I am not from the south, in fact I’ve never even been there. But I am obsessed with it. I’ve always been interested in the Civil War, slavery, and reconstruction. As I’ve gotten older, my interest grew, along with my activism. Learning about things like the KKK, lynching, murders, and conspiracies are just so incredibly fascinating! I love how this topic makes me feel angry, then inspired to go and make a change in our world.
People have asked me “ Why do you get so excited about this? You’re white”, or simply said “ Vivian you are insane”. But the fact that I’m white is irrelevant to me-I can still be an activist, and I can learn about injustice.
So when my brother first played me “ Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday, I fell in love. Billie Holiday's voice voice is like chocolate, and the message of this song is incredibly captivating.
On February 10th, 1903, the writer of one of the most influential songs of the century was born. Not Billie Holiday, who is the singer of the song, but Abel Meeropol, a white jewish man, was a teacher and writer that lived in NYC. He had originally written the song “Strange Fruit” as a poem in 1937. He had seen horrific pictures of black people being lynched, and decided to write a poem about it.
Billie Holiday is a black woman from Baltimore, Maryland, who was born into a life of poverty. She started working at a young age, and when she worked, she’d hear songs from Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, and would influence her music later in life. Holiday always sang with emotional strength, and is an innovator when it comes to rhythm and phrasing. She had one of the most magnificent voices of all time.
Holiday and Meeropol use rhyme, irony, and loaded language to convey the important message that society always goes to the extreme in order to exclude and dehumanize those who don’t fit into the “norm”.
Billie Holiday and Abel Meeropol rhyme many lyrics in this song to convey how society always goes to the extreme in order to exclude and dehumanize those who don’t fit into the “norm”. The first verse in this song sets a strong image in your head of what the south looks like, and discusses what always hangs from southern trees. Holiday and Meeropol describe “Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood at the leaves and blood at the root,” (“Strange”, 1-2). They rhyme the phrases “strange fruit” and “blood at the root” to emphasize the connection of dead bodies on trees as strange fruit. This reveals how society always goes to the extreme to dehumanize and exclude those who don’t fit into the “norm” because it shows how fruit are so common, and unfortunately the bodies are too. Society is targeting and killing black people simply because they aren’t white. At this point in time, society really only accepts whites, and it’s disgusting to see far society would go in order to keep the “norm”.
Meeropol and Holiday also use loaded language to emphasize that the treatment of people who aren’t society’s “norm” is inhumane. In the second verse of the song, it describes how the pretty landscapes of the south turn into horrific murder scenes. Holiday and Meeropol describes “ Pastoral scene of the gallant South / The bulgin’ eyes and the twisted mouth,” (“Strange”, 5-6). They use the words “bulgin’” and “twisted” to suggest that these murders were and violent, and to convey a disgraceful attitude towards lynching. This imparts the theme that society always goes to the extreme in order to exclude and dehumanize those who don’t fit into the “norm”, by putting an emphasis on how ugly and disgusting the murders of black people were, causing the listeners to get a vivid, uncomfortable, horrifying image in their head, making them hate lynching as well.
Holiday and Meeropol’s “Strange Fruit” is basically one giant metaphor. But this metaphor, only leads to how they use situational irony to reveal how harmful lynching is to the world. In the whole song, but specifically the last verse, they call lynching victims strange fruit. The lines “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 the tree to drop / Here is a strange and bitter crop, “ (“Strange”, 9-12). Are calling lynching victims fruit, and though the purpose of fruit is to give life, and feed people, this fruit only seems to take away life. This reveals the theme that society always goes to the extreme in order to exclude and dehumanize those who don’t fit into the “norm”, because it shows how big of a negative impact the “fruit” is actually is. This “fruit” is scaring people all over the country, and tearing families apart and ending lives. It’s awful.
“Strange Fruit” was released in a time period with segregation. During this time, there were an exorbitant amount of lynchings, murders and unfair treatment of non whites everywhere, but especially in the South. Abel Meeropol and Billie Holiday’s message about how common killings and targeting of non whites were was much needed. The entire song comparing dead bodies to strange fruit was a wake up call saying “Hey! This is real, this is happening, and this is disgusting”! I think the message is powerful, and makes anyone that thoroughly listens to it feel outraged, and wanting to take action. This message is one of the best parts of the song.
While this song’s message is amazing, one can’t just listen to the song once and fully realize everything it’s talking about. “Strange Fruit” is cryptic, and also very, very short. With only 12 lines, it is one of the shortest songs I’ve ever heard. If it was twice as long, it would be easier to understand the message, and you would get to spend more time listening to Billie Holiday’s outstanding vocals. Not everyone has 7 weeks to analyze a song and write an essay on it, but if it was longer, it wouldn’t take 7 weeks to fully find the meaning.
“Strange Fruit” is a masterpiece. Through irony, loaded language, and rhyme, this song conveys an important message about how society always goes to extreme measures in order to exclude and dehumanize people who don’t fit into the “norm”. Unfortunately, even though this song was released over 70 years ago, the message still rings true today. It’s not ok for someone to murder another person based off their race, just like it’s not ok for police to make racially biased assumptions and kill young men of color and not get held accountable! This song connects to the whole BlackLivesMatter movement, just like it connects to many popular artist’s music today. Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” is one example, where he tells us no matter what injustice you face; keep fighting and you’ll be alright. Kendrick Lamar talks a lot about police brutality, and unfair treatment of black people. Especially in the line “ And we hate the Popo, wanna kill us dead in the street for sure,” (“Alright”, 36).
“Strange Fruit” is unique, and it has so many great elements to it. It’s a perfect song, and anyone who loves powerful messages, or simply beautiful music will love this song.
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