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Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday cover) Lyrics
Southern trees
Bearin' strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
And blood at the roots
Black bodies
Swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin'
From the poplar trees
Pastoral scene
Of the gallant south
Them big bulging eyes
And the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia
Clean and fresh
Then the sudden smell
Of burnin' 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 leaves to drop
Here is
Strange and bitter crop
Bearin' strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
And blood at the roots
Black bodies
Swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin'
From the poplar trees
Pastoral scene
Of the gallant south
Them big bulging eyes
And the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia
Clean and fresh
Then the sudden smell
Of burnin' 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 leaves to drop
Here is
Strange and bitter crop
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this song haunts me!
JAW DROPS
omg! This song is indeed haunting, and beautiful all in one, Nina Simone is amazing!!!
The lyrics aren't quite right. For one, it's "Southern trees," not "seven". The lyrics are correct on Billie Holiday's lyric list. I believe Billie sang it originally, too. There is a good explanation there, but basically it is a protest against lynchings.
@LittleBriddie lyrics have been corrected, and yes it was originally sung by Billie Holiday.
@LittleBriddie lyrics have been corrected, and yes it was originally sung by Billie Holiday.
You are right, LittleBriddie. "Seven trees" has absolutely no relevance to this song. It's about lynching in the South, hence, Southern trees i/o Northern trees. Sad thing is, there are a couple of deluded people who posted this same mistake on the internet, just check out the following lyric sites:
http://boscarol.com/nina/html/where/strangefruit.html http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/nina+simone/strange+fruit_20100706.html http://www.goldlyrics.com/song_lyrics/nina_simone/pastel_blues/strange_fruit/
Nina Simone did have her own take on it, though. Such as saying "Them big bulging eyes" i/o "The bulging eyes". But the two that interest me are "Clean and fresh" i/o "Sweet and Fresh" and "For the leaves to drop" i/o "For the trees to drop".
I don't like clean as much as sweet, as sweet has much more of a double-sided meaning. There's a good sweet of fresh flowers but then there's the sickening sweetness of rotting fruit. But I do like Nina's choice of leaves i/o trees. I got the shivers from hearing her singing "leeeaves" and holding it, as I immediately thought of the bodies being dropped to the ground.