Strange Fruit Lyrics

Written by Abel Meeropol, performed by Billie Holiday, The Best of Billie Holiday, Verve Records, 1972.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves, blood at the root.

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene from 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 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 a strange and bitter crop.

1. What is the song describing?

2. How would you describe the mood of the song?

3. Two words are important in this song, magnolias and crows, why?

4. How do you think that this song would have made African Americans feel?

5. Would this song motivate people against racial discrimination?

Click here to return to the main page.