Samuel Grafton of the New York Post had the best review of it. The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit' One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of … Even now, as I think of it, the short hair on the back of my neck tightens and I want to hit somebody. When the song “Strange Fruit” is broken down and analyzed we see a poem with a small form, slow homophonic rhythm, raw texture, and meaningful lyrics, but when we put the piece together as a whole, “Strange Fruit” is shown to be one of the most popular and lasting protest pieces of our time. Time called the performance "throat-tightening". It protests the lynching of Black Americans, with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees.Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century, and the great majority of victims were black. image caption April Shipp has sewn the names of 5000 people who were lynched … Record producer Ahmet Ertegun called the song "a declaration of war," and jazz writer Leonard Feather said it was "the first significant protest in … Lynching was a practice that involved mob-style execution without trial, most often by hanging, and most often of … Surprisingly, Meeropol was … Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” Source: William P. Gottlieb “Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meeropol, a white English teacher from New York City, as a protest against the horrors of lynching. Evolution Of A Song: 'Strange Fruit' In the hands of many singers, "Strange Fruit" feels like a period piece, more of a memorial than a protest song. "By the time I started on Strange Fruit," she wrote, "between the sweat and blood, I was a mess." The poem “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol is very dark and twisted as it paints a mental picture of past events in southern USA. "Strange Fruit" is a song recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939, written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937. The poem refers to lynching, which is the act of hanging African Americans, slaves and other protestors in public venues for a spectacle. "Strange Fruit," written by Jewish schoolteacher Abel Meeropol in 1937, takes a harrowing and unflinching look at American racism. It is called Strange Fruit and it will, even after the tenth hearing, make you blink and hold to your chair. "Strange Fruit" was an early cry for civil rights—some might even say it was the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Between its sparse, unconventional arrangement and vivid lyrics, her recording of “Strange Fruit” became a sensation and a hit for Holiday when it was released by Commodore that year. "This is about a phonograph record which has obsessed me for two days. The poem specifically focuses on the horrific lynchings that took place primarily across the American South, in which black individuals were brutally tortured and murdered—and often strung up from trees to be gawked at—by white supremacists. In 1999, Time magazine voted Strange Fruit the Song of the Century.