Strange Fruit Meaning

Strange Fruit is a song that was written by Abel Meeropol and performed by Billie Holiday in 1939. A dark and meaningful ballad with an underlying message about the grim reality of most black people in the 1930’s. At this time, slavery was at its worst, and a wildfire of torture and slaughter was rapidly consuming America and poisoned the impressionable minds of civilians. When I listened to Strange Fruit a couple of times and began to investigate the song at a deeper level, I came to a startling realization that the main prosecutors of the black races in America, were not even armed military- they were normal people gone rogue. As we have seen in history, humans bond over shared interests and we rally together to unite against a common enemy.

The next verse is “Blood on the leaves, and blood at the root.” This piques my interest, and I can discern that this song is going to have a dark theme, because of the ominous wording of the second line in the song. “Black body swinging, in the southern breeze,” at this point we realise it is clear what the song is talking about, and it is revealed with a shock which I think the composer intended, as to reveal the brutality of the hangings to us with no beating around the bush. I really admire this piece of music because it was so open and honest about the major issue and problems with the allegations and behaviour towards black people. This song was written and performed in the late 1930’s, meaning this song certainly wasn’t the first protest song, but it was the introduction of the truth to the wealthy patrons of the clubs in which the song was sung. It was sung it blues style, so it was haunting and serious, and it had a slow tempo, so people could properly absorb the words and the meaning. The way Billie Holiday sung it, which was mournful and rich, made it extremely powerful and moving. Her voice combined with the grisly words made an impact on people and opened their eyes to see two sides of the story: the white people with a sense of power, and the black people who were suffering and dropping like flies. She and the composer Abel were extremely brave performing it and taking credit for the song, because if you were seen associating with or supporting the black people, your reputation could become tarnished. I could relate to this because I know how hard it is to step out of your comfort zone and stick up for something you believe in, but it is very admirable and selfless because you are speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves and voicing