Review Of Billie Holiday's Song 'Strange Fruit'

Within the song “Strange Fruit” the following lines in particular stand out: “Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh/ Then the sudden smell of burning flesh,” (Holiday 7-8). In these lines Holiday revels the darkness of what is happening and with doing this sends the message that while the monstrous deeds of the south are covered up they are still there and still pungent. Alike to this song, Beneatha through her past can see the discrimination that others hold against her before it is publicly made known and stands up to those who do this by bringing them to light. An example of this can be seen through the following

To begin with, “Brown Eyed Girl” uses figurative language. For instance, symbolism is used at the beginning of the song. The line “Days when the rains came” is a symbol for the dark days in a relationship. Next, symbolism is used in the second stanza. The day “Tuesday” is symbolic because Tuesday goes by “so slow” but he asks where it went as if it flew by. Then, a metaphor is used in the third stanza. The metaphor “playing a new game” is talking about the fun and new things in their life. In addition, a hyperbole is presented in the middle of the song. The hyperbole “hide behind a rainbows wall” shows they have

Slave songs, therefore, do not pardon the institution of slavery; in fact, they do just the opposite. They are indisputable affirmations of injustice, accentuating the oppressive cage that is slavery. They are the mode of communication of a living dead who yearn for the blessings of a life unfettered: for liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Slaves sing of ideals that are not theirs to possess—ideals that their country and fellow men have denied them. The caged bird does not sing because it is happy; it sings because it is dreaming of happiness.

Music,music has so much power over us it makes us feel all these emotions and makes us act bit different when we're listening. The song that makes me fell like I have a lot of energy is "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson. The first time I heard the song was when I was seven years old my dad wad the person who showed me the song. When I first heard it I immediately fell in love with it. Ever since that day, I loved the artist and my favorite song has always been "Billie Jean". "Billie Jean" is a song that inspires and motivates me to play soccer.

The protests in Albany, Georgia, proved an important training ground in which to learn the techniques for mobilizing the dormant black populace of the Deep South. Perhaps of greatest importance, they became more aware of the cultural dimensions of the black struggle, quickly recognizing the value of freedom songs to convey the ideas of the southern movement and to sustain morale. (Stanford

One famous jazz artist, Billie Holiday’s, is known for a famous work of jazz called “Strange Fruit.” This piece of art was a haunting protest against racism. Directly from the song, Billie sings “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 (Holiday “strange fruit”). The words in this quote, “Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,” show that lynching was done. The blood on the leaves and at the root portrays the gruesomeness of hanging.

The lyrics of the song have contains a handful of imagery describing African Americans being lynched. For example, “Blood on the leaves and blood on the root”, is a very descriptive example and puts an image in your mind of seeing a tree with African Americans hanging with blood dripping from their bodies (genius.com). This line makes it seem like the blood that is dripping from the people hanging is feeding the tree’s root, and this could symbolize growth because America was a growing country back then and still is today. Back then, African Americans were physically and mentally abused, and the point of the song was to put an end to that and it did eventually. Today, African Americans are still being discriminated for job opportunities because of stereotypes people made that make African Americans look bad. Throughout the course of time, we did make changes, which relates to the line, “Blood on the leaves and blood on the root”. Another line the depicts a very cruel image is, “Here is fruit for crows to pluck” (genius.com) This line has a very dark meaning and image because crows always symbolize evil and darkness. The fact that this line puts a picture of bodies being devoured by crows in your mind, proves that Holiday uses very strong imagery in the context of Strange Fruit. From these two lines from the song, we learned that

Billie Holiday, an African American singer and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who has finally had enough of all the racism and inhumanity in her life. She has released a song on Monday of March, 1929, called "Strange Fruit", speaking of many African Americans Being accused of something wrong, then being hung from a tree, hence the reference "Strange Fruit." Lynching is an activity mostly carried out by a group of men to scare another group or minority by public execution without a legal trial. The execution can be done in many different ways, the most common was hanging. There were many different ways for people to be lynched.

In "Strange Fruit," Lewis Allan uses juxtaposition and metaphors to convey a disturbing tone. In the words of Lewis Allen lynchings are the "scent of magnolia's, sweet and fresh / then the sudden smell of burning flesh" (lines 7-8). Juxtaposing the beauty of the South, to the hatred that is experienced there makes the reader feel overwhelmed. The comparison of two drastic differences that are being lived out shows the dark side of reality. Allen also expressed that the "strange fruit (was) hanging from the poplar trees" (4).

In order to occupy her child, the mother dresses her daughter up to go sing in the children’s choir at church in the fifth stanza. She brushes her hair, bathes her, and puts on her gloves and shoes. Randall appeals to the senses in this stanza; he uses a metaphor here to inform the reader a visual that the family is African American. She has “night-dark” hair and small brown hands. She is dressed in white and smells of sweet rose petals. The mother takes the girls mind off of the Freedom March and fixes it on the children’s choir. The tone is one of content. The sixth stanza is a

‘American Pie’ was written in 1971 and topped the music charts in 1972. Don Mclean wrote it partly as a biography and partly as the story of the evolving America through the 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s. Don Mclean wrote the song to tell a story about his generation and how it had and continued to change since he was younger. It took Mclean over ten years of work and with the combination of many ideas American Pie was born. In American Pie by Don Mclean, he shows America’s lost innocence in the song after the 1950’s through symbolism, allusion, and denotation.

When delving into the song and trying to grasp the meaning, it can be understood that the author really desires to be free and go back home to where he belongs and desires. The author or writer of the song does not like the idea of slavery, nor does he like being a slave himself, his perspective on the topic shows that he is not happy about the current situation and no one should because of how cruel slavery is. The author also uses certain rhetorical strategies, one of them being metaphors. They can be used to explain his sadness and other feelings he has about the topic of slavery. An example of this is,

“Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” by Pete Seeger became a popular anti-war protest song during the 1960s. This song did not only protest against the Vietnam War but also made their generation more aware about the global problems. Songs like “Not Ready to Make Nice” by Dixie chicks about freedom of speech was written after they received death threats for singing against the Iraq war, protests against the violation of human rights. But music is not only used to protest, it is also used to give hope and optimism. “We Shall Overcome”, a song sung by Guy Carawan together with the Montgomery Gospel Trio and the Nashville Quartet, is perhaps the best known example of civil rights song. Instead of blaming the government, this song registered a feeling of hope and faith among African-Americans during the civil rights movement.

The song just says one day everything will be different and at this time segregation is going on. This song and the story will match well because it talks about changes happening and changes happen in the book. This would be some of the music you would here in the old times and it just goes really well with the book. The setting and the old times and segregation happening also make it go well with the book in all. The book talks about how the economy for whites and colored people was so different and the song just says that Jazz is the one thing that just makes people love the music and enjoy

The poem’s words echo through your mind, revealing a haunting display. Eleanora Fagan, professionally known as Billie Holiday, performed Strange fruit. She sang the poem not in a melody, but in a screeching tone creating an alarming show. The timbre of her voice’s pitch was intense. In other words, the way Billie Holiday sang Strange Fruit in a serious voice, confirms that the poem is not to joke about because it is based on a true story. It is important to realize, that the poem relates to history because it demonstrates how demented racism dominated in the