{"id":344,"date":"2017-10-31T03:40:45","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T03:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/?p=344"},"modified":"2017-10-31T03:40:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T03:40:45","slug":"assignment-2-strange-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gcornish.digitalscholar.rochester.edu\/MHS123_Fall2017\/assignments\/music-power-politics\/assignment-2-strange-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment #2 “Strange Fruit”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cStrange Fruit\u201d: An American Protest Song\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0by Livio Fasullo<\/span><\/p>\n

“Strange Fruit”- Abel Meerpol<\/p>\n

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit,<\/span><\/p>\n

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,<\/span><\/p>\n

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,<\/span><\/p>\n

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,<\/span><\/p>\n

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,<\/span><\/p>\n

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,<\/span><\/p>\n

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,<\/span><\/p>\n

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,<\/span><\/p>\n

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is a strange and bitter crop.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 In 1939 Billie Holiday sang \u201cStrange Fruit\u201d, the poem above, set to music for an integrated audience at New York City`s Cafe Society. After she finished the audience was silent until one patron began to nervously applaud. (http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/first\/m\/margolick-fruit.html)\u201cStrange Fruit\u201d became one of Billie Holiday’s signature songs, and she would perform it nightly at the \u201cCafe Society\u201d and wherever else it was safe to perform. (http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/books\/first\/m\/margolick-fruit.html) Although Holiday`s label Columbia Records, refused to record it, and many radio stations refused to play it, \u201cStrange Fruit\u201d was quite successful.<\/span><\/p>\n