The Power Of Poetry With "Strange Fruit"
- Kelly Michelle Thomas
- Nov 11, 2022
- 3 min read
Do these words sound familiar to you? Well, it's because these are the lyrics to the song "Strange Fruit" originally sung by Billie Holiday and later covered by Nina Simone. That's right, "Strange Fruit" was originally a poem written by Jewish American Abel Meeropol.
THE AUTHOR ABEL
Abel Meeropol was born February 10, 1903 in Bronx, New York and was the son of Jewish immigrants. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School and wrote for the schools newspapers and literary magazines. Abel attended New York City's college where he continued to write and, in 1926, completed a Masters degree in English literature at Harvard. Abel would then later marry Anne Shaffer and the both became teachers at the same high school Abel attended.
In 1936, Abel saw a gruesome photograph of the lynching of two teenage boys, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, and became so repulsed by the photo he wrote a poem about it called "Bitter Fruit". The poem was then published in The New York teacher in 1937 and was later published in the Marxist Journal called The New Masses. In November of 1938, Abel changed the title of the poem to "Strange Fruit" and set it to Music. He and his wife Anne would perform the song at teachers unions events, protest rallies, and even at Madison Square, but the song did not get much recognition until he met Billie.
BILLIE HOLIDAY AND "STRANGE FRUIT"
Billie Holiday was a prolific and iconic jazz singer at this time. When the owner of Cafe Society (the first intergrated cabaret in New York) heard Meeropol perform the song, he asked if he could play if for Billie as she was the clubs headliner performer. Although hesitant at first to sing a political song, Billie agreed and the response from the audience was massive. Billie soon made the song her closing number to all of her live performances and eventually recorded the song with Commodore Records where the song gained more popularity despite resistance from radio stations in the south who refused to play the record. Billie's 1939 recording of "Strange Fruit" would then sell a million copies making it her best-selling record.
However, not everyone loved the record. The song became such a powerful protest anthem that it even pissed off the US Government, especially the racist Federal Bureau Of Narcotics commissioner, Harry Anslinger, who was determined to destroy the singer and stop the message from being spread. Harry Anslinger had ordered Billie to stop performing the song, but when Billie denied his request, Harry sent agents from his department to sell her heroine and frame her. Billie ended up spending more than a year in prison and was stripped of her cabaret performers license when she was released 1948, which successfully sabotaged her nightclub career. She would later succumb to her drug use and ended up in the hospital 1959 due to heart and liver problems from the years of drug and alcohol related consumption. Harry Anslinger sent agents to the hospital to handcuff Billie to the gurney and forbid doctors to provide further treatment. Billie passed away days later on July 17, 1959 at the age of 44.
NINA SIMONE AND "STRANGE FRUIT"
Nina Simone often brought attention to deep political issues with her performances and was compelled to cover Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" and the rendition of the song was featured on her 1965 studio album Pastel Blues. Nina's rendition delivers a deep, guttural, and emotional gut punch leaning more towards and seemingly ominous minimalistic style rather than a jazzy one. It forces the listener to sit and hear the pain of not just an artist but a human being with her grief-filled tone.
In 1999, "Strange Fruit" was named Song of the Century by Time magazine and has since been covered and sampled by many artists and is still a song used in protests as well as movies and tv shows. It's quite a marvel to think, what started off from a photograph, turned into a poem, turned into a powerful and political song, to then be named Song of the Century is a true testament of the power of poetry.
S O U R C E S
ABEL MEEROPOL "BITTER FRUIT" https://perspectives.ushmm.org/item/abel-meeropol-bitter-fruit
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