Description Rare Live Footage of one of the firtst anti rascism songs ever.jazz, singers, billie, holiday, strange, fruit, antiracism, black, whiteBillie Holiday - Strange Fruithttp://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/6fkQrwAIVf02010-03-20T17:40:44.000Z2012-03-15T15:33:06.000ZBillie HolidayWhen Billie sang "Strange Fruit" for the first time, to a mixed audience, at Cafe Society you must have been able to hear a pin drop. Here is a link to Billie singing. www.youtube.com I heard you singing Singing the blues, and not without reason These blues, flowed like a river through a wasteland Throughout your life you were badly treated Sometimes by friends or lovers Often by casual strangers They raped you when you were ten years old Beat you Banned you from bars and restaurants because of the colour of your skin Fed your self-destructive habit With some imagined solace, until your veins cried stop And then, they incarcerated you for possession. Often your life was without harmony, fraught with dissonance But when you sang your syncopated jazz or your soulful blues With some of the finest musicians of your age In smoke filled clubs in Harlem Every note was perfect and your artistry was sublime I watched ancient archived footage Monochrome memories of a bygone age You stood on the stage at Cafe Society In Greenwich Village Accompanied by a single piano And sang... Southern trees bear 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. As your final notes faded, there was absolute silence And in that moment I saw that through your music you had found some redemption And I appreciated the quality of your life.nordicskyhttp://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/nordicskyNonprofitWhen Billie sang "Strange Fruit" for the first time, to a mixed audience, at Cafe Society you must have been able to hear a pin drop. Here is a link to Billie singing. www.youtube.com I heard you singing Singing the blues, and not without reason These blues, flowed like a river through a wasteland Throughout your life you were badly treated Sometimes by friends or lovers Often by casual strangers They raped you when you were ten years old Beat you Banned you from bars and restaurants because of the colour of your skin Fed your self-destructive habit With some imagined solace, until your veins cried stop And then, they incarcerated you for possession. Often your life was without harmony, fraught with dissonance But when you sang your syncopated jazz or your soulful blues With some of the finest musicians of your age In smoke filled clubs in Harlem Every note was perfect and your artistry was sublime I watched ancient archived footage Monochrome memories of a bygone age You stood on the stage at Cafe Society In Greenwich Village Accompanied by a single piano And sang... Southern trees bear 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. As your final notes faded, there was absolute silence And in that moment I saw that through your music you had found some redemption And I appreciated the quality of your life.
