed it at a labor meeting in Madison Square Garden. In 1939 it was performed, recorded and popularized by American singer Billie Holiday. [9] The song reached 16th place on the charts in July 1939, and has since been recorded by numerous artists, continuing into the 21st century.
In 1957, Billie Holiday meets with a radio journalist, Reginald Lord Devine, for an interview. He asks her what it is like to be a "colored woman" and about the trouble she keeps getting into because of her hit song "Strange Fruit". Billie states that the lyrics are about human rights, something the government often forgets.