THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

624-Billie Holiday-Strange Fruit.

1939-It has never charted in the UK. There was no UK chart until 1952.

Best Bit-At 1.11. ‘The Lady Sings the Blues.’

Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan, on April 7th, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, she died on July 17th, 1959, after a long battle with drugs, and alcohol, at the age of 44. Billie Holiday had a turbulent upbringing, at the age of 11 she found a job running errands in a brothel, and at the age of 13 she became a victim of sexual trafficking. Her father Clarence Halliday, (1898-1937) became her father at the age of 16, but didn’t stick around, choosing to move to Baltimore, to pursue a career in music, where he became a successful musician, playing rhythm guitar, and the banjo. Clarence Halliday died in 1937, he had been exposed to mustard gas while serving in World War I, and later fell ill with a lung disorder while on tour in Texas, and was refused treatment at a local hospital. This led to him getting pneumonia, and without antibiotics, the illness was fatal. Two years later Billie Holiday recorded ‘Strange Fruit’ in her father’s memory. She took her stage name from her fathers surname, (her parents had never married) and her first name from the American actress Billie Dove, (1903-1997) whom she admired. It was her friend, the American Jazz tenor saxophonist Lester Young, (1909-1959) who gave her the nickname ‘Lady Day.’ Billie Holiday is remembered as one of the greatest ‘Jazz,’ and ‘Pop’ vocalists of the 20th Century, with her vocal style being strongly influenced by Jazz instrumentalists, as she created a unique way of manipulating phrasing and tempo, and being revered for her vocal delivery, and improvisational skills. Holiday said that she always wanted her voice to sound like an instrument, and cited amongst her influences, Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) (see also best songs 1039-767-286-231 and 100) and the African-American ‘Blues’ singer Bessie Smith (1894-1937.)

‘Strange Fruit’ was originally written as a poem in 1937, by the white Jewish, songwriter, school teacher, and union activist Abel Meeropol, (1903-1986) under his pseudonym of Lewis Allan. Meeropol had been outraged after seeing a photograph of a horrific lynching in a civil rights magazine. The photo was a shot of two black men hanging from a tree, after they had been lynched in Marion, Indiana, United States, the two men are the ‘strange fruit.’ Meeropol wrote some music to go with the lyrics, and his wife, the singer Laura Duncan (now deceased) first performed ‘Strange Fruit’ as a protest song in New York City venues in the late 1930’s, including at Madison Square Garden. In 1939 while a performer at the first integrated venue in New York, the ‘Café Society’ nightclub,’ the song was brought to the attention of Billie Holiday. It was a very brave decision for Billie Holiday to record, and perform the song, as it would be bound to cause controversy, putting Holiday’s own personal safety at risk, as well as potentially damaging her career as a black performer.

Billie Holiday first performed ‘Strange Fruit’ at the ‘Café Society’ in 1939. She said that singing it made her fearful of retaliation but, because its imagery reminded her of her father, she continued to sing the song, making it a regular part of her live performances. Because of the emotions the song created, Barney Josephson, (1902-1988) who was the founder of the ‘Café Society,’ insisted that Billie Holiday would close her performances with it, the waiters would stop all service in advance, the room would be in darkness, except for a spotlight on Holiday’s face, and there would be no encore. During the musical introduction to the song, Holiday would stand with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer.

Billie Holiday approached her record label ‘Columbia Records,’ with whom she was contracted to at the time, to record ‘Strange Fruit,’ but ‘Columbia’ feared the reaction by record retailers in the South, as well as negative reaction from affiliates of its co-owned radio network, ‘CBS.’ Billy Holiday turned to her friend Milt Gabler, (1911-2001) (see also best songs 628) who, with the permission of ‘Columbia Records,’ as a one off, allowed Holiday to record ‘Strange Fruit’ on Gabler’s own label, ‘Commodore.’ The Café Society’ band led by Frankie Newton (1906-1954) were used for the recording, with Milt Gabler producing the track, which went on to sell in excess of one million copies, and become Billie Holiday’s best selling record.

‘Strange Fruit’ became Billy Holiday’s signature tune, and was the song that she would always finish on for the rest of her career. In 1999 the American ‘Time’ news magazine voted ‘Strange Fruit’ the ‘Song of the Century.’ When the song had first come out in 1939, the same magazine had denounced it as ‘A piece of musical propaganda.’

‘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.’