Book 53 - David Margolick "Strange Fruit"

[jazzy_dave]

David Margolick "Strange Fruit" (Canongate)




Essentially a long, sophisticated book report on the most important song in American history. How much a song can do to bring something out into the open is just one aspect of this fascinating book. This song and its history also make for a deeper understanding of Billie Holliday and her times.

Billie Holiday was sometimes described as "the most moving jazz singer of her day," to which I would concur. The words were:

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

The book tells how people reacted to the song, some being very offended (not wanting to be reminded of the fact that lynchings occurred, apparently). Billie Holiday had a tumultuous life, dying in 1959. But since she has been on a postage stamp (US postage stamp) she is been immortalized by philatelists as well. The reason I say that is due to the fact that I had that stamp once when I was a stamp collector so many years ago.