Strange Fruit Lyrics
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies 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 magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Abel Meeropel wrote the poem “Strange Fruit” in 1937 as a protest of racism, especially in the southern United States. Meeropel refers to the strange fruit which is a metaphor for hanging bodies of the blacks which were common sights in the southern U.S. Meeropel goes on to describe the eyes and smells of the corpses and how they are in contrast to the beautiful landscape of the pastures and the sweet smell of the southern magnolia. The poet is contrasting the beauty and the ugliness and refers to the dead bodies as a crop that this region is producing, when in fact it is an ugly source of shame and should be considered a “strange and bitter crop” (Meeropel 1).
Similarly, in The Help, Miss Skeeter poses the question to Aibileen, “Are you scared, Aibileen?” she asks. “Of what might happen” (512)? It is the curse of racism that existed in 1937 when Meeropel published his poem, and in 1939 when Billie Holiday sang the song and in the 1960s when many blacks protested and were afraid of the ramifications of their work towards equality.
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies 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 magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Abel Meeropel wrote the poem “Strange Fruit” in 1937 as a protest of racism, especially in the southern United States. Meeropel refers to the strange fruit which is a metaphor for hanging bodies of the blacks which were common sights in the southern U.S. Meeropel goes on to describe the eyes and smells of the corpses and how they are in contrast to the beautiful landscape of the pastures and the sweet smell of the southern magnolia. The poet is contrasting the beauty and the ugliness and refers to the dead bodies as a crop that this region is producing, when in fact it is an ugly source of shame and should be considered a “strange and bitter crop” (Meeropel 1).
Similarly, in The Help, Miss Skeeter poses the question to Aibileen, “Are you scared, Aibileen?” she asks. “Of what might happen” (512)? It is the curse of racism that existed in 1937 when Meeropel published his poem, and in 1939 when Billie Holiday sang the song and in the 1960s when many blacks protested and were afraid of the ramifications of their work towards equality.