First Line:
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Artist & Tune
Composed by:
Rec/Performed by:
Version by Billie Holiday
Performed by:
Version by Josh White
Performed by:
Version by Nina Simone
Performed by:
Version by Andra Day
Performed by:
Version by Diana Ross, The Lady Sings the Blues (film)
Performed by:
Version by Annie Lennox
Performed by:
Version by Velvet Penny
Performed by:
About the Song
Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet 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 tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Abel Meeropol wrote this song under the pseudonym Lewis Allen. It was originally published as a poem "Bitter Fruit" in the newsletter of the teacher's union in NYC. Meeropol's adoptive son, Robert Meeropol, says that Josh White's recording is much closer to his father's original composition than Holiday's or Simone's.
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias sweet 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 tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Abel Meeropol wrote this song under the pseudonym Lewis Allen. It was originally published as a poem "Bitter Fruit" in the newsletter of the teacher's union in NYC. Meeropol's adoptive son, Robert Meeropol, says that Josh White's recording is much closer to his father's original composition than Holiday's or Simone's.