20 Protest Songs That Matter: No. 5
--Billie Holiday (1939)
Rebelling Against: Lynching!
Songwriter Abel Meeropol was a Bronx schoolteacher who wrote a poem in response to a gruesome photo from the Deep South. Invariably described as "chilling" – the "strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees" are the bodies of hanged black men – the song is often noted as a critical catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Listen to 'Strange Fruit'
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Posted by Spinner Staff
Filed under: The Hit List
Reader Comments(1 of 2)
tkat 7-15-2007
Beautifully, haunting song about a horrific subject. Excellent choice!
billpatpensacolaat 7-15-2007
Billie was one of the first soulful singers, even though she was also a pioneer drugee musician. Alive today, she'd be carrying a crack pipe on stage.
Tedat 7-15-2007
amazing!!!!!
alexat 7-15-2007
GREAT SONG. I WOULD MOST DEFINATELY AGREE.
Debraat 7-18-2007
I was sure the top twenty protest songs would have included Green Days' "Holiday" and "American Idiot" in the list. "Minority" is certainly another great protest song! All have such a sharp clear message that cannot be denied!
woode29at 7-30-2007
Billpatpensacola "Billie was one of the first soulful singers, even though she was also a pioneer drugee musician. Alive today, she'd be carrying a crack pipe on stage" Shame on you! I hope you die a miserable death!
Maria-Danielleat 8-05-2007
This is addressed to Billpatpensacola: You must be a caucasian. This is why there is still such strife between Blacks and Whites in this country to this day. Not only was your comment disgraceful, it was extremely to disrespectful to the memory of Ms. Holliday (RIP). As a Black woman, I am so appalled and horrified by your words. You further stimulate the problems between our cultures. If you have nothing decent to say regarding the dead, please keep your opinions to yourself.
msayresat 8-07-2007
I first heard this song in my high school history class. It really is very harrowing...
Taliaat 8-13-2007
I've noticed that in everyone's comments to the drug reference, no one has confirmed or denied her drug use...seems to me people are trying to make the comments in a bigger issue.
"The evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bones." - Shakespeare
Masonat 8-19-2007
To maria-danielle:
You talk of the guy being a racist because he mentioned Billie Holiday's drug problem. I think YOU would be the real racist here, seeing as you automatically assumed he was white, and then started attacking his culture and blamed them for all the strife between blacks and whites, etc. Calm down and quit being a hypocrite.
Benat 8-19-2007
I'm white, and I found his comment to be very off-color and probably the product of an old white guy. Completely inappropriate and ridiculous, to be honest. And I don't think saying so makes me a racist. I don't have to wait for somebody to mention "black" to use my reasoning skills to determine this idiot's implication.
While Holiday was on drugs (I don't think anybody would refute this), your comment is basically completely off-topic and has nothing to do with the subject at hand. It's completely irrelevant.
Mikelat 8-22-2007
Lady Day sang some of the best blues ever,I will always love her.Strange Fruit brings tears to my eyes.See the Billie Holiday story with Diana Ross and maybe you'll understand why Lady Day used heroin...They screwed her over terribly.I'm a white male over 50
Tom Taylorat 8-27-2007
Read Bob Dylan's book "Chronicles" and then tell me what his politics are. He is a surprising individual and not unlike all of us. You just have to love him. He hated the press. Once he told Ed Bradley that his songs didn't really mean anything, he just made up lyrics that rhymed. He was always putting the press on. He didn't get into this attack the right, I know it all and I am better than you Greenday, Eddie Vedder crap.
The Dr.at 9-08-2007
Much of the chatter misses the point. If you want to know more about Lady Day, a good place to start is her autobiography "Lady Sings the Blues." If you want to know more about this message of the song, simply read the lyrics. If you want to get the full impact of the song, turn off the lights, put on the headphones, and absorb the music.
Maihemat 9-18-2007
Bless this enchanting woman's soul.
Amelieat 10-08-2007
Interestingly, Abel Meeropol, the songwriter, was a schoolteacher who wound up adopting Julius and Ethel Rosenthal's children after their parents were executed.
Elle Jat 12-08-2007
Truly haunting. Once you hear it you never forget.
junoesque1at 12-12-2007
Just another horrible truth about our history... I only wish we could learn from the past but we are repeating the horrors currently and no doubt will continue to do so. I love this country, however, it is not without "sin". In loving this country I can say AMERICA is too good for this behavior.
Windhorseat 12-12-2007
What happened to Country Joe and the Fish with One Two Three What Are We Fighting For? Now that was a protest song from the sixties.
BlackSunshineat 6-27-2008
Is that the track covered by Passion Killers or the early side project of Chumbawamba?