Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
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 a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
-- Poet and songwriter Abel Meeropol wrote “Strange Fruit,” the haunting song about lynching in America, more than 60 years ago. The first protest song, it was first recorded by the famed jazz singer Billie Holiday in 1939 and dozens of others in the years since.
Share
Like what you read? Subscribe to The Bilerico Project by Email.
Want others to read it too? Use the buttons and links here to share this entry with others. (Move your cursor over a button or link to learn more about it.)
3 Comments
« Kevin Smith lives a bear's life | Home | Soy Milk Made OJ Simpson Gay?! »
This was not the "first protest song".
earliest protest song on record is "The Cutty Wren"
Kevin | October 1, 2007 4:04 PM
Reply to this comment
Got a link to that one, Kevin? I'd love to hear it.
Bil Browning | October 2, 2007 12:34 AM
Reply to this comment
Does Cutty Wren pre-date Mother Goose? Much of it was protest/political commentary and some of it was set to music almost immediately.
Marla R. Stevens | October 2, 2007 1:08 AM
Reply to this comment