Noise du Jour: “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holliday
Posted by John Brownlee
This is music, at its rawest, most powerful, most visceral. Billie Holliday, her face racked with passion, describing the blue, black, purple faces of lynched corpses, the weight of their bruised bodies held up by shattered necks creaking the cheap cord rope as they sway under a tree in the wind. “Strange Fruits” was originally written by a Jewish scoolteacher who witnessed the lynching of two black men and Holliday reportedly performed the song in fear that she was describing her own end. The Wikipedia entry is very informative, for a change.
Strange Fruit [YouTube]
Categories: Racism, Jazz, Violence, Horror, Noise du Jour, Music
Posted at 10:10 am on September 7, 2007
3 Comments -
Cassandra Wilson does a great cover of this song on her debut album on Blue Note records. With only the most minor of adjustments to the song, in her low and sultry voice, it does great justice to the power of Billie Holliday’s performance.
Comment by Don Ramo — September 7, 2007 @ 7:06 pm
Nina Simone does a great version too, a little less fragile and afraid, a little more savage and passionate. Jeff Buckley does a very pretty, more moderated live version thats strangely reminiscent of Cab Calloway.
Comment by Sonya — September 7, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
This is my favorite Billy Holiday performance -of an incredibly haunting, poetic, surreal and heartbreaking song.
By the way, I sent you something in the mail this week John.
Amy
Comment by Amy Crehore — September 7, 2007 @ 11:01 pm