People don’t understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it. Billie Holiday
The weekend is here! On Friday nights, I love listening to music and having a good time. One of my favorite genres is jazz, especially performances by Billie Holiday. First, as an activist, her songs symbolize resistance for the Black community. Second, her voice is simply unforgettable—it makes me connect to deep emotion.
I learn more about her career and life after watching the movie The United States vs. Billie Holiday. It was directed by Lee Daniels and cast by Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Natasha Lyonne, Evan Ross, and others. It’s a biography of Billie. Her performances, her love life, the violence cycle she lived, her period in jail, and drug addiction.
The movie starts with text about the lynching of black individuals that occurred in the United States since the 1930s. This continued until the creation of the Civil Rights in the 1950s and 1960s.
The song “Strange Fruit” was composed by Abel Meeropol and recorded in 1939 by Holiday. The song is based on a poem from Meeropol. It is a protest of the lynching that occurred in the Southern U.S.A. against black people. This violence reached a peak in the early 20th century. The song compares the victims of lynching with the fruits on the trees.
“Strange Fruit” is based on the lynching of black a North American; thus, its lyrics were consider controversial. This song was prohibited to be sung on many occasions; however, the public continued to ask Holiday to sing it. She was a rebel and refused to stop singing it. Once she was on stage, she knew she would have the support of Lester Young. He was her saxophonist. Therefore, she sang it as many times as she wanted. This was the excuse Antinarcotic from the FBI used to jailed, arrested, and harassed her. They even planted drugs on her on many occasions.
“Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees”
This song, without a doubt, was one of the best moments of her career. In 1978, it was included in the Grammy Hall of Fame. It was also mentioned in the list as “Song of the Century”. Many singers made versions of the song. These include Nina Simone, Diana Ross, Jeff Buckley, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.
The song USA Government once wanted to silence became an icon. It is not only representative of the last century. It is a symbol for all the black individuals who are being shot in the country. The government (police) is responsible. Today blood is on the road and not on the leaves of the trees.
If Holiday were to be here today, I am sure she will sing the song from her heart. The context for the black community has not changed. There is a hierarchical and institutionalized racism that prevails over ‘human rights’ of the black individuals.
References
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Billie-Holiday
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