BrainCoplin07

In 1931 in New York City, Billie Holiday first sings "Strange Fruit" in a popular cabaret club called Café Society.
                                               
The crowd, expecting Holiday's song to be about love or dancing in the moonlight, instead were stunned for awhile after Holiday sings the last line "Here is a strange and bitter crop". In her autobiography, Holiday commented, "There wasn't even a patter of applause when I finished. Then a lone person began clapping nervously. Then suddenly everyone was clapping." 

Obviously, the crowd's initial reaction was not surprising given that lynching was considered a sport during the 1930s. Although picnic is based off of the French word, pique-nique, blacks were still persecuted in a picnic-like setting which made many people today associate lynching with the word picnic. Still, the timing of the song was in a period where lynching was considered moderately acceptable. However, the timing was perfect because famous incidents such as the Emmet Till case or the Scottsboro Boys case occurred around the same time which ultimately led to the Civil Rights movement.

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The fact that the crowd began clapping shows that some people had felt lynching was wrong but were too afraid to speak up about it. I believe that with them hearing that song, they finally realized they needed to do something about it. As I've stated before, the timing for the song to be created and song couldn't have been better.

My Keys

I am not someone who claims to know an extensive amount about music. I cannot analyze chords like an expert, I cannot name notes and keys off the top of my head. That being said, upon listening to Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," I could not help but to be captivated by the strength and emotion of her voice, and the way the sounds of the instruments seem to speak to you. Throughout the song's intro, the prolonged, somber piano notes set the stage for Holiday's unconventional lyrics as she describes the lynching of Black Americans in the South. Holiday's vocal style, too, is so impactful in painting a story throughout the song. She draws out and emphasizes lyrics such as "southern breeze" and, when describing the dead, "bulging eyes and the twisted mouth." This vocal variation causes you to become more attentive to the stressed lyrics. You ponder a bit more the truly disgusting crimes that are racism and lynching as Holiday laments upon the end result for the victims.

 Holiday's language also speaks volumes. The phrase, "pastoral scene of the gallant south" uses sarcasm to criticize Southerners, supposedly so morally upright and fearlessly valiant, murder innocent people because of their race. The comparison of "black bodies" to "strange fruit" is as well extremely unconventional, yet it is this unconventionality that again contributes to Holiday's style.

Certain elements of "Strange Fruit" are reminiscent of MLK's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." While they speak through different mediums, both Holiday and King use their voice and style to criticize the racist, bigoted actions against Black Americans. They develop an image of people fighting against numerous odds.

-Natalia de Gravelles