Billie Holiday’s Interpretation of ‘Strange Fruit

"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 Pastoral scene of the gallant South The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop"

"Strange Fruit" was written to draw attention to the hangings of black Americans and general slavery of people at that time and the way it effected people's lives. The song also draws attention to how most Americans at that time didn't believe that they were doing something wrong or that it was even happening at all which may be why Billie chose to use the metaphor of fruit in the title of the song as fruit growing from trees isn't an abnormal thing to see in everyday life.

During her performance long held notes half an octave higher than he rest of her singing appears out of tune but is intended to resemble the pained screams of the people this was happening to, and again also done to draw the interest of the american people by including obscure techniques and lyrical content in which she makes the song her own with a specific style and feeling, "Strange Fruit" is also unique in the way it has been written as it uses the format of a poem of three paragraphs of four lines where each line ends with the same letter with the exception of the third and fourth line of the first verse where the lines end with two similar sounding words.

The delivery and feel in the music is very stripped back containing a single piano to accompany Billie's vocals which have a flat lowered tone and only change to highlight specific words and bare a large amount of subtle techniques to highlight the main message of the song, and the length of the song is as short as it can be without losing any details, and each event described is exactly as it would have been seen realistically, Billie has done this to stress the importance of the issue.

Billie's use of lyrics are a metaphor for the american culture, morals, and society of the 1920's, she does this by alternating angelic and hell-like descriptions in each line of the second verse "Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh" in which she highlights the differences between the socially believed reality of a welcoming church going America and the truth of what was actually happening at the time where people were hung alive from trees, power lines, and street lights.

The first verse causes curiosity through the use of the metaphoric first line "Southern trees bear a strange fruit" in which people would ask why the fruit is "strange", the second line reveals part of what was so "strange" about the fruit trees as they had "Blood on the leaves and blood at the root" creating a silhouette-like image of trees covered in blood with something unusual hanging from from the trees. Billie then reveals what was hanging from the trees "Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze" the choice of wording for this line has a similarly disturbing lyrical contrast to the second verse in which the words "Black bodies" show that it was "black" people who were hanging from the trees, the use of alliteration adds an added emphasis on these words, the use of the word "bodies" shows that they have been there for at least a few days or more, but the use of the words " swingin' in the southern breeze" shows a eerily peaceful setting. Billie then returns to a slightly different rework of the first line.