Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” Lyrics Meaning

Whether you’re a sympathizer to the African-American cause or a bigot, one would likely agree that “Strange Fruit” is still a stirring song. Indeed upon first listen, even if one is not able to ascertain what Billie Holiday is singing about, it is nonetheless apparent that the matter at hand is quite serious. 

In fact researchers of Lady Day have concluded that these lyrics, as interpreted by Holiday, served as a sort of a symbol of her own harrowing life experiences. But of course this song is not an autobiography of the songstress. Rather the metaphorical “strange fruit” which are hanging from “Southern trees” are promptly revealed to be “Black bodies” to those who listen intently.

American Race Relations

Now the purpose of this post is not to serve as a lesson in American race relations, yet we must briefly go there regardless. For anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the Black experience in the United States knows that it has been filled with racism throughout. 

In fact the enslavement of Blacks was legal on American soil up until 1865. Prior to that slavery had been in effect for about three centuries. So even when it was outlawed, many White people held onto the same racist notions which helped them rationalize subjugating their fellow man in the first place. 

And one of the most-brutal ways such was manifest, in the Southern United States in particular (where slavery was most pronounced), was via the lynching of Black People. The victims of such were usually African-American men. Most of them were accused of committing crimes against Whites. And this practice was at its peak during the turn of the 20^th century.

At the time there were no effective laws against lynching, and they were so common that most incidences didn’t even make the news.

Inspiration for “Strange Fruit”

Indeed perpetrators of these heinous acts often took pictures alongside their victims. One of the most-famous of these classless pics involves a double lynching which took in 1930, where a group of White people are basically chillin’ in front of two hanging, dead Black men. 

In fact the said picture is so shocking that it led to the composition of this tune (as expounded on in a later part of this post). In other words, “Strange Fruit” is an anti-lynching protest song. 

The way Billie Holiday and co. go about achieving the desired goal is not by speaking against the act. Rather they paint a graphic scene of an actual lynching, affording the listener a poetic ticket to such an event.

For instance, we see that the trees which hold these bodies are covered in blood. The singer even mentions the type of trees, poplar, which are used.

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees”

Lyrics Get Even More Graphic

Meanwhile the second verse is a bit too graphic to expound on here. Indeed if these lyrics are able to make listeners wince even now during the 21^st century, then imagine the impact they had back in the days when America was even more self-righteous. 

But let’s just say that it is during this passage where the singer gets most explicit. To some extent she does so sarcastically, by contrasting the beauty of the South against the horror of the lynched bodies contained therein.

Then the third verse further expounds on the “fruit” metaphor. For here the bodies are depicted as being left “to rot” and “for the crows to pluck”, just like any other fruit. Or viewed differently, in the South these Black people were given just as much regard by their violent, racist White neighbors as a worthless piece of fruit.

In Conclusion

So in terms of wording, “Strange Fruit” is quite terse. Indeed it was originally a poem before being transformed into a full-length song, which itself consists largely of instrumentals. But again, the message at hand is clear. 

No, Billie Holiday never goes as far as to directly condemn the lynching of Black people. But still when White racists heard the lyrics, they were up in arms. For at the end of the day, no one can walk away from listening to this tune feeling as if they vigilante murder of Black people in such a public, gruesome and defiling manner was a justifiable act.

Who wrote “Strange Fruit”

“Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meeropol (1903-1986). He wasn’t Black himself (his parents were Russian Jews). But he was at one point an official and, according to the US government, prominent member of what was known then as the American Communist Party. And even more importantly in relation to this tune, he was disturbed by American racism and acts such as lynching in particular.

The original name of “Strange Fruit” (when it was a poem, before Able Meeropol set the lyrics to music) was “Bitter Fruit”.

At first it was Meeropol’s own wife, Laura Duncan, who sang the lyrics to this song. And the writer’s most-famous work, besides this tune, was “The House I Live In”. This was a song that was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1945.

The Infamous Photograph that Inspired the Lyrics of “Strange Fruit”

Meeropol’s direct inspiration for writing “Strange Fruit” is an infamous photograph taken of two African-American men, Abraham Smith and J. Thomas Shipp, being lynched “by a mob of thousands” of White people on 7 August 1930. (The official estimate is that there was approximately 5,000 spectators.) 

Said photograph was taken by a photographer named Lawrence Beitler (1885-1960). This photograph proved so popular that it managed to sell thousands of copies afterwards. In fact according to history, taking that picture was the most-notable thing Beitler did in his entire life.

At the time, Smith, Shipp and a third individual, James Cameron (1914-2006), had been accused of murdering a Whiteman as well as the rape of his girlfriend. The very next day a White mob broke them out of jail and proceeded with the intent of lynching all three suspects. 

Cameron, who was 16 at the time, was spared because a couple of locals intervened on his behalf. 

Afterwards when he did go to trial, the alleged rape victim clarified that she hadn’t been raped at all. And just to note, no one was ever charged with the murders of Smith and Shipp. Meanwhile James Cameron went on to become a civil rights activist and prominent member of the NAACP.

Producer of “Strange Fruit”

The producer of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” was Barney Josephson (1902-1988), whose parents also happened to be Jewish. He also holds a place in history for founding Café Society, which is recognized as the first truly racially-integrated nightclub in New York City.

Billie Holiday’s Association with “Strange Fruit”

Billie Holiday (1915-1959) first performed this tune at the aforementioned Café Society, where she was a regular, in 1939. At first she wasn’t keen on performing “Strange Fruit”, as she specialized more in upbeat songs. 

And just to note, the songstress took the performance of this controversial tune quite seriously. This was due to the fact that she attributed the death of her own father, a musician / WWI soldier by the name of Clarence Halliday (1898-1937), to racial prejudice. And that was why she continued to perform “Strange Fruit” even though she feared that some racist(s) would attack her as a result.

You will not record “Strange Fruit”

In fact said fear wasn’t something which existed in her mind alone. For instance, her label at the time, Columbia Records, wouldn’t let her record “Strange Fruit”. The reason being that they didn’t want to anger their Southern retailers (with the South still be segregated at the time) nor their radio station affiliates (i.e. CBS). 

Meanwhile John Hammond, the music producer who discovered Holiday and worked with her throughout most of her career, also didn’t want anything to do with the tune. And this is despite him being recognized as a civil rights’ figure himself. 

However, Billie did eventually record it, under Commodore Records, in 1939. She used the Café Society instrumentalists, led by Frankie Newton (1906-1954), as her band. This was all made possible by the fact that Columbia released Holiday from her contract, just for a single session, in order to lay down the track.

Billie is Targeted for Singing “Strange Fruit”

Furthermore, as the story goes this song was one of the primary reasons that the US government (via the Federal Bureau of Narcotics) began harassing Billie Holiday. And as such, she actually had to fight for the right to sing “Strange Fruit”.

In fact Ahmet Ertegun (1923-2006), the co-founder of Atlantic Records, referred to this song as “a declaration of war” and even more arguably “the beginning of the civil rights movement”. And that is a theory that has been more or less supported by prominent African-American activist/scholar Angela Davis. In fact “Strange Fruit” has even been referred to by The Guardian as “the first great protest song”.

Indeed it was pretty much unheard of during that time for popular Black entertainers to confront race issues. And even if they did, none of them were doing so directly as with this song. 

Moreover “Strange Fruit” was used by anti-lynching activists even prior to the days of Martin Luther Kings. As such, the tune resulted in Billie Holiday getting into her fair share of confrontations with non-government entities also. Indeed members of the live audiences she performed for sometimes had adverse reactions to the song.

Success of “Strange Fruit”

Billie Holiday recorded “Strange Fruit” twice under Commodore Records, once in 1939 and again in 1944. The tune went on to become her signature song as well as the one that put her on the map. In fact the original recording was actually a million-seller and holds the distinction of being the best-selling track she ever dropped.

It also went on to become one of the most-celebrated songs in American history in general. For instance, Holiday’s rendition of “Strange Fruit” has made it into the Grammy Hall of Fame (1978). It also made it into the National Recording Registry via the US Library of Congress (2002).  

Q magazine placed it amongst the “10 songs that changed the world”. The RIAA and National Endowment for the Arts also deemed it one of the “Songs of the Century” (2001). Other African American artists whose songs appeared on the list include: Aretha Franklin with “Respect“, Tina Turner with “What’s Love Got to Do with It” Louis Armstrong with “What a Wonderful World“.

In 1999, Time magazine actually named “Strange Fruit” the “Best Song of the Century”. 

And interesting to note is that in the more blatantly-racist era in which this song came out, the selfsame Time actually labeled it “a piece of musical propaganda”.

Covers and Notable Usage

Accordingly a song of this stature has also been covered by a wide range of musicians. The most-notable names on the list include Nina Simon (1933-2003), who was an artist/activist many hold in similar regards to Holiday. Diana Ross, who actually portrayed Billie Holiday in the biopic “Lady Sings the Blue” (1972), also covered the tune for said outing. 

And Kanye West sampled “Strange Fruit” onto his 2013 track “Blood on the Leaves”.

Other artists who have covered this song include:

• Herbie Hancock
• Sting
• UB40
• India Arie
• Jeff Buckley

“Strange Fruit” has also enjoyed an extended pop media presence, being features on the romance film 9 ½ Weeks (1986) and also on TV series such as the following:

• “Criminal Minds” (2013)
• “The Man in the High Castle” (2015)
• “Stranger Things” (2017)
• “Black-ish” (2017)

It was also used in the Malcolm X documentary that came out in 1972.