Exactly america is twisted 4 this just like they ban Ray Charles from Georgia for not performing for whites that was treating us like dirt just as they are dirt them self/ and they ban Ray Charles as well. The government usa arrested her because they know it was true and EVERYONE in the USA was going to know about her and this song called "Strange Fruits" she was going to bring awareness to it
It was said that after singing this song she would often have to go to the restroom and vomit because the images of lynching were so poignantly horrendous and overwhelming.
This song made me cry 😭 and want to go give my Grandmother a BIG HUG AND KISS 😢😭😭for the pain that they were subjected to she will be 100 this month I love her so much and bless to have her🙏
They came to our land, bible in hand, told us "close your eyes and pray". When we opened our eyes, we got the bible in our hands, and they got our land.
God? The one who kicked Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden and damned and their descendants to burn in everlasting hellfire? All for eating a fruit he told them not to eat? Would any parent do that to their child? "Belief in a cruel god makes a cruel people." - Thomas Paine, the greatest of America's founding fathers.
@kimellis8943 Thank you for that, now I don't have to say it. Lyrics to "The Ballad of Sally-Ann" Mark O'Connor/John Cowan led me here. Billie's Strange Fruit is about the most depressing, dreadful, stark song I have ever heard. I don't think I even came close to finding the right words to express what it does to me.
Just the expression on her face tells me this woman saw the graphic and disturbing images she's singing about. Gut wrenching and heart breaking. Rest easy Ms. Holiday ❤
"How could a person do that to another person.....?"..... you asked? unfortunately.....the same way a person could do that to any other living thing on this entire planet? humans aren't any more special to some humans..... than cows, pigs, or chickens are to every single butcher. it used to make me sick but now..... if I detect even the slightest scent of that old fruit..... I get angry..... take action immediately..... get rid of it like garbage gone bad fast. letting sick people make us sick is how sickness spreads, right? sermon over..... sorry for picking on your casual cliche to make a point there homie..... (*Black Panther gang sign*)
I just watched her documentary on Hulu I had to hear the lyrics to this song it's sad that the government tried to silence the truth she was a beautiful soul rest in peace Billie Holiday
my stomach turns listening to this...how can there be so much evil in a person? I love the world too much. And hope someday future generations know what discriminating does to their soul and mind ,no matter what color, race,sex, nationality, culture or religion we are...
I heard that this song was always devastating for Billie Holiday to sing, but she felt there was no choice. There is an unforgettable angry moment in a live recording of this song. There is applause after Holiday announces the next song will be "Strange Fruit." In a voice that would cut glass, she murmurs: "I do hope you like it."
Tears... every time. bulging eyes, twisted mouth, dangling feet, torn and tattered clothes, extended broken necks, swollen heads, broken hands and limbs, missing body parts, bloody faces, bruises, white faces filled with hate, and the blood on the leaves. Thank you, Honorable Ms. Holiday.
This is the performance that changed my life. i was a schoolboy at an Essex (UK) Grammar and went to art class and painted a Salvador Dali style picture of a strange tree with strange things hanging from it's branches. the art master put it on the wall and later the English master asked me about it and I told him i had heard Billi H singing Strange Fruit and it affected me. After that I recall being a member of the Anti Apartheid League and prtoesting in London about the murder of black political leaders in Africa. I have a lifetime aversion to any kind of racial prejudice. I can look back on a long life and see how so many black artists influenced my taste (Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin......music connects us all.
In case no one ever told you, I humbly thank you along with all those Brits that stood up for the ridiculous treatment of the hurt natives of the British empire around the world esp the people of Kenya. Now keep going soldier bad people do not rest so we can never do. once again thanks a lot.
Forget away in a manger our children need to look bak at tragerdy to move forward with kindness and respect for everone reggardless we r are all the same because we r all diferent
There should be a mandatory class in school based just on this song, as the core in teaching American history, slavery, racism, and other related issues.
@@goldsmithstudent It's probably cheaper for you to buy a plane ticket and come to my country for a surgical procedure than to do it in your own. Not saying your country is bad (just like mine, it could use a reformation) just don't bring other countries into it
@@ynesmclain9757 I mean, I guess it must be uncomfortable for a system to discuss issues that are still present in its roots, you know. It's also bad for patriotism, which obviously the US government relies a lot on
Back then didn't change with a flick of fingers.. Check your records as police go. You're just lucky in the USA that people don't riot for every wrongful death. and unlucky in the sense that you let things go; that said every nutjob and his uncle can buy a firearm or twelve.
My Lord🥺this is so beautiful and tragic at the same time. I don’t know how anyone who hears this isn’t moved. It enrages me to know the horrifying reality of my ancestors! The wicked people of this land old and new will have their day of reckoning... one that can not be escaped, one with no mercy, one that their money or status will not get them out of.
It's sooo tiring to keep hearing this sht.. Billie & all like her deserve to be REMINDED & have their place HISTORY that's FACT... But not to be USED as an excuse to start more sht against people that had nothing to do with it & alot of white folks faught against the wrong doings of those who enforced it... HISTORY is full of SADNESS & WRONG DOING.. It's to be learned from and the people ( black & white ) that lived & died should be RESPECTED.. We are flawed humans.. We all bleed RED... Being RACIST to fight against RACIST just keeps creating RACIST (black & white) stop listening to the media... Act on your own experiences.. Break the cycle
@@reneescott545 tired of hearing it ? Imagine constantly having to live through it ..sit down with your fake woke privilege tail self Someone recently just got lynched nimrod ..we aren’t imagine it it’s HAPPENING to us ..if you are not currently looking for a solution or to be an ally don’t speak on shit that have nothing to do with you
@@reneescott545 I’m confused on exactly what you are talking about or why! Black people do not have the power to be racists. That’s first of all! Prejudice is one thing, racists is another, and I’m NEITHER of those things. My ancestors put their lives on the line for shit we still go through today, it’s just a more modern showing of it, so don’t tell me how to feel! I’m wise, and like i said , those who wronged black people back then AND today will reap what they sow! That’s not my word, that’s the word of the MOST HIGH!
Billie holiday was defiantly a powerful force, she kept singing when they spent years trying to hush her. To think even this very song we’re still able to see and hear cause she was a fighter ❤️
Every time I hear this song, I get so sad that I don’t even tear up, I just sit in agony thinking about all of the terrible things my ancestors have done.
How can you make such ugly lyrics sound so angelic and beautiful. Painfully beautiful. My 10 year old daughter and I watched her movie and we discussed the topic. Such an uncomfortable topic but it will never be forgotten. RIP Miss. Holiday, thank you for your bravery!
@@marieclare-ue6kl Unfortunate turn of phrase, but I am sure what they mean is the beautiful lyrics describing an ugly truth. Or at least I HOPE that's what they mean!
Every word and every syllable delivered with intolerable weight and heartwrenching beauty. Two and a half minutes to perfectly incapsulate centuries of suffering.
Happy Birthday Lady Day! I could hear the pain in your voice when you sing this song. A sad and true song it is and you bring it to life like no one else.
I'm here because I'm watching the movie on Hulu, hearing this brings a deafening sound of ignorance growing up knowing none of this, not being racist isn't enough. Jesus.
Probably the most powerful rendition of any song I have ever heard. The song makes me despair of the inhumanity of man. It wrenches your guts out . Many human beings have no right to be on this earth.
Nobody sings this song like BILLIE!!! U feel it deep down... no yelling, or extra emphasis, but it really made ppl LISTEN!!! Drugs are devastating to ppl’s loved ones. RIH “Lady Day” U will be forever remembered & loved
I had heard about this song but until today I was honestly afraid to hear it. My white fragility kept me from it. In honor of black history month, I have been researching different black people and Ms Holiday came up. So I came to listen….my God what these people witnessed, what they endured! Watching loved ones, friends, family, even strangers….. I’m appalled! I know that the more I did and learn the more I get sick by what was done and I feel strongly that until we white people get truly uncomfortable with what happened then we cannot make the necessary changes to break down the oppressive system we created! Love to all!
The lyrics are so graphic and disturbing yet beautiful and create an image like poetry, it sounds like something you’d hear today. It’s really strange. Miss Holiday managed to tap into something powerful to convey her message that, despite it being about horrors from another time (that still wasn’t too long ago), her delivery and words haven’t dated at all.
One sad and incredibly brave woman. This voice..just actually up watching Diana Ross playing her..she's beautiful..tragic lyrics captured by how intense she/ this song truly was..vid about her formerhome outlandish priced.beautiful & She couldn't have been more tragically gifted ..today's value of her home..but she died broke very loved & valued still today.heroine use is so common amongst extremely important voices...makes you ponder that..
Haunting, but warm. I also gotta say that this is hands down the coldest, hardest song I've heard. What's funny is that the darkest images were sung like a lullaby
The key is to realize that our talent are from God and should be expressed freely to heal and uplift all human beings. The trouble comes when we compromise them for Fame and fortune.
What was the original poem Strange Fruit? Originally a poem called Bitter Fruit, it was written by the Jewish school teacher Abel Meeropol under the pseudonym Lewis Allen in response to lynching in US southern states. “I wrote Strange Fruit because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it,” Meeropol said in 1971.
Some people would say back home all that blood in the ground and all those slaves owners are eating that strange fruit 🤔 especially in their garden and that years and years of it , heartbreaking 💔 still now love her,
Non conoscevo questa cantante ne la sua storia ....oggi è avvenuta questa epifania e sono piacevolmente " devastata " dalla sua intensità del tutto ....emozionante
I just learned about this song on Billy Crystal's HBO show "700 Sundays." He told the fascinating story of how his uncle and father, big lovers of jazz, produced this song. Billie Holiday couldn't find any of the bigtime record producers to do it. "Too controversial" - and no one wanted to hear the truth. This song, this version of it with Billie Holiday signing, should be an important part of our history.
As long as there are people on this earth, there will be prejudice. The sad thing is this is a LEARNED characteristic. I will never understand why people choose to hate for reasons of religion, race, sex, etc.
I am Mexican and I did not know that slavery existed until my family and I moved to the United states, the pain in this woman eyes and the pain on her voice speaks louder than this song, we need more woman like this in this world, my total respect to Mrs. Billie Hliday
it's not about change but about pain and old views still in place. i think East and west coast rap claim different roots. The east claimed the deep as his their historical right. they fought for it; how about a bet that you discovered roots on that song : ua-cam.com/video/6VCdJyOAQYM/v-deo.htmlsi=AYli6A6WGP5EeJId
Eu sou brasileiro e aqui no Brasil, não entendemos porque grupos que dizem defender as causas negras não colocam em evidência as pessoas que lutaram pelo fim da escravidão e da perseguição, incluindo aqueles do exterior. No Brasil, ficarmos impressionados com a segregação norte americana, tipo bairros exclusivamente negros ou latinos. Meu país não é perfeito, mas, as pessoas de relacionam naturalmente sem essa questão racial, principalmente após a abolição da escravidão. Billie Holiday foi uma heroína, um símbolo feminino de muita coragem mesmo sendo uma mulher naquela época em que mulheres não tinham direito de voz. Billie Holiday foi uma mulher com muito mais coragem que outros homens da sua época e de nossa época. Que heróis assim que lutaram pelo fim da escravidão (qualquer que seja) segregação (qualquer que seja), sejam reconhecidos e ovacionados pelo mundo inteiro, sempre!
America the beautiful. PARADOX AND IRONY THINGS...Though i'm a korean I can feel those fruits Swinging in the southern bloody breeze...crazy metaphor...Heart-breaking song...
The Honorable Ms. Billie Holiday sang it such that the entire morbid atmosphere could be felt. We wonder if descendants of those responsible and sitting in the audience were able to listen and actually clap. What must one have to do or have done to be born with such a mind and conscience to be able to commit such horrific crimes against other humans for almost 2 decades.
“Strange Fruit”, originally titled “Bitter Fruit”, was authored by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from New York City, who was outraged after seeing a photograph of a horrific lynching in a civil-rights magazine : a shot of two black men hanging from a tree after they had been lynched in 1930. Those men are the “Strange Fruit.” Meeropol later said : “I wrote ‘Strange Fruit’ because I hate lynching, I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it.” In 1939, Billie Holiday had just quit Artie Shaw’s band and was the featured attraction at the Café Society club. One Robert Gordon, who worked at the club, brought the song to her attention and suggested she sing it. Holiday did play it to an integrated audience at the Café Society, and her version popularized “Strange Fruit” (1939). From then on, it became the last number of the setlist in all her concerts. Columbia Records, Holiday’s label, refused to release “Strange Fruit”, so she turned to Commodore Records to issue it. In her autobiography, Lady Day claimed that she had penned the blues-jazz lay, which was untrue. Sadly, toward the end of her life, she had a lot of drug problems and would make unreliable statements. In 1999, “TIME” magazine voted this the SONG OF THE CENTURY. Ironically, when it first came out, it was denounced by the same publication as “A piece of musical propaganda”❕ Nona Hendryx*, who revived “Strange Fruit” in 2012, would often interpret the air, adding in parts of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a dream” speech. ONE HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT STANDARD… THEN, NOW & FOR AEONS‼️ 🖤❤️🤍 Always loved, never forgotten, forever missed will you remain, Eleanora Fagan, a.k.a. Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959)… 🌹 * Nona Hendryx is a distant cousin of Jimi Hendrix. Her last name was originally spelled with an “i”.
What I don't understand is how could the government ban her from singing this... But allowed exactly what she's singing about to happen.
Thats is white superiority demonizing division between culture and contexual influences. Basically no one person stands up to crap lile this in unity
It's like how they are mad at us for slavery. Liked how we asked to brought here.
Exactly america is twisted 4 this just like they ban Ray Charles from Georgia for not performing for whites that was treating us like dirt just as they are dirt them self/ and they ban Ray Charles as well. The government usa arrested her because they know it was true and EVERYONE in the USA was going to know about her and this song called "Strange Fruits" she was going to bring awareness to it
It was ugly and hateful then.... just as hateful today. Our country will never admit it and change is temperamental and negotiable.
Because they are embarrassed for the actions that they caused.
Man this is so deep.. You look into her eyes and its written all over her face she means every word....
Yeah it was sad / and $uck how they had did her though 4 real
YES💔💔
And seen it
It was said that after singing this song she would often have to go to the restroom and vomit because the images of lynching were so poignantly horrendous and overwhelming.
This is SO POWERFUL, even today
This song made me cry 😭 and want to go give my Grandmother a BIG HUG AND KISS 😢😭😭for the pain that they were subjected to she will be 100 this month I love her so much and bless to have her🙏
YES!! My grandmother will be 96 tomorrow, and she's born and raised in Mississippi 💔🖤
Give one for me also they fought so hard and how repay make this song a trend on tik tok smh
bless
Hope she had a wonderful birthday 🎂
God bless her
"The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth..."
God bless the souls of all of those lynched! Sing it, Billie! Talk to their souls!
Amen Russell!
They came to our land, bible in hand, told us "close your eyes and pray". When we opened our eyes, we got the bible in our hands, and they got our land.
@@norahhuynh4646 shit... That's deep 😟
God? The one who kicked Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden and damned and their descendants to burn in everlasting hellfire? All for eating a fruit he told them not to eat? Would any parent do that to their child? "Belief in a cruel god makes a cruel people." - Thomas Paine, the greatest of America's founding fathers.
@kimellis8943 Thank you for that, now I don't have to say it. Lyrics to "The Ballad of Sally-Ann" Mark O'Connor/John Cowan led me here. Billie's Strange Fruit is about the most depressing, dreadful, stark song I have ever heard. I don't think I even came close to finding the right words to express what it does to me.
Just the expression on her face tells me this woman saw the graphic and disturbing images she's singing about. Gut wrenching and heart breaking. Rest easy Ms. Holiday ❤
Abel Meeropol wrote the music & lyrics under his pen name, Lewis Allan, in 1937. Billie Holiday started singing it 2 yrs later
@@AmandaInMourning still could have seen it
@@Insomnia_tic My mother was born in GA. She said they even hung children. 😢
You can truly hear the pain in her voice the most at stop and crop. How could a person do that to another person it makes me sick.
"How could a person do that to another person.....?"..... you asked?
unfortunately.....the same way a person could do that to any other living thing on this entire planet?
humans aren't any more special to some humans..... than cows, pigs, or chickens are to every single butcher.
it used to make me sick but now..... if I detect even the slightest scent of that old fruit..... I get angry..... take action immediately..... get rid of it like garbage gone bad fast.
letting sick people make us sick is how sickness spreads, right?
sermon over..... sorry for picking on your casual cliche to make a point there homie.....
(*Black Panther gang sign*)
Hy, yes and one can see the pain in her face also
Evil people
The USA hasn't changed that much. Now the police are doing the killing.
DEVIL
I just watched her documentary on Hulu I had to hear the lyrics to this song it's sad that the government tried to silence the truth she was a beautiful soul rest in peace Billie Holiday
Me, too, Gemini! SMDH
you can hear the pain in her voice having to describe what she saw in the world she lived in along with her emotionless face.
she didn't write the song it was an old poem written 3 years prior
Abel Meeropol wrote the music & lyrics under his pen name, Lewis Allan, in 1937. She started singing it 2 yrs later in 1939.
She is not emotionless??? She is almost in tears the whole song.
@@clpasztor I think it's more the thousand yard stare that made them say that
Y’all niggas are soft these days omm
Heartbreakingly beautiful.
raw emotional performance
And MORE!!
Beautifully stated.
Raw
I feel sad
my stomach turns listening to this...how can there be so much evil in a person? I love the world too much. And hope someday future generations know what discriminating does to their soul and mind ,no matter what color, race,sex, nationality, culture or religion we are...
Beautiful comment sister !! ONE DAY!!! We getting there
Add to that unborn and vaccinated or not
Perfectly said we need more ov people like u keep on doin wat y doin the good people r next 2u
Agree keep it real
I heard that this song was always devastating for Billie Holiday to sing, but she felt there was no choice. There is an unforgettable angry moment in a live recording of this song. There is applause after Holiday announces the next song will be "Strange Fruit." In a voice that would cut glass, she murmurs: "I do hope you like it."
Tears... every time. bulging eyes, twisted mouth, dangling feet, torn and tattered clothes, extended broken necks, swollen heads, broken hands and limbs, missing body parts, bloody faces, bruises, white faces filled with hate, and the blood on the leaves. Thank you, Honorable Ms. Holiday.
This is the performance that changed my life. i was a schoolboy at an Essex (UK) Grammar and went to art class and painted a Salvador Dali style picture of a strange tree with strange things hanging from it's branches. the art master put it on the wall and later the English master asked me about it and I told him i had heard Billi H singing Strange Fruit and it affected me. After that I recall being a member of the Anti Apartheid League and prtoesting in London about the murder of black political leaders in Africa. I have a lifetime aversion to any kind of racial prejudice. I can look back on a long life and see how so many black artists influenced my taste (Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin......music connects us all.
Wonderful story.
Music indeed connects us all. Your life sounds magnificently purposeful
In case no one ever told you, I humbly thank you along with all those Brits that stood up for the ridiculous treatment of the hurt natives of the British empire around the world esp the people of Kenya. Now keep going soldier bad people do not rest so we can never do. once again thanks a lot.
Im from billericay yup dicky education prevents disintergration we r all the same because we r all diferent
From billericay dicky our children deserve the truth keep it real
What a brave and bold queen. She spoke for all black people past, present and future 😪😪
Forget away in a manger our children need to look bak at tragerdy to move forward with kindness and respect for everone reggardless we r are all the same because we r all diferent
She makes you hang on to every note with your heart racing as you clearly visualize her words. Painfully beautiful.
There should be a mandatory class in school based just on this song, as the core in teaching American history, slavery, racism, and other related issues.
It’s sad we don’t learn the actual history. We learn what the people wanna hear, about how “good” the country is. It’s never been good..
@@ynesmclain9757 perfect? No!! But good ? Yes!!! have u been to other countries?
Right winger Republicans will ban it and call it Critical race theory
@@goldsmithstudent It's probably cheaper for you to buy a plane ticket and come to my country for a surgical procedure than to do it in your own. Not saying your country is bad (just like mine, it could use a reformation) just don't bring other countries into it
@@ynesmclain9757 I mean, I guess it must be uncomfortable for a system to discuss issues that are still present in its roots, you know. It's also bad for patriotism, which obviously the US government relies a lot on
this is just sad people should not have to go through this. the pain in her voice and eyes says it all what was the world back then 😢
Back then didn't change with a flick of fingers.. Check your records as police go. You're just lucky in the USA that people don't riot for every wrongful death. and unlucky in the sense that you let things go; that said every nutjob and his uncle can buy a firearm or twelve.
The pain & deep sorrow of this song is earth shattering...her face & voice make it epic.
This is about racism and slavery. A very depressing and sad period of american history.
And racism reared its ugly head in America once again. The insurrection was specifically about white supremacy.
still there in 2021and here in the UK
Its still sad bud presently still happening.
No lynching!!! That still happens now and we're African Americans not on slavery
No I thought it was about it was about the hanging of two young black back in her generation but maybe
My Lord🥺this is so beautiful and tragic at the same time. I don’t know how anyone who hears this isn’t moved. It enrages me to know the horrifying reality of my ancestors! The wicked people of this land old and new will have their day of reckoning... one that can not be escaped, one with no mercy, one that their money or status will not get them out of.
THAT'S RIGHT SISTA
Amen 🙏🏾
It's sooo tiring to keep hearing this sht.. Billie & all like her deserve to be REMINDED & have their place HISTORY that's FACT... But not to be USED as an excuse to start more sht against people that had nothing to do with it & alot of white folks faught against the wrong doings of those who enforced it... HISTORY is full of SADNESS & WRONG DOING.. It's to be learned from and the people ( black & white ) that lived & died should be RESPECTED.. We are flawed humans.. We all bleed RED... Being RACIST to fight against RACIST just keeps creating RACIST (black & white) stop listening to the media... Act on your own experiences.. Break the cycle
@@reneescott545 tired of hearing it ? Imagine constantly having to live through it ..sit down with your fake woke privilege tail self
Someone recently just got lynched nimrod ..we aren’t imagine it it’s HAPPENING to us ..if you are not currently looking for a solution or to be an ally don’t speak on shit that have nothing to do with you
@@reneescott545 I’m confused on exactly what you are talking about or why! Black people do not have the power to be racists. That’s first of all! Prejudice is one thing, racists is another, and I’m NEITHER of those things. My ancestors put their lives on the line for shit we still go through today, it’s just a more modern showing of it, so don’t tell me how to feel! I’m wise, and like i said , those who wronged black people back then AND today will reap what they sow! That’s not my word, that’s the word of the MOST HIGH!
Billie holiday was defiantly a powerful force, she kept singing when they spent years trying to hush her. To think even this very song we’re still able to see and hear cause she was a fighter ❤️
Sickening then and even more Sickening in today's world. Ms. Hoilday is singing about the truth of what was being, and yes the truth hurts.
A tear every time ...
ME TOO
Every time I hear this song, I get so sad that I don’t even tear up, I just sit in agony thinking about all of the terrible things my ancestors have done.
She died soon after this, without money or help. A shocking case in US history, unforgivable.
You can tell that she has lived through and seen a lot. The roughness of her voice sent chills down my spine.
Such a brave woman for singing this at the time.
How can you make such ugly lyrics sound so angelic and beautiful. Painfully beautiful. My 10 year old daughter and I watched her movie and we discussed the topic. Such an uncomfortable topic but it will never be forgotten. RIP Miss. Holiday, thank you for your bravery!
Ugly lyrics? You understand what she's singing about???
@@marieclare-ue6kl Unfortunate turn of phrase, but I am sure what they mean is the beautiful lyrics describing an ugly truth. Or at least I HOPE that's what they mean!
Definitely what they meant for sure @@vaibhavgarg1982
Every word and every syllable delivered with intolerable weight and heartwrenching beauty. Two and a half minutes to perfectly incapsulate centuries of suffering.
I was maybe 15 when our English teacher taught us this song. Still echoing in my memory 40 years later. Love from France. Peace on us all.
Astonishing composure . . . nerves of steel and a heart of gold.
What a song and what a delivery. True artistic talent. Love from Ireland 🇮🇪
My sweet dad introduced me to this haunting song. I’m so grateful he did. I love her and everytime I hear this, I get misty eyed.
Happy Birthday Lady Day! I could hear the pain in your voice when you sing this song. A sad and true song it is and you bring it to life like no one else.
I'm here because I'm watching the movie on Hulu, hearing this brings a deafening sound of ignorance growing up knowing none of this, not being racist isn't enough. Jesus.
I did too today
What movie on Hulu. I just heard about this via a tik tok video
A MASTERPIECE OF HISTORICAL RACIAL VIOLENCE, AS SUNG BY A MASTERFUL VOCALIST---PERIOD!
Probably the most powerful rendition of any song I have ever heard. The song makes me despair of the inhumanity of man. It wrenches your guts out . Many human beings have no right to be on this earth.
This was personal to her. Haunting.
She felt every word.
One of the greats.
Powerful, thanx for all your great worx, R.I.P. :) reality
This gave me the chills, such an powerful song. Just wow.
What an angel warrior!
I just got the wildest chills listening to this
Nobody sings this song like BILLIE!!! U feel it deep down... no yelling, or extra emphasis, but it really made ppl LISTEN!!! Drugs are devastating to ppl’s loved ones. RIH “Lady Day” U will be forever remembered & loved
The truth of "Strange Fruit" hurts... -
**Billie Your Song is so true even to this day.**
I had heard about this song but until today I was honestly afraid to hear it. My white fragility kept me from it. In honor of black history month, I have been researching different black people and Ms Holiday came up. So I came to listen….my God what these people witnessed, what they endured! Watching loved ones, friends, family, even strangers….. I’m appalled!
I know that the more I did and learn the more I get sick by what was done and I feel strongly that until we white people get truly uncomfortable with what happened then we cannot make the necessary changes to break down the oppressive system we created!
Love to all!
Yes, Yes. You are so correct!
The lyrics are so graphic and disturbing yet beautiful and create an image like poetry, it sounds like something you’d hear today. It’s really strange. Miss Holiday managed to tap into something powerful to convey her message that, despite it being about horrors from another time (that still wasn’t too long ago), her delivery and words haven’t dated at all.
The great woman we adore and love who sang this iconic song, had no vote. Freaks me out.
How can u not love this! So classic and so beautiful puts new billboard songs in shame! Thank u Billie, rest in peace!
At first, I didn't understand the lyrics and when I did, damn. This is one painful yet beautiful song.
One sad and incredibly brave woman. This voice..just actually up watching Diana Ross playing her..she's beautiful..tragic lyrics captured by how intense she/ this song truly was..vid about her formerhome outlandish priced.beautiful & She couldn't have been more tragically gifted ..today's value of her home..but she died broke very loved & valued still today.heroine use is so common amongst extremely important voices...makes you ponder that..
Billie Holiday was a Civil Rights Icon!
Watching “Lady Sings the Blues” and came to find the lyrics! God bless the souls that were strange fruit from the evilness of others!!
Billie Holiday left us a history lesson through this song
Haunting, but warm. I also gotta say that this is hands down the coldest, hardest song I've heard. What's funny is that the darkest images were sung like a lullaby
Tragic, and twisted. And beautiful. And masterfully rendered.
Beginning to feel this 💯, at 50, how can you not
Thank you Billie for being a strong beautiful pioneer
The key is to realize that our talent are from God and should be expressed freely to heal and uplift all human beings. The trouble comes when we compromise them for Fame and fortune.
Hurts my heart, and shreds my soul every time
RIP Lady Day and Abel Meerapol who had the insight and courage to pen this gut wrenching poem
So much pain, and our government tries to hide it, as if they had real shame. 💔💔💔
Fight for freedom never ends!
That was so haunting. It gave me chills.
What was the original poem Strange Fruit?
Originally a poem called Bitter Fruit, it was written by the Jewish school teacher Abel Meeropol under the pseudonym Lewis Allen in response to lynching in US southern states. “I wrote Strange Fruit because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it,” Meeropol said in 1971.
Some people would say back home all that blood in the ground and all those slaves owners are eating that strange fruit 🤔 especially in their garden and that years and years of it , heartbreaking 💔 still now love her,
The truth will get you killed. The government is still true to their actions. This beautiful, beautiful story teller is resting in peace. 02/28/2022
My God the pain and beauty radiates from her it gives me chills.
My god this is so deep de most beautiful voice. My heart breaks small small parts.
I love Billy Holiday.
Meravigliosa.....era meravigliosa....l’unica che con un filo di voce riusciva a trasmettere tutto.....
This lady's voice is soooooooo amazing, and she's beautiful 💕
Non conoscevo questa cantante ne la sua storia ....oggi è avvenuta questa epifania e sono piacevolmente " devastata " dalla sua intensità del tutto ....emozionante
I just learned about this song on Billy Crystal's HBO show "700 Sundays." He told the fascinating story of how his uncle and father, big lovers of jazz, produced this song. Billie Holiday couldn't find any of the bigtime record producers to do it. "Too controversial" - and no one wanted to hear the truth. This song, this version of it with Billie Holiday signing, should be an important part of our history.
What a voice, what truthfully disturbing song, story, done with a gorgeous voice❤️💔❤️
She is so beautiful and her story is so sad and powerful❤️💔🔥❤️
So very sad... I hope this attitude changes...
As long as there are people on this earth, there will be prejudice. The sad thing is this is a LEARNED characteristic. I will never understand why people choose to hate for reasons of religion, race, sex, etc.
I am Mexican and I did not know that slavery existed until my family and I moved to the United states, the pain in this woman eyes and the pain on her voice speaks louder than this song, we need more woman like this in this world, my total respect to Mrs. Billie Hliday
Powerful ... our History 🎵 🎶 🎵 🎶 🙏✊👊💪BLM BLM BLM BLM
JUST KNOW A LETTER CAN TURN INTO A SONG FOREVER...SELUTE AND SHALOM...
Holy shit what a powerful song. I kept seeing it mentioned in songs about change but this is the first time I heard it.
it's not about change but about pain and old views still in place. i think East and west coast rap claim different roots. The east claimed the deep as his their historical right. they fought for it;
how about a bet that you discovered roots on that song : ua-cam.com/video/6VCdJyOAQYM/v-deo.htmlsi=AYli6A6WGP5EeJId
Eu sou brasileiro e aqui no Brasil, não entendemos porque grupos que dizem defender as causas negras não colocam em evidência as pessoas que lutaram pelo fim da escravidão e da perseguição, incluindo aqueles do exterior.
No Brasil, ficarmos impressionados com a segregação norte americana, tipo bairros exclusivamente negros ou latinos.
Meu país não é perfeito, mas, as pessoas de relacionam naturalmente sem essa questão racial, principalmente após a abolição da escravidão.
Billie Holiday foi uma heroína, um símbolo feminino de muita coragem mesmo sendo uma mulher naquela época em que mulheres não tinham direito de voz.
Billie Holiday foi uma mulher com muito mais coragem que outros homens da sua época e de nossa época.
Que heróis assim que lutaram pelo fim da escravidão (qualquer que seja) segregação (qualquer que seja), sejam reconhecidos e ovacionados pelo mundo inteiro, sempre!
this breaks my heart every time
Amazing! Most beautiful! First time I heard and it brought tears to my eyes.
America the beautiful. PARADOX AND IRONY THINGS...Though i'm a korean I can feel those fruits Swinging in the southern bloody breeze...crazy metaphor...Heart-breaking song...
ran a chill through my spine
Thank you Billie Holiday 👏🙏👏🙏
Love her and she wrote this song from her own experience when on tour with her musicians in the south RIP ✌🖤
Gr8 song by 1 of the greatest.
Whew.....I'll need to mark my calendar. First day I heard this (!)
this might be the greates art the usa has ever produced.
Hauntingly beautiful
I love her.
First listening to this.. and even still now gives me chills. Wow, may not be that long but sure is powerful
The Honorable Ms. Billie Holiday sang it such that the entire morbid atmosphere could be felt. We wonder if descendants of those responsible and sitting in the audience were able to listen and actually clap. What must one have to do or have done to be born with such a mind and conscience to be able to commit such horrific crimes against other humans for almost 2 decades.
“Strange Fruit”, originally titled “Bitter Fruit”, was authored by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher from New York City, who was outraged after seeing a photograph of a horrific lynching in a civil-rights magazine : a shot of two black men hanging from a tree after they had been lynched in 1930. Those men are the “Strange Fruit.”
Meeropol later said : “I wrote ‘Strange Fruit’ because I hate lynching, I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it.”
In 1939, Billie Holiday had just quit Artie Shaw’s band and was the featured attraction at the Café Society club. One Robert Gordon, who worked at the club, brought the song to her attention and suggested she sing it. Holiday did play it to an integrated audience at the Café Society, and her version popularized “Strange Fruit” (1939). From then on, it became the last number of the setlist in all her concerts.
Columbia Records, Holiday’s label, refused to release “Strange Fruit”, so she turned to Commodore Records to issue it.
In her autobiography, Lady Day claimed that she had penned the blues-jazz lay, which was untrue. Sadly, toward the end of her life, she had a lot of drug problems and would make unreliable statements.
In 1999, “TIME” magazine voted this the SONG OF THE CENTURY. Ironically, when it first came out, it was denounced by the same publication as “A piece of musical propaganda”❕
Nona Hendryx*, who revived “Strange Fruit” in 2012, would often interpret the air, adding in parts of Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a dream” speech.
ONE HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT STANDARD… THEN, NOW & FOR AEONS‼️ 🖤❤️🤍
Always loved, never forgotten, forever missed will you remain, Eleanora Fagan, a.k.a. Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959)… 🌹
* Nona Hendryx is a distant cousin of Jimi Hendrix. Her last name was originally spelled with an “i”.
The chills I get from this song are unlike any other feeling I've had. 🥶🥶🥶
And to think after every lynching they had a picnic😳 that's why we don't have picnics we have barbecues
What the %********. I.didnt.know that
I didn’t know that…I’ll never have a picnic again in my life.
urban myth, there is no connection between the word picnic and lynchings
Wow this is on another ❤level😢
I listened to this song on a record in my teens. I cried once I realized what it was about. This song still makes me cry.
You can feel the pain and sadness in her performance. And her tragic story makes it even more heart breaking. What a great artist.
SOCIETY PERSECUTED THIS BEAUTIFUL WOMAN....NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED....😢😢😢😢🙏🙏🙏🙏
Hello Sharon. How long have you been following up this song now?
this song is everything, and youtube comments cheapen everything
Its the first am listening this song you can see the pain in her voice This hurts knowing ours ancestors went though all that really sad