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Strange Fruit (Billie Holiday cover) 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 cry
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
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 cry
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Wow, I never knew Siouxsie did this song. It is a cover, by Billie Holiday. We did a poetry unit in English class this year, and we analized this poem/song. Fantastic.
SEVERIN: "I don't think Siouxsie had heard Billie Holiday before we listened to 'Strange Fruit'. And I think that anyone can sing a protest song. But what interested us most about 'Strange Fruit' was the fact that originally there was no set music, what with it being based on an old poem." Source: NME 21/03/87.
SEVERIN: " 'Strange Fruit' was Carruthers' idea, though I thought we should add a New Orleans funeral march in the middle." Source: The Authorised Biography 2002.