“Strange Fruit” And The State of Modern Protest Songs
A look back at Billie Holiday’s acclaimed single—and why it remains untouchable to this day.
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
If you’ve been playing awards season catch-up, you’re probably aware of Hulu’s The United States vs Billie Holiday. Despite its not-so-positive reception, the Lee Daniels-directed biopic managed to snag its star Andra Day a well-deserved Academy Award nomination after taking home the Golden Globe. What caught my interest more than any performance or accolade, was the film’s focus on Holiday’s single “Strange Fruit,” which protested the lynchings of Black Americans that took place in the 1930’s.
I knew of Holiday beforehand, obviously, but Daniels’ disjointed albeit oddly captivating melodrama threw me into the rabbit hole of biographies and anecdotes about the famous jazz singer and her work. “Strange Fruit'' especially feels like a product of its time, but the song’s legacy remains unmatched. All I could think of during repeat listenings was how this simple tune was one of the best-written songs I’ve ever heard—and how well it still holds up today amidst substanceless storytelling that characterizes much of our mainstream politically-focused art.
“Strange Fruit” was written in 1937 by Abel Meeropol, an American poet born to Russian Jewish immigrants. It started as a poem, which he later put to music and performed with his wife and friends in different social settings. The song would become synonymous with Holiday in 1939, when she was famously introduced to the lyrics by an acquaintance at the Café Society in Greenwich Village. It then spun two recordings, and became her closing song to end shows with.
There are many reasons for the song’s cultural and historical impact. Of course, it wouldn’t have worked the same without the raw sensibilities in Holiday’s voice—her unique vowel breaking and a distinctive rasp setting her apart from other female jazz singers of her time. In her rendition of “Strange Fruit,” the captivating yet melancholic piano and trumpet intro set a brooding atmosphere early on and continue to compliment her voice throughout.
What struck me most on a first listen however, were Meeropol’s lyrics. Vivid imagery paints a grotesque picture of black bodies hanging from trees in the deep south. Fruit acts as several metaphors at once; the corpses hanging from trees like produce, the bitter taste such a sight would leave in one’s mouth, and so on. Southern hospitality is mocked, as “gallant south” is rhymed with “twisted mouth,” and “magnolias, sweet and fresh” with “the sudden smell of burning flesh.” Sung by a Black woman, the lyrics feel painful and urgent, rather than empty and sensationalistic.
Poetry aside, it felt refreshing to hear a protest song touch on the specificity of its subject matter while being unafraid to convey such bold and uncomfortable imagery. Nowadays, that’s rare.
Decades after “Strange Fruit,” our country still finds itself fighting many of the same fights. Most modern-day lynchings—like the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery—look quite different from what Meeropol and Holiday describe in the song, but they continue to happen. And last year saw one of the biggest civil uprisings in our country’s history after the killing of George Floyd.
Needless to say, it didn’t take long for celebrity activism to become normalized under Donald Trump’s administration—or for many of their songs to become generic and monotonized. Saturday Night Live made light of the unspecificity in many of today’s “girl power” anthems back in 2016, with their iconic “This is Not a Feminist Song.” But as global events like the COVID-19 pandemic continue to shift the focus of many social issues back to class and privilege, audiences have found themselves getting more cynical, taking into question the real intent behind so many artists’ efforts to “change the world.”
There’s nothing more reflective of that sentiment than this year’s awards season.
During the Grammys on March 14, rapper Lil Baby performed his song “The Bigger Picture,” about the ongoing racial justice movement. His performance featured images of police brutality throughout—including a mock-up of a Black man getting shot by the police. Although many were quick to applaud him for putting out a strong message, the Twitter response seemed mixed.
Quite a few Black users expressed irritation at this for being yet another reminder of the traumatic events that characterized 2020. Others made fun of the repetitive and often generic nature of these awards show performances.
While the Oscars are being celebrated for a year full of diverse and deserving nominees, I can’t help but think the Best Original Song category feels lacking. I say this despite three of the five nominees coming from films with heavy and important subject matter. It will be interesting to see audiences react to the performances of these songs come Sunday night’s ceremony.
This is not to say that gripping songs about our country’s social and political climate haven’t been made in recent years, or that they can’t still be made. P!nk’s “Dear Mr. President” was a scalding critique of George Bush’s presidency in 2005. Childish Gambino’s 2018 hit “This Is America” (and its incendiary music video), is a more recent example that comes to mind. If anything, it’s great that artists can be vocal about almost anything nowadays, without the threat of political persecution that Holiday faced.
It says a lot that we’ve progressed past the idea that social activism is somehow revolutionary, and that politics are now blatantly reflected in much of the media we consume. But it’s also scary to think about how much messages like the one in “Strange Fruit” continue to echo in today’s popular culture—so much so that we’ve become numb to them.
Still, no matter how you slice it, there will never be another song like it. ■