Billie Holiday / Stereohyped

These are trying times for the music industry. No one knows that better than Sony execs, who have recently begun to sell the classic photos taken by Columbia Records staff photographers in the 50s, 60s, and 70s to the highest bidder. The New York Times got its hands on a few, including one of Sly Stone in 1973, above, as well as a shot of Muhammad Ali recording "I Am The Greatest," and in-studio shots of Miles Davis and Billie Holiday.

May 30, 2008 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · Respond

Rewound

What do southern trees bear now?

"Strange Fruit" was originally written as a poem by a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx named Lewis Allan, who was horrified and moved by photos of a recent lynching Indiana. The poem later became a song, and was popularized when Billie Holiday sang it in 1939.

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
Blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallow south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

"Strange Fruit," indeed. Could a teenage prankster/racist listen to this song on a loop for a few hours and still think hanging a noose from a tree is harmless fun?

Oct 3, 2007 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 4 Responses