Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit" Live 1959 [Reelin' In The Years Archives]
Вставка
- Опубліковано 21 лют 2018
- Reelin’ In The Years Productions has available for licensing over 20,000 hours of music footage spanning 90 years. Additionally, we have more than 5,000 of hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s icons of Film and Television, Politics, Comedy, Literature, Art, Science, Fashion and Sports.
To search for footage please visit our online database at reelinintheyears.com. Note: these clips are available on UA-cam for producers, directors, researchers and clearance companies for potential use in their projects. Our website on the screen is to protect the footage from being used without our consent and so industry professionals can find us to properly license the footage.
She DIED for this song. It is almost an obligation to her to hear it.
Mary Freebed oh how I agree. We have to sit and listen to the beauty of the song and the pain of the truth. It hurts and we NEED to hear it.
How did she die?
Mint Mastering Congestive heart failure.
Mint Mastering Not exactly. Forced methadone withdrawal, courtesy of the authorities, who would not let the hospital she was in give her any more. I suppose congestive heart failure was the underlying condition. In any case, it was a cruel death, and deliberately so.
Mary Freebed yes. I had a feeling the generic answer was exactly that.
Who’s here after watching, The United States vs Billie Holiday?
Me
me
Where can I watch it
Me.
@@moaraps8563 Hulu
You can tell she’s not just singing but she’s visualizing her own words
My exact thought when I seen this video.. I heard it on the radio and wanted to listen to it again.
IIRC she knew that singing this song was going to lead to the end of her career. She was right, but she did it anyway because it was right.
Um... she's literally singing.
@@exnihilonihilfit6316 zxx@@se
Yes also she is after drugs as we can see in her eyes. Heroine was helping her living and made her die in the time she's singing this - 1959 year. She died in age 44. Watch film about her, very interesting. Anyway she pass through a lot in life and this song feels pain in her mouth and mind, strange fruit (hanging people) she really saw. I also saw hanging dead bodies from the trees too on the photos, something terrible...:( So I trully understand her pain
Who’s here in 2024. Such a beautiful but sad song!
Billie Holiday embodies the traits of a true "lady". She had very close friends who were every color, not letting the utter stupidity and smallness of Harry Anslinger to turn her into a racist herself. She wins, as a great artists who changes peoples' hearts and minds, whilst Anslinger turned to word Cannabis into marijuana, to imply and allude to Mexican field workers. He was a bigot and hateful racist who is despised all these years later, whilst Billie is a queen to Jazz musicians like me and lovers of art and music
Heart wrenching
👋
Such a sad life, sad song. ( 2024 Australia)
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Billie Holiday was a badass. She was threatened by Harry Anslinger, the Head Of the FBI, to stop singing about lynching. She did it anyway and continued to do it no matter what the monster tried to do to ruin her life. Now, Holiday and “Strange Fruit” are still remembered. Anslinger is not. I pray one day to be as brave as Billie was.
You are right about Billie but Anslinger was the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The FBI at the time was headed by a different racist.
Malik Crim Oh, yeah. Thanks for correcting me!
Casey5693 People didn't like the truth. So called religious people who committed these atrocities couldn't accept the realization that they were actually murdering an innocent person:( and deserved to go to hell.
He wasn't the head of the FBI.. It was the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
Billie as Angel Love her voice a Phenomenon 💜🕊👼🙏
You can tell by her face that this woman had survived horrors.
Her life was absolutely heart breaking. I recommend looking it up.
Wow you deleted my comment? But not the racist one.
@@The.End.Begins24 Truth is never "racist."
@@gdcat777 whats your "truth?" My truth is this has always been a racist country, with racist policies, and racist people.
@Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids 'Judeo Bolshevik' is a term created by nazis, just as 'cultural marxism/communism'. Are you a nazi, friend?
The raw emotion, the tears in her eyes, and the pain in her voice are breathtaking and heartbreaking!
Hi beautiful JR... Billie Holiday Is absolutely amazing singer... My condolences if I invade your privacy, it's my pleasure to meet you, How are you doing? I hope I meet you in a pleasant mood..?
thanks, this helped in my essay
Hi beautiful JR👋
She's y very high I love her she had a very sad story about her MAY U R I P
Martin smith you being creepy af
She is so emotional because this reminded her of circumstances her Father died in. Just finished reading her autobiography that she wrote before she passed away, it’s truly amazing. What a woman. A true heroine
Hi i dodn't know she wrote an autobiography cna you tell me where can i find it
@@evok3226 google
@@grahamcampbell6613 thanks
@@grahamcampbell6613 Do you know the name of the autobiography? I googled it and only biographies come up!
can i please have the name of the book you read? I googled her autobiography, but only biographies come up!
the pain in her eyes this was personal
Ashley Williams I couldn't imagine everything she had to go through. Addicted to heroin. Doesn't get worse than that. Pain in her eyes. You could tell she wasn't happy.
Understand the lyrics. Strange fruit is a very powerful song about the hangings black people suffered. Of course it was personal. Can't think on something more personal...
her voice I was so beautiful, but I am sure the pain see her people being hanging at the tree, it's more personal them her , heroine...
Man it's like her eyes are watching everything she's singing about, and she's trying not to look right at it
Her father was jazz musician Clarence "Pops" Holiday. While on tour he developed pneumonia while in Dallas, Texas. Because of the Jim Crow Laws he wasn't able to get the medical attention he needed in Dallas. As a WWI vet the VA Hospital had to take him but by then it was too late and he passed away in the Jim Crow ward on March 1, 1937. Lady recorded "Strange Fruit" two years later as a protest of the way her father was treated and how he died. She always sang the song as a tribute to her father and in protest of the way African Americans were treated at the time. So the song did have a personal pain for her.
Isn't it ironic how they tried to stop and suppress her from singing this song but generations after she is gone this song is still playing and living on. So in the end Billie Holiday gets the last laugh because you can't keep a child of God down. Love and respect you Billie and we will forever keep you in our hearts and minds!!!!
@Michelle Reid - TRUTH
'What's done in the dark will always come to light.'
Facts. I love how she laughed and told them their grandchildren would be singing Strange Fruit while laughing in their face. She was a force to messed with, beautiful inside and out regardless of the addictions she had. Her fight is what made her Billie Holiday, not the addiction.
I luv it sis tell the truth those devils cant stop whats meant to be..
God works in mysterious ways.
Back when I was in high school, my history teacher, a white man, played this song for us learning about the kkk and lynchings and everything else done to these innocent people. I remember crying because I actually understood what it meant where as my classmates just sat there unmoved. I still listen to this on occasion and besides her pure talent and pain obviously portrayed in this song, this song is iconic and needs to be shared in school more often.
My music teacher played this song for the class and... ugh. Something about a bunch of white kids going "eww omg!! don't play it again!!" Made me seethe
What is lynching?
@@Jacob-uz1oq murdering a person because they are black
@@Jacob-uz1oq hanging/killing of innocent black people by white mobs
Thanks to the republicans, the truth is not allowed to be taught anymore @ school. Teachers can be sued by white parents, if the teach this history.
Her eyes. The moment she said "Southern Trees", countless horrific images instantly came to mind. ✊🏿✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻✊ I was overcome with a floodgate of emotions.😢
It truly is so heartbreaking 💔😢🥺 This world is filled with so much evil and pain, I long for the day when Christ will reign on the Earth and take it all away. ❤
@@maggiecarreirothey smiled in the postcards of lynchings. It was definitely an evil time before gangsta music/promoted genocide.
@@BapeGangMember that makes me sick to my stomach 💔 how are people able to be so heartless? So void of empathy 😢
The pain in her eyes and her voice. You can see it at the end, she doesn't want applause for performing this song, she wants justice.
It’s amazing to me that our US government and white people during this time period have done so many atrocities to my people… then decades later instead of this being taught in school as history we get told that it’s “marxism” and blah blah blah by white supremacists that want to erase history and hide atrocities committed against the black community.
You can only barely see it because of the disrespectful text.
@@lelandjordan7947 largest lynching in America was of Italians. But they got over it and kept their heritage whilst joining in with society.
@@Dude0000 this simply isn’t true. but go ahead and choose to be ignorant i guess.
@@Dude0000 “largest” and “most” are 2 words you should learn to differentiate today
Just watched "United States vs. Billie Holiday." How sad that the Senate has still not passed an anti-lynching law.
Then they wouldn't be able to stop the police from killing Blacks, it would now be law
HUH? Could you please elaborate on this? No offense! Just wanting to learn!
@@hanako7144 Sure, if the anti lynching bill gets passed, then when the police kills black men the way they do with impunity, they could be charged with lynching, but the bill hasn't been passed so lynching still goes on. Hope you've learned
@@hanako7144 One of Billie Holiday's most famous songs was "Strange Fruit" which was about the lynching of blacks. The FBI didn't want her to sing it and used her drug use to dog her and to send her in prison. In 1937, there was an anti-lynching bill in front of Congress and it didn't pass. Today, there is an Emmitt Till anti-lynching bill in front of Congress and it still hasn't been passed.
I know I was literally left with my mouth opened when that was mentioned towards the end of the movie. Smh.
As a Black person i feel ashamed not having heard this song before now. But, better late than never! This tore my heart to shreds.
Yes
@@janie3117 what in the name of FUCK are u talking about??? are u even LISTENING to the song? NO! all u hear is what u fucking want to hear. this song IS about the lynchings of black people. But u go ahead and keep on trying to explain it away. Hide behind ur pulpit. Cowardly justification.
As a pink grapefruit, i still dont care what your skincolor is.
@janie3117 Um it is ALL ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE DF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????? She even says it is in the SONG Yes, she's saying her heart out and soul because she Witness her people being hung from trees by white people. Watch the damn movie AND ACTUALLY LISTEN to the lyrics why do yall Insist on either taking from us or making things about yall that are not. And if you are black saying this shame on you.
It's not your fault it wasn't shared with you. How I discovered this song--Billie singing it--at age 12, I will never forget. I knew nothing about it before I listened to it. I thought she was singing "black bonnet swinging..." It took me three listens for the reality to sink in. One of the most "educating" moments of my life. Yep: heart torn to shreds.
It hits so much harder to actually see her sing it. She's holding back so much sadness and tears to sing the message in a strong way...
Yes please people look bak at atrosities of the past 2 move forward with kindness and respect 4 everyone regardless race creed coulour so yup lets let every one smile
This is why we have black history month in the US, because they left us out of history. Billie is telling everyone how it really was. Thanks darlin. Sleep easy now. God bless and hold you tight.
Factss
They really did. I never knew about this song until a dancer in my trooper wanted to perform to it. The old manager said no but I never knew why. He told me and I listened to the song and how fucked up it was that the manager disallowed it. Some things never change
I discovered it after listening to Andra Day's cover of it.
She's talented and does justice to it, but I came here to affirm that Billie's original was still the real deal.
Fun Fact: I didn't know that Billie was black.
@@shefalig93 chile they probably whitewashed her in any in color pictures they had. I'll give a listen to that version too
We should not have black history month!! Every month is not black history but American History of what was done to black people!!! What a sad song!! Billie was fearless!
You can see the pain & tears in her eyes as she sings “strange fruit”. Who else’s heart is heavy hearing this song.
Me! I'm sitting here watching Lady Sings the Blues. I've seen The United States vs. Billie Holiday 😥😥💔💔 What this woman went through is absolutely DISGRACEFUL!
Took a loooong time for me to build up the strength to watch this live performance, knowing just how pained and somber her expression would be. It's hard.
Omg mine😢😢😢😢😭
Every time
I literally cried listening to this
The song that changed history
Imagine the times, the societal ways, the Era, the hatred, the animosity...
And then the pure courage and INTEGRITY it took to perform such a deeply personal song, and it becomes very easy to name it the greatest song ever performed. Top 3 no question
WHATS NEW🛑🤡
@@nathanielrichardson9817the south is still like that. They have their own police state ever since they wanted to secede from the union
If listening to this performance doesn't make your heart ache, check your pulse.
Andrew Lynn only if you’re Richard KuKlinski
I must be dead. My heart isn’t aching. Then again I’m not sure I have one anymore anyways. Billie Holiday was terrific though.
@@sweaterwearingsquirrel9302 who hurt you....
If it didn’t make your heart ache, check your pulse....and your privilege.
It's not that sad
I did a report on this in my English Class during Freshman Year. The room was full of white kids and a white teacher but I was determined to make them hear it. The rules were that you could only play a minute of a video but everyone was so shocked we listened to the whole thing... I had never been so nervous to share something but I’m glad I did.
What were your classmates reactions?
Shauna Tate some were shocked but they felt the anger and pain that she did
Emma McGurk good on them for being willing to listen. Most American whites tune it out /refuse to know
Good choice. This performance and song is one of the most important historical moments ever. It is raw and she makes you feel every word.
Good for you
For anyone who is interested there is a great book called Chasing the Scream. It's about how the "war on drugs" started but Billie is actually a key component to the story. It goes into her life story and it is a must read. It's tragic but you have to understand how much adversity this lady endured and what she was able to accomplish through it all. It's really astounding.
Thank you
Ok. Sounds good. Thanks for the recommendation.
Currently reading and came to see her sing it.
The us vs Billie Holiday is a movie now too
I came here right after finishing the book and I'm glad someone already mentioned it :). Such mindblowing to hear her life story from that angle!
I’m glad they put this song in the hall of fame
The pain in her eyes is palpable. No one sang this song like Billie.
Nina Simone's is extremely eerie and painful.
She wrote it
A Jewish man, Abel Meeropol wrote it after seeing a photo, he was a teacher who lived in NY
YES AND NO-ONE SHOULD EVEN ATTEMPT TO SING IT..THIS IS LADY'S SONG STAY WELL CLEAR
No-one sang ANY song like Billie
They needed to silence her because this song/poem reminded them of who they really was. Simply evil in 1959 smh
And still simply evil today.
@@maiat5643 Still...💯
Nope I mean it was dumb to silence her but they did that because she was a worldwide star and the US was fighting the cold war and trying to get in the good graces of 3rd world countries recently liberated from colonialism and were fighting a propaganda campaign against the Soviet union and communism. Btw a communist wrote this song too.
@@kw1199 "Strange Fruit" originated as a poem written by Jewish-American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol, under his pseudonym Lewis Allan, as a protest against lynchings. They silenced her because they didn't want her shining a light on the demonic lynchings that were occurring in Amerikkka. Period.
@@maiat5643 😘
So many ladies back in the day singing out their pain, their stories, their lifes…
They were the voice of so many… and delivered in some stoical and soulful way.
YOU KNOW YOU'RE A LEGEND WHEN YOU GIVE THOSE GOOSBUMPS TO YOUR LISTENERS
This needs to be played in schools. Educate.
My history teacher actually played this so yeah
Analyzed this in English class, but we listened to Nina's version
It definitely does
We actually analyzed this in my American history class, one of the only things I remember because it hit me hard.
@@tymolo883 same here! we dissected the poem first then listened to this song. i was in 8th grade. currently in my 3rd year of college and i still think about this a lot.
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burnin' 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 the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Oh she snapped fasho
En français (in french) :
Les arbres du Sud portent un fruit étrange,
Du sang sur leurs feuilles et du sang sur leurs racines,
Des corps noirs qui se balancent dans la brise du Sud,
Un fruit étrange suspendu aux peupliers.
Scène pastorale du vaillant Sud,
Les yeux révulsés et la bouche déformée,
Le parfum des magnolias doux et printannier,
Puis l'odeur soudaine de la chair qui brûle.
Voici un fruit que les corbeaux picorent,
Que la pluie fait pousser, que le vent assèche,
Que le soleil fait mûrir, que l'arbre fait tomber,
Voici une bien étrange et amère récolte !
Thanks for writing out the lyrics: I appreciate it!
Hello Shannon
How are you doing today?
that is the most well written, dark poem/song I have ever read.
NOBODY CAN WATCH THIS WITHOUT BEING DEEPLY MOVED..REST IN PEACE MS LADY DAY.
I cannot believe that I never knew the US government was harassing this poor woman for singing about what the government allowed to happen to our ancestors. GIVE US OUR REPARATIONS!!!!!!!!!!
Funny thing is I heard about this when I was like 15 when my grandparents was telling me about it. And me being young, dumb and ignorant not caring that much about it. Now I'm 42 and I cried like a baby a few times watching the movie. Only if my grandparents could see that.
Another thing they refused to teach us in school. I never knew about it either.
I agree about reparations, but that they should have been paid generously during Reconstruction to those who were actual former slaves
@marilyn devon Not like it hasn't happened in every country ever...
@@FragginWagon76 and is still happening in some countries...don’t buy Hershey’s, nestle, Mars products.
“Your grandkids will be singing strange fruit.” US vs Billie Holiday.
And yes ma’am we are!
Especially when Yeezy used this book for “Blood in the Leaves”
.... kids didn’t even know how deep the meaning was while they just singing a hook
Yaaaay! Now its the song of the century!! Hall of Fame!🙌🏿
@@matalynnwhite1006 He didn’t use her version though he used Nina’s version
🖕
I came here right after watching extra credit, never learn about this amazing woman, her voice is amazing
me too, how she died infuriated me
@@comrade7324 same here!
what extra credit? Might wanna watch too
@@dayanaraicaranom2190 they have one called Billy Halliday Vs The US Government
Esse vídeo é simplesmente incrível, Essa Diva é inesquecível muito obrigado por VOCÊ ter postado esse documento!👍👍🍺👍
I’m here today because my ancestors survived it. I can’t even fathom having to see what my grandparents and great grandparents saw and experienced. It had to be painful because they never spoke of their young life.
I'm so sorry your family had to go through that and that you still to this day or haunted by it I'll never understand the mindset of the white people back then I'm white but I would never ever ever I think about wanting to do something like that I just don't understand why they wanted to I don't know if any of my family was involved in anything like that but I do know for my grandma that I have a great great aunts that helped with the Underground Railroad and her house so that makes me feel good to know that at least. Again I am so sorry or what happened to your ancestors it makes me cry to think about anything and happy life that's why it's so hard for me to watch videos like this and other videos from even the fifties and sixties it's just so hard to watch makes me ashamed to be white
@@lorisanford8515 ,your not alone!😢🙏
Surviving horror is a daily struggle, talking abt it is almost impossible for most survivors. It equates to reliving the horror.
@@isabelleelkhoudri6495 ,it does for me,Molested from 7-9 year's old! I am now a 64 year old Man......I haven't forgot!!!!!!!!!
They never talked about that ish ..u right.. They were trying to forget
She has seen everything she’s singing about, you can see the pain in her face. She relives it everytime she sung that song.
Her eyes aren't looking at the audience, or at the room at all. Her eyes are looking at those strange fruit, staring in terror.
@@littleredruri their eyes were watching the gos
Yeah I know makes me hate white people that aren’t clearly not racist. For any person to do or allow these things done to any other person is something I can’t relate to
She wasn't there during slavery
@@sargonlebanni2669 no shit, but you think lynching stop when slavery was abolished? Do some research love.
I'm gonna be 37 this yr, & my generation or at least those who are constantly in my life have NEVER heard of these INCREDIBLE & MULTI-TALENTED artists from the mid-early 20th century. & I'm like 😱😱... Those born after the millennium seem to not show any interest & it kills me. It really does because those people from any era before the 21st century DOES NOT DESERVE to be forgotten. If it wasn't for them, us today wouldn't be here now.. Do u realize how many have never of Judy Garland or The Wizard of Oz?? That's sick! At least in my eyes, it is.. Sorry, when I listen to Billie Holiday, I get a craving for Judy Garland! In case any were wondering why I even brought her up.
Billie Holiday was so magnificent. She & many many others from then only needed their voice & nothing else. Alot of music today (like movies today) will NEVER EVER compare to what those artists from the early-mid 20th century had... Talent! Pure, 100% kickass talent! I'm just saying..
Her voice is so incredibly haunting, it touches my soul so deeply. I can physically feel the pain in my heart for the horrors which were caused by such evil men and women. 😢 It’s so troubling that anyone could treat another human being in such a way. 💔
What this woman and others had to go through makes me tremble.
There are too many comments that have nothing whatsoever to do with the topic of "Lady Day" or music in general. How is it that so many nitwits turn everything into B.S. political crap?!
Was thinking the same.. fuck racism
michael wertzy you’re dull... this whole song is political.
Rachelle Revis >>> and they wonder WHY she done drugs ? REALLY , she had to use something to just show up DYING INSIDE everyday
michael wertzy - Because it’s directly, closely connected with the topic of the song and the reason Billie Holliday sang it! Trump is an overt white nationalist and a dangerous monster who has made life *worse* for people of color. That’s how the inconvenient topic of politics comes up.
My history teacher played this video to introduce his class on racism in the south of America during the 20s
must have been an awesome teacher; hope the principal supported him
@@Dana9437 he was a beloved teacher in our school and would play pranks on the other teachers and do weird shit in cooridors
I had a similar experience, I first heard this in my American History class when we covered the Civil Rights movement and it took everything I had not to cry my eyes out in the middle of class.
Exactly what my teacher did too, and it made me so sad reading the stuff blacks went through
@@seannoel8615,I grew up during the sixties and Lived the injustice that was part of their Live's, I would have cried too!
👊🏾 you died for this song Billie holiday we still listening rest in heaven
The greatest jazz voice of all times..The woman came to the world to sing jazz...
Hearing this song makes me feel so ashamed of myself when I don't live up to my potential and make every day count. Our ancestors fought for our freedom and seen things I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies. Wow, I feel extremely sucky right now. God bless you Billie Holiday
Don't feel bad about it. Make tomorrow better than yesterday.
💯🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿💜💜💜
Amen to that we cry and. Complain over the silliest things today...what all people were going through in her time our problems are so very small. I feel u and I'm going to do better.💖Good luck!💖
Same smh as a race we needa do better shit is looking sad , I pray for my generation
progress isn't linear, keep improving yourself and get what you want out of life, your ancestors love you
You can see the pain deep in her eyes.
i know.....she isn't singing it ...she is living it.
She's eyes
I can't tell anything
Yes you can
@@dennisleporte2327 she lived a hard life
@@shanettacane7101 - 'Lady Sings the Blues' (1972) movie about her life. Diana Ross portrayed Holiday. Cast includes Billy Dee Williams and Richard Pryor - the piano man.
Her facial expression touched my heart with sadness 😔 😟
This song still makes me cry. The pain and anger in her voice are immense. Everyone needs to hear this song in their life.
It's like she's showing you the images of black men being lynched, you can feel the pain.
Woke Goy, your assertion regarding this performance done by Ms. Holiday is so badly misinterpreted that I’m genuinely shocked by your reply. This song has nothing to do with Ms. Holiday’s personal life, which I won’t argue, was harsh. That aside, this song was written as a poem by a Jewish man whose name was Abel Meeropol in 1937. This gentleman was so horrified by pictures of black men being lynched in the south that he wrote a poem called “Bitter Fruit.” In 1939 Ms. Billie Holiday took those lyrics renamed the song “Strange Fruit,” and that’s the essential evolution of this song. I encourage you, Woke Goy, to listen to Ms. Holiday’s rendition of this song again, the lyrics of this song are quite straight forward.
@Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids You need to shut the hell up little boy. Coming in every comment section trolling. You weren''t alive in those days and I can tell by the way you talk, you are probably not even 30 years old and sit on your ass bitching about your mama didn't cook your food cause that's the only trouble your "intitled" little ass has ever had in your life. Shut up and go back to nursing on your mamas breasts. You don't know nothing.
@Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aidsare you always such jackass. Do you hate black people?
@Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf Aids the song is literally about lynching. Wtf are you blathering on about?
Black men werent the only ones being lynched 😒
The quality of her voice is unbelievable, I’m driven by every note.
@Lady Chakra This was in 1959 and by this time Lady Day was sick and dying. Most of the musicologists would listen to Lady Day singing this song and say that her voice was gone. I don't necessarily agree, but it did get heavier and deeper. One of my favorite albums is Lady in Satin which was released in 1958, and, as it turned out, was the last released during her lifetime.
Beautiful voice for sure ..but guys when i found out this song is about people being hanged....my god.
I’m with you, José. I know exactly what you mean.
Everytime she sings this song I feel my stomach in knots like I want to cry. She is the only one that can do this songs lyrics Justice!
@@stephanieramos7648 Have you heard Jill Scott and Nina Simone's interpretation of Strange Fruit? If not, listen to both of them. They give a totally different interpretation.
How could anyone listen to this and not be moved to tears? The anguish on her face is heartbreaking.
I pray the new generation doesnt forget... because we didnt.
They're still trying to make sure new generations don't even get to learn this history.
If you don’t get chills with this song, you have no soul.
Soooo true
True. But this song is very creepy cause it true & couldn't ignore it on Tales from the hood
I have no soul but I get chills what does it mean
Wait actually
Hate to be that one person, but about 50% of people aren't capable of getting chills while listening to music. Just doesn't happen. Though fortunately, I'm not one of those people
Haunting....just fucking haunting. Only word that I can use to describe her performance. Her voice, the lyrics, the passion vocally as well as in her facial expressions, and the horrific history of what it must of been like back then is vividly painted in my mind while she sings....blown away.
Well said.
im fucking sobbing
Thank you
Great analysis, but using filthy language is very disrespectful and just plain inappropriate to the memory of Billie Holiday and the song.
Billie Holliday. The greatest of them all!
I can't believe I only discovered her yesterday. The pain in her eyes, you can tell she has seen everything she sings about. This is a song and performance that stays with you
This is what singing from your soul sounds and looks like .
I dont believe any human can express this poem better than Billie Holiday The Great 🙏🏾
PHAT BEATZ I think Nina Simone did a great job
listen to jacques brel ;)
@@scalpassociation2424 jacques brel??
Nina Simone blessed this track 💯💯💯
Jeff Buckley did a great cover of this song.
You can see her thinking of the moments she saw strange fruit hanging. This is so touching. 💔
It was so sad she was a strung out heroin user, but it was said She abused heroin to numb the pain of what she seen of black men being lynched and nothing being done about it, brilliant song with a brilliant meaning.
So heartbreaking💔
so sad. smfh
just putrification of dead bodies......wasn't your's now was it Skippy?
so strange fruit is another word for a body ?
I just learned about her in my music appreciation class. She was way ahead of her time. Like all legends she lived and died a sad life. She bought emotion to this sad song, it really sends a strong message.
The way her face transforms as soon as she starts singing gives me chills every time. ❤️
I only heard Nina Simone’s remake of this song until now. The United States Vs Billie Holiday brought me here. She sang this with so much passion and conviction. I cannot wait to see the movie.
Stunning performance by Andra Day!!! Check out a powerful, haunting classical/blues mix of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit by 3 Mo' Divas. This arrangement and performance is no joke!!! Go to Showbiz Stories channel. Simply amazing.
I’m watching it now
It was really good
I just finished watching The United State vs Billike Holiday!! I was phenomenal. I recommend Everyone watch this movie.
@@mzbabygirl32 I watched too and loved it. Especially the end when she gave Harry Anslinger her finally thoughts. Andra Day slayed! ❤️👏🏾
I don't know how she can sing this song so well. I get all choked up just hearing it.
I have to say that is one of the most power videos I have seen. The pain in her eyes, her facial expressions, the way she delivers every single word is just haunting. Such an amazing talent.
The Lyrics:
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burnin' 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 the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Emotions all over the place reading the lyrics
So sad I'm glad I wasn't born in those days because they'll have to kill me too
Lyrics are metal af
My grandfather was born and raised in the 1920s in Mississippi, i asked him what was it like back then... her lyrics and the pain on her face explains that conversation.
Ur grandfather brave man and survivor
We need to do so much better in this country. What has really changed in 100 years? People don't get lynched anymore, sure, but what other indignations have minorities been forced to endure even since the end of Jim Crow? I'm almost ready to give up on America and let it burn itself down. smh
A s o b want that lynching law back in Mississippi 😭😭😭😭 😡
@@LeCharles07 "What has really changed in 100 years?" Bro wtf are you on. The injustices of today in no way compare to the injustices of the past. To say that nothing has changed is to discredit not only the victims of the past, but also those who sacrificed so much to change our society for the better. You are spitting in the face of those who worked for what we have today by giving up and letting America burn to the ground.
I'm gen z and it is clear that my generation is significantly more inclusive than the generation of our parents. My parents hold more bigoted views than I do, and the same is true for the majority of the population.
Yes, racism and indignations still exist, but we are on a positive path. There is no quick fix to solve the problems that currently exist. It will take time for things to get better, and things will get better as long as our access to information does not become more restricted. We have set up the proper institutional regulations so that it is a disadvantage to be racist in today's society. Racism will be weeded out in a Darwinian-esque, survival of the fittest fashion. But evolution takes generations, and that is what we need to wait for.
Things will never be perfect, it's impossible, but things are already better than the media makes them out to be. The media clearly profits off perpetuating racism. I believe there should be a focus on racism, but less so than what we have now so we can focus on other issues. It is the most provocative topic which is why there is such a focus on it. It's entertainment, bringing companies profit, distracting and preventing us from focusing on any other societal issues. When is the last time you have seen the media praise America for its progress on racism? You don't see that, when it is clearly the case if you simply base it on the fact that those with more racist viewpoints are old and dying off. I do not understand how people are unable to see through this, and it is saddening.
I am about the most privileged person in America if you were to judge me based on the my upbringing as a straight, white, rich male - but I suffer from 2 mental disabilities that have made me a constant subject of misunderstanding and ridicule. One of my disabilities is extremely rare. I had not even heard of it until this year. It is so rare that there is no one for me to talk to about it. Practically no one I can relate to, even on the internet. There is no one fighting for me. There is no one spreading awareness for what I have. Yet I am told that I am more privileged than most people in America, even by other family members. Is this really the case, or does the media have people believe this is the case?
However, there are many victims of racial discrimination, so it of course should be prioritized over my disability that affects maybe less than 1 in 10000 adults, even if my struggles are more debilitating. The prioritization of race does not upset me, but the misleading coverage of it does. I am certain that things would be better if the majority of media companies took one of the 5,000 hours on covering racism and focused it on other problems such as mental disability. This will not happen until truth becomes more profitable than provocation. If people are to falsely believe that racism is not diminishing, then there may be no hope for the less populated, oppressed minority groups such as those with mental disabilities. People will come to realize that racism is dying off, but it is a tragedy that the media is slowing this process.
I don't see a significant changes in the view on my disability in the next decade or 2, but I can only imagine a future where there is more understanding . That is not going to happen until people are more satisfied with racial standings in America. So have hope for black people - you will be giving hope to all other disaffected groups and individuals.
Maybe I'm saying we should give up on racism. Maybe if people were to give up on their ideas of race, less people would care about it. That may be a good thing.
I've been listening to her for 30yrs. This song has always been heartbreaking.
Haunting, dark and strangely beautiful because it tells the truth expressed so powerfully by Billy Holiday who stood up to the government while doing so. This song should be played in U.S. history class.
Strange fruit is the realest song I've ever heard
The words are abstract and simple, yet have an enormous amount of meaning. Billie is a truly strong and amazing woman, but it's a shame that she passed away at such a young age. She would be so proud to see her impact on us today.
My grandmother would sing this and cry. I learned later it was after getting news someone was actually lynched or murdered back home. I was born in 1959.
You were born the same year my brother and father in law was born. His mom named him after her. I told my husband.
@@shaheedahevans2871 that sounds very confusing
I am 52 and my grandma who passed in like 76 said she witnessed a lynching of a black person.
@@djjackson6276 That's messed up.
But they claim harsh racism was sooooooo long ago if ppl alive can still remember it wasn’t that damn long ago
There is a Touched by an Angel episode about her and this song. Such a brave woman.
you are seen and you are HEARD in 2024 YOU ARE HEARD i may die before i see change but you ARE HEARD. WE SEE YOU. YOU ARE CHANGE.
I just cried so hard...It makes me so sad as African American to see the world thru her song I didn't even know Billie holiday she was a HERO
Jonnie M : You know her now and you won't forget.
Love to you...
Same
Your a black American you ain’t African my guy
I looked this up because of a "dark history" video I just watched(Bailey Syrian). I had no idea who she was, definitely never heard the song before. She really was a fighter 💔 heartbreaking song on so many levels for so many reasons.
@@DMoney643 are you slow? “African American” isn’t a nationality, it’s an ethnicity. Stfu
This made me cry. I'm lucky for the people that came before me and made sure my future wasn't strange fruit.
Rosa, we are still in the day and age of lynching. So, when you speak of it as a thing of the past, you speak prematurely.
@@cherylguest7415 Lynching and murder is still happening but our ancestors came a long way to make shit happen like being able to sit at any restaurant without being ridiculed, not going to the back of the bus and so on. We still have a lot of work to do but none of that work is in vain.
@@juicywater7868, Amen to that my sister!!!
@ Rosa F that's a very profound statement you made. It shows your awakened consciousness and your wonderful sense of gratitude for who and why you are. Continued blessings.
It’s changed from lynching to police murdering black people
Got my heart absolutely broken just a couple of weeks ago, it was my first heart break. The day I realized everything was going to end I discovered this video and felt elevated to another level, suddently my pain was no more, it was only Billie Holliday and me in my room, and she owned every second.
Such bravery , courage, and elegance. God bless Billie Holiday
I’m angry that I’ve never been made aware of this. This song hurts me to my core…she literally gave her life to make this point over and over and no one deserves that. She was a beautiful human, as most humans are…this is chilling to watch.
It's OK white girl. You can hurt but my word don't ever feel guilty for something you did not do.
"im angry that ive never been aware of this" me too damn :( .
So many Scotts enslaved, raped, and murdered over the course of hundreds of years by the English and literally noone today talks about it anymore.
@@grapeape888 The English have a cruel history of how they got power from around the world.
@@ikhlasyassinn nobody in U.S culture talks about or cares about what happened to the Scotts or the Irish because they're white. It seems like slavery only ever happened to one race, in one place, America.
You can actually hear how she feels every single word...
I will always recommend the movie "Lady Sings The Blues" about the life of Billie Holiday. Diana Ross plays the lead. No movie is perfect but this is a respectful representation of her story and life. 🎙️🌃💔
This is the legacy of America
LEGACY? WHATS NEW ABOUT 2DAY? RIGHT NOW?
In this era she was taking her life into her own hands to even being thinking of singing about lynchings, yet she did, and she did it loud and proud. Her pain is plain to see and her anger simmers just below the surface. Her music is her catharsis. I love this woman though she lived way before my time, her lyrics and music penetrate into my soul.
Standleybakermovies
Hello nora
How are you doing today?
She doesn’t deserve to get this song turned into a hateful trend when she died singing it this generation needs to have more respect for black ppl we don’t do deserve this nor do our grand parents and their grand parents
True
blah blah blah that song yvngchris made was hard asf
Yvngchris is black so how does he not have respect for black people? and the song was not hateful nor did he know what it was about
@@deathsmelody9452 you can be black and racist towards other black people. I’m not saying anything about yvngchris but you can be black and racist.
@@whirlyturtles718 yeah true
Billie holiday was an classical jazzy singer and fashionable styles cherished out to the loom and her accent translations to english to french was bold and fanstanic sounds. Billie holiday rip.
her voice gives me chills to this day
And J Edgar Hoover threatened her bc he wanted her to stop singing this song but she refused. That man was the DEVIL. Much respect to Billie Holliday and the things she went through in her life.
Hmmm. She died somewhat shortly after this. As soon as you mentioned Hoover the first thing I thought was that maybe he helped that to happen.
And he had black ancestry..He hated himself
@ESONIA KNIGHT Yes.....he was hiding all of his secrets in plain sight....Just a Mess!!!
He's buried in capitol cemetery in DC. I have made a point to spit on that man's grave.
Josh McDonald
J Edgar Hoover’s grave is an excellent gender neutral bathroom to use if you’re on a long tour of the cemeteries in our nations capital
This song gives me chills every time. Being the unwanted children of America, the horrors our ancestors dealt with and to be told not to even sing about it.
Thing is, white America has absolutely no idea WHO they enslaved! There is gonna be a heavy price to pay in the end!
Because they didn’t want to be reminded of the inhumane acts they committed
@@fatmooselips3110 correction. Continue to commit!*
They were scared of us. There has always been hatred towards blacks everywhere. They went through all of this pain in suffering for us to not handle in the future
Eu sou brasileira eu li sobre a história dela quando tinha 16 anos e fiquei impressionada com sua força sua coragem um orgulho pra nossa raca
Still hits 70 years later. Billie was the GOAT.
Her best song, her saddest song; her most important song.
*RIP:* Billie Holiday (1915-1959).
Damn she died the same year this was released?!?
@@blairwright2693 no Billie sang this song from an early part of her career, that is when she was able to, mostly in smaller venues like clubs and jazz bars , when she tried to sing it at other places where there were white people in the audience is when she would get stopped by the law ...Anslinger and his gang made her life hell because she would still sing it wherever she performed until it got to the stage of the corrupt 'law' planting drugs on her and getting people to set her up, even her husband..and basically made life for her unbearable until she stopped singing the song at her shows. Them bastards had her cuffed to her hospital bed when she was gravely ill and refused to take them off , therefore she died cuffed to the hospital bed and if that wasn't bad enough they also planted heroin and drug paraphernalia on her after she died , all in order to smear and stain her reputation and character more than they already had.
Disgraceful f*cks it sickens me to think about what they put her through
This is the saddest story indeed. What a wonderful woman
This song gives me chest pain and floods of grief every time I hear it. My great grandpa was a black jazz musician, great grandma a native american homemaker, they were born in a so-called "dog town" of shanties and shacks in an area now preserved for it's significance to the Trail of Tears (in Missouri). Severe pain of lynching is in my cellular memory. I cry for someone in my ancestral past. The tears of someones broken heart still fall through me.
I am so sorry for your ancestor's pain.
That was very poetic and I feel the generational trauma, too.
God love you... I have no such heritage and yet from the moment I heard this 47 years ago I sobbed and still to this day feel every injustice when hearing it. We are all ONE. Much love to you.... and all x
@King Farmer ...I sadly understand completely. At this point I hardly watch movies and documentaries about slaves cause I get so emotional. So angry and sad. I hear this song and I can feel the scene her voice paints for us. And when I think about how she died I feel grief.
@@mellowillow Perfectly stated; totally track with you on this and am on the same "page." Heart-wrenching....
Still in 2023 this song is still revelant
Her expressions, her voice.. she truly gave part of her soul during this performance and all the way in 2021, we’re able to experience her artistry and pain
Look at the pain in her eyes.
she's also high
@@rubyjames3105 tragic just like Whitney
@@screenactorsguilable damn
Yes you can tell she’s seen it with her own eyes
Thats heroin
One of the most important songs of the 20th century that everyone needs to hear. Spread the word!
The most powerful song ever written, and the most powerful performance ever.
The saddest part about this song, is that it no longer comes up as the first thing when you look up strange fruit. Unlike the other stuff, this is a lyrical masterpiece
yes it is bruh lol for me
Uhh it just did for me
It showed up first for me
Idk what you’re looking up but strange fruit is even one of the suggested terms when I just type in “strange”
It’s possibly the most significant song ever written/performed. I have a history degree and I can confirm that a LOT of really well-respected historians consider this 3 minute song to have been one of the earliest sparks in the civil rights movement, it was added to the national archives as a song of great significance, and it was named TIME’s song of the century in 1999 (even though, ironically, TIME called it NAACP propaganda back when Billie Holiday first recorded it)
All depends on what A.I. thinks you’re interested in……. Big brother is indeed watching
As long as black people entertain the enemy and shut our mouths we're forever loved and admired. When we speak out for our people we're the enemy. The same thing that happened back then is still happening how. We must continue to speak up and fight for our people. Imagine the graphics of everything she depicted in this song. It happens today. And yet people laugh and turn a blind eye to what's really happening.
Or even better... stop entertaining them and stoo producing sweat...
So unfortunate
stop being so violent and all will be fine.
@@joejones9520 yall invented violence and racism soooo...
The only enemy is anyone being immoral. And I don't just see this from non-blacks.
Thank you Queen Warrior-Billie Holiday for your unselfish sacrifice. It wasn't and will never be in vein and your story forever truth telling...
Because of your relentless delivery of "Strange Fruit"
GIANT is your name!!!💪🏾👑✊🏾🖤
This song is so powerful, haunting & at the same time, beautiful...... You can see and hear her pain. Such a deep song, it's scary....... And it touches the soul....... And no other versions of this song hit, emotionally, the way that her version does. . . . . Can't listen to it too many times because it triggers me, thats how powerful and haunting this song is ....... Truly amazing. What a courageous woman Billie Holiday must have been to have recorded this song at a time when racism and prejudice was at an all time high. . . . . . .
Sheesh. This song really touches a nerve in me. I feel like I can see all that has happened and all that continues to happen when I listen to it.
This poor woman. You can just see the pain and hurt in her face. It’s gut wrenching hearing about something true come from someone who’s seen it. Thank god, she wrote this song cause now people can really understand and see how terrible everything was.
The saddest thing of all was that not only was it happening in her childhood or during her adult life but it kept happening even several decades after she died.
And all this in the richest country in the world that keeps harping about being the best and most free country.
She didn't write this song and didn't grow up in the south. Why make things up, that are easily verifiable? This song (that is a poem by Abel Meeropol) and her interpretation of it are sensational on their own merits. She had the talent to translate the horrors of racial inequality and atrocities of her time through her expressive voice, because she understood the larger picture and believed in the cause. A lot of comments here seem to suggest that this song is great because Billie had supposedly literally witnessed/lived the things she sings about, as if it was a prerequisite for great art to be made out of trauma. I think it is deminishing to her talent as an artist.
@@Vondreema The reason she chose Meeropol's poem, is because her father died in similar circumstances (lynching). Yes, it is true that she translated these horrors in an incredible way. However, it is not sensational to say that she lived it, because the man she loved and respected the most died at the hands of the subject matter. It is easy to look down on others for making things up, but its best to do so after you do full research. Two things can be true. She is talented enough to speak the cause to power, and she relates to the material in a fundamental way.
@@professionalhater9her father died because he was refused care at several “whites only” emergency rooms/hospitals- so racism ultimately killed him ; however in a very different way than a lynching.
She even states at the start of the video, “This is a song that was written FOR me”
More than 60 years ago, and still the reality. We need to do better, NOW.
Facts
Then vote him out
Yes we do and this informative video shows how Billionaire philanthropists are behind abortion which is especially targets specific groups of people. Eugenicists never changed they just have better PR firms and hide behind philanthropy. ua-cam.com/video/-mE0blnnKo8/v-deo.html
To add more to the narrative, the song was recorded in 1939.
@@GBGOLC Thank you, came here to say this. More that 80 years ago and yet..
here from extra history