Song Analysis: Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit/ Blood on the Leaves
Strange Fruit is a famous song sung by Billie Holiday in 1939.The song itself was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol in 1937. This song was to protest racism and especially against the lynching of African Americans. Lynching specially means to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority. The Klu Klux Klan were basically known for being against the whole civil rights for blacks and against them having voting rights. They were they main group lynching African Americans in the twentieth century. Strange Fruit is what I believe to be a song describing the sight of seeing and hearing about blacks being lynched in the south. This song explains how at one point in time the “Scent of magnolias were sweet and fresh, then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh,” which showed how the south was changing …show more content…
and not in a good way.
While all the racism and lynching was going on, the more blacks heard about it, they knew they had to find a way out.
Now that the word was out and people even witnessed they disaster, The Great Migration happened. This movement occurred between 1910 through 1970 and consisted of six million African Americans from the South trying to move to the Northeast, Midwest, and the West. Strange Fruit to me is representing all of the African Americans who was beaten and lynched because of the color of their skin.
Kayne West also wrote a similar to Strange Fruit called Blood on the Leaves. Both of the songs are similar, but Blood on the Leaves is just an updated version of Strange Fruit. He starts off his song with the voice of Nina Simone singing some lines from Strange Fruit, beginning with “Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees, Blood on the leaves.” Even though “Strange Fruit” was written and sung in the early twentieth century, Kanye still managed to match meaning of Holiday’s song. West’s song represents how people should recognize the history left behind and to keep the voices of our ancestors
alive.
The two songs are different because for one the different styles of music they are. West’s song starts off as a church anthem, then turns in a completely different style, which was Hip Hop/Rap. His song also is about the modern-day racism, identity and materialism. Back in Holiday’s and Simone’s time, the people weren’t materialistic back then because they didn’t get paid as much as the people in today’s world do. Holiday’s version of the song is more dramatic and has jazz feeling to it.
Now these two are similar because they both standing up for African Americans. It’s also trying to get people to realize what blacks went through just to get where we are in the world today. Both of the songs have strong and compelling stories behind them. Holiday and West both wanted to shine a light on all the African American men and women who had to fight just because of the color of their skin. These songs showed how people always take each other for guaranteed and don’t realize that, at the end of the day we are all humans and that everyone is equal.
History.com Staff. "Great Migration." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.
"The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit'." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.
Kaufman, Gil. "Kanye West's 'Blood On The Leaves' And The History Of 'Strange Fruit'." MTV News. N.p., 19 June 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.
Strange Fruit is a famous song sung by Billie Holiday in 1939.The song itself was originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol in 1937. This song was to protest racism and especially against the lynching of African Americans. Lynching specially means to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority. The Klu Klux Klan were basically known for being against the whole civil rights for blacks and against them having voting rights. They were they main group lynching African Americans in the twentieth century. Strange Fruit is what I believe to be a song describing the sight of seeing and hearing about blacks being lynched in the south. This song explains how at one point in time the “Scent of magnolias were sweet and fresh, then the sudden smell of burnin’ flesh,” which showed how the south was changing …show more content…
and not in a good way.
While all the racism and lynching was going on, the more blacks heard about it, they knew they had to find a way out.
Now that the word was out and people even witnessed they disaster, The Great Migration happened. This movement occurred between 1910 through 1970 and consisted of six million African Americans from the South trying to move to the Northeast, Midwest, and the West. Strange Fruit to me is representing all of the African Americans who was beaten and lynched because of the color of their skin.
Kayne West also wrote a similar to Strange Fruit called Blood on the Leaves. Both of the songs are similar, but Blood on the Leaves is just an updated version of Strange Fruit. He starts off his song with the voice of Nina Simone singing some lines from Strange Fruit, beginning with “Strange fruit hanging from the popular trees, Blood on the leaves.” Even though “Strange Fruit” was written and sung in the early twentieth century, Kanye still managed to match meaning of Holiday’s song. West’s song represents how people should recognize the history left behind and to keep the voices of our ancestors
alive.
The two songs are different because for one the different styles of music they are. West’s song starts off as a church anthem, then turns in a completely different style, which was Hip Hop/Rap. His song also is about the modern-day racism, identity and materialism. Back in Holiday’s and Simone’s time, the people weren’t materialistic back then because they didn’t get paid as much as the people in today’s world do. Holiday’s version of the song is more dramatic and has jazz feeling to it.
Now these two are similar because they both standing up for African Americans. It’s also trying to get people to realize what blacks went through just to get where we are in the world today. Both of the songs have strong and compelling stories behind them. Holiday and West both wanted to shine a light on all the African American men and women who had to fight just because of the color of their skin. These songs showed how people always take each other for guaranteed and don’t realize that, at the end of the day we are all humans and that everyone is equal.
History.com Staff. "Great Migration." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.
"The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit'." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2017.
Kaufman, Gil. "Kanye West's 'Blood On The Leaves' And The History Of 'Strange Fruit'." MTV News. N.p., 19 June 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2017.