Billie Holiday - "Strange Fruit"

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thekanadiankousin (1 month ago) i know i did a little report on it in my class, but it happened rapidly in southern states. i know it happened in other places though

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bc2358 (1 month ago) It wasn't just southerns, it was east, west, north and south do not be fooled from what you hear or read.
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thekanadiankousin (1 month ago) I've seen pictures of southerners lynching black men. What I've seen is completely inhuman , i mean how could you even be consider yourself to be human after doing that to not only black men but to any person just because they are different?

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BlackLaval (1 month ago) Same here, I saw the picture that inspired these lyrics, look at the man at the front pointing at the hanging bodies, look at his eyes...
That's not human, that's something other, evil
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QuanKaulitz (1 month ago) have you seen the photo that made Abel Meeropol write this poem.? it was sung by Billie Holiday but he wrote it as a poem first. he said the photo haunted him for days.i can imagine why.its disturbing to the fullest.
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JonathanGardnerTV (1 month ago) Oh my god. The pain in that last note says it all. Wow...*Adds to favs*
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MiZzLondaSwaggaDyme (1 month ago) Brought tears to my soul and out of my eyes. Wow, So beautiful and sad @ the same time... Does anyone else feel what i feel?

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Triggernappy (1 month ago) YEAH

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jolieprelude (1 month ago) The lyrics, and her voice are hurting me. I can feel the pain that black people were feeling at this time in the song. I will never understand why human kill.
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ckazee2007 (1 month ago) Are these people serious? Why are there so many off the wall comments? This is one of the best vocalists in recorded music history delivering an important and emotionally charged message that only a legendary icon like Billie could convey. Most all of you are ignorant for getting so off topic.
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kcortani12 (1 month ago) Let's all love one another and tolerate each other's differences; can you hear that message in her songs? Let's drop all the judgment and get along for her sake; that's what this song is all about; people overlooking differences and getting along!!!
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vastoceanblue (1 month ago) I love Billie I own every song of hers I can find.
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dinosaurpileup (1 month ago) Please could you Americans stop trading swear words for a while, and appreciate one of your country's greatest artisits? Thank you from the UK

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TheSkandalouz (1 month ago) @dinosaurpileup I so agree with you!

Stop swear and let us enjoy the voice of Billie Holiday!
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421534 (1 month ago) So sadness video... Im colombian...
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Elyscomin (1 month ago) Monsieur, thank you for posting this.
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kenahardy (1 month ago) there is something about this song that sends chills down my back. I don't think that skin color matter, cause hate knows no color.
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Cast3131 (1 month ago) OMG....what a haunting song about lynchings. Billie has such a soulful voice. To think that a human being can do this to another human being....makes me sick.
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scooch2010 (1 month ago) she was amazing thanks for this open wound
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lilmisscuti19 (1 month ago) her lyrics about this terrible event has touched my heart !!!
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peruse1234 (1 month ago) please, people. let's appreciate the lady who had the cuyones to sing this song in a time of overt hostilities, and make it a compelling and respectful tribute to her courage to stand up and tell it like it was. thank you.
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saltnick407 (1 month ago) one of the very rare songs that bring tears to my eyes
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journey2xl (1 month ago) Never heard this before.....it's heart wrenching.....
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kingofpudding (1 month ago) Wow, this song is scary intense.
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ox0onixlatina0xo (1 month ago) am she's amazinqq, ive loved billie holiday since a project i did on her in 6th qrade lol
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rastheking (1 month ago) Some litte black girl sang this song at a hurricane Katrina benefit and it was touching
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horXhay (1 month ago) I heard this song on toughed by an angel and It made me cry..
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sharon733 (1 month ago) great jobs billie holiday! Took alot of nerve to a song at that time.
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nenaloca512 (1 month ago) the song is condemning racism and referring to the lynching of so many black people at the that time.
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andiering (1 month ago) Seriously people; the disrespect of this song is amazing. This is a song of "black people" hanging from trees like a "piece of fruit." No matter your race it is a song of sadness and hopefully the end of such behavior. A true song that has almost been lost. If you don't care, why respond in such a way?
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eleanor7rigby (1 month ago) Imagine what it must have been like to be a black woman in the 40's or 50's in the US, all that opression and suffering they had to endure and, hopefully overcome, to find that through the beautiful melancholy of blues and soul they could express and manifest all that baggage and create these gorgeous musical pieces.
Pain can be beautiful, Im sure I was a black woman in a past life :)

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KristiaCmusic (1 month ago) @eleanor7rigby
In southern states such as Louisiana where i live it Still continues to this day, its very sad but yet SO true. It may not be as Visual but its still going on
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jasdebifreak69 (1 month ago) i watched this today in social studies and had to watch it again...she is very emotional in this song, i like it, shes a great singer...i dont think i would be able to sing this, just because of the postion it put her in...she was pretty brave, and the writer of the song was very vivid in the song, im glad he choose her to sing it^^

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ladysingstheblues101 (1 month ago) Absolutely amazing and haunting
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adrianrdriscoll (1 month ago) Phenomenal! Brought me to tears!!! WOW! Once again WOW! Go Billie
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shirleen33 (1 month ago) I wish people would just put aside their crude, rude and negtive comments, irrelevant of their opinions and just enjoy the wonderful talent and music of Billie.

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HelenDiazOfficial (4 weeks ago) So is such a powerful performer. Beautiful and raw, i love this.

In regards to all of the other comments- please keep it to topic, lifes too short to mess around and spread hatred and insults, cheers.
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Zetsu101019 (3 weeks ago) wow, now that I've read what this song is about, it seems obvious. this song is about lynching, which was heavy in the time that Billie grew up in.
Lynching is so grotesque, it must have been a terrible thing for any sane person to see...
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OMFGxSONIA (3 weeks ago) I love Billie holiday...she is amazing..
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shedoom (3 weeks ago) This song is beautiful, but when you know what it means. It just breaks your heart...
P.S. I'm a white and I am NOT a racist, I wish to see the day when everybody is treated equally.
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foulkes52 (3 weeks ago) myy shes classy. that woman really made music what is, and theres noone you can compare to her unique style.
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scaepgoat (3 weeks ago) Such a powerful song.
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lrbolokoski (3 weeks ago) Strange Fruit was written in response to the horrors of southern racism. It stands today still, 70 years later, as a reminder of the results of hatred, and prejudice. I am disgusted at this board. I think this comment board would be better with less bickering and more accountability for ourselves. If we forget the mistakes of our ancestors, then we are likely to repeat history. That is what i see happening on this comment board. I plead mea culpa. Lets move forward using our differences for good
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junglefevva (3 weeks ago) I absolutely love, love that song, it's filled with a lot of pain and compassion. And i love Miss Billie too. Never seen the video to her performance though. She's the real McCoy.
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kdj009 (3 weeks ago) Incredible. She was incredible. And this song is so telling.
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bacofishtaco (3 weeks ago) Can you imagine being one of the white people in the front row of the club, the cigar falling out of your mouth when she gets to "black bodies in the Southern breeze". Amazing. Breath-taking performance.
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Ravenluc (3 weeks ago) Thank you Billie for having the audacity to deliver the realities of "Southern Existence" through song...
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cdjblue52 (3 weeks ago) Poignant, beautiful, moving, tragic.
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shmerification (3 weeks ago) Spam wow...just wow...i had goosebumps the whole time.
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Simplycg09 (3 weeks ago) Not many artists these days would take the risk she did back then. That's what makes her a legend. If she did only this song, and this one alone she still would have accomplished more than the so-called artists of today.
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TheZaibatsuCorp (3 weeks ago) racism is a bad beast....
we all are brothers....
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beutfulimagofgod (2 weeks ago) The only sad thing is that some people didn't actually get what the song meant...

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beutfulimagofgod (2 weeks ago) well from what I understand she didn't like singing the song for that very reason. Which in the end makes a lot of sense, why sing a song with so much meaning when people don't understand what it means?
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[Editor: These next two comments are in response to a deleted comment]
scrimeboy (2 weeks ago) of course, it IS a funeral song, for all the black people racism killed. take a look at the lyrics

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queenahsilat (2 weeks ago) @TVeliz1976 I don't know too many happy songs about lynchings...

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judeskiss (2 weeks ago) she heard the poem written by Abel Meeropol, who actually wrote it about lynching, and being inspired by her father's death and the content matter, she chose to sing it. she actually feared that she would receive huge retaliation for it afterwards because of the subject content.

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omally52 (2 weeks ago) ya its about lynching people. Strange fruit is people that are hanged i learned about it in my history class. I'm happy I live in Canada and dont experience racism =D

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Vidua (2 weeks ago) @omally52
I'm pretty sure there is also racism in Canada.

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fungus3688 (2 weeks ago) actually, if anyone bothered to read a book on holiday, she sang the song because it reminded her of how her father died - he was in texas going from hospital to hospital to treat a pneumonia (which is easily cured with penicillin). he was turned down from every place and eventually died. might as well have been lynched.

btw does anyone know if this is at Cafe Society?

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jonldn (2 weeks ago) @fungus3688 great post - this clip is from a show she did in England (Chelsea at 9?) and a few months before we lost her at only 44
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4huntboys (2 weeks ago) wow thats got some pretty intense meaning for sure

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smithw5 (2 weeks ago) A genius... my favorite Jazz singer....
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spartin13 (2 weeks ago) this song gives me goosebumps every time.
such emotion, imagery, power. its beautiful.
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witchman67 (1 week ago) What I think is really funny, is that there is a correlation between the amount of anger, hate, and bitterness in some of these posts, and the number of misspellings therein.
A great song, written by a Jewish guy, first performed in an alternative club in the Village, made most famous by an African-American woman.
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plumshoejeff (1 week ago) The emotion that emits from her voice....no one but Billie could make you "feel" ones pain like her.Thank You for your gift,Billie !!! God Bless !!
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mimibyrd (1 week ago) What a very powerful song. What a very powerful singer. I wish I could interpret that song the way she does. She really makes you feel like your there. It is beautiful and heartbreaking all the same.
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curiouschile (1 week ago) Thank you for this post. Lady Day is my heart. Thanks for the rarity ! xo -c-c-
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ErickB1971 (1 week ago) probably the saddest song ever
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rvaliant7 (1 week ago) ****
jennyisvcool (1 week ago) I'm white, and actually quite ashamed in seeing so, with past doings; but, i do know i, myself, am not even capable of thinking of such terrible things, for myself to carry out, on any-one. Billie Holiday sings with such pain, that you do feel almost each ounce; amazing.

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michie198 (1 week ago) @jennyisvcool this isnt an attack jus so u kno but i think its interestin cuz i bet a lot of white people who stood there while blacks were lynched thought they culdnt do such things either...but i think racism and peer pressure are more powerful than we give them credit...similar to nazi germany. many people knew but did nothing partly cuz of fear, partly cuz the whole "see no evil, hear no evil". if you acknowledge it, you have to stop it. if you dont stop it, u have to question ur being

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wings4marie (1 week ago) Well said, Jenny.

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jennyisvcool (1 week ago) thank you, wings4marie :)
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XkillerxbutterflyX (5 days ago) i saw this song in my gcse history class... its alkways stuck in my head, the fact she was singing this in clubs that blacks couldnt even go in.. just wow its soo sad... brilliant woman.. brilliant..

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godsonlygift1987 (6 days ago) this song makes me cry ....it just makes you think how people were so cruel back in the day...

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mywordsfly (6 days ago) @godsonlygift1987
They still are.
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trackstarlexi (4 days ago) this song is so sad.
to think that people actually had the HEART to hang other human beings. Not thinking about their families, their lives, or dreams. Its a cold world out there.....

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suusie1987 (4 days ago) am While i was watching her sing i could see and feel her emotion.
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Demonmobb (5 days ago) billie holiday a queen of jazz
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thewatersign (4 days ago) This is my first time really listening to her and all I have to say is Wow.....really captivating was not expecting this at all.

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daveguy3 (4 days ago) mann i was taught this song a few days ago in my 9th grade lifeskills class, very emotional stuff.
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chudkrissy (4 days ago) im analysing this song for my English Literature essay and also for my English Language essay ! its such a powerful song
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SabrinaB94 (3 days ago) my world history teacher played this song for us today,and we were all dead silent. it was so powerful.

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moviegoer07 (3 days ago) @SabrinaB94 yea same here
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MasterJediRatGrl (2 days ago) powerful
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duvy1234 (2 days ago) Very strong. It just touches me and shocks me. It's very shocking.
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Missez215 (1 day ago) This women is a legend. This is a great song, and I think every one should hear it
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alexalot23 (19 hours ago) i doubt that ms. holiday wanted this song to be some type of anthem. she simply wanted to tell the world what she personally had seen when she traveled through the southern united states. it was very traumatic ffor her.
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iat00 (2 hours ago) This song can be summed up in a few words
Mans inhumanity to man