This song, and Billie Holiday's rendition of 'Strange Fruit' should be required listening in all US elementary schools as well as for anyone applying for US citizenship.

*promote

If you've heard Hari's compressed talk about addiction before, skip ahead to 6:40 to hear the Billie Holiday story. I for one never heard it before and it's well worth a few minutes...

Um, you do know that "strange fruit" is a reference to the lynching of African Americans, right?>> ^Arkaium:

I'm a fan of Billy Holiday, so I'll say I would have also enjoyed the title "Strange Fruit"
I've had an exotic fruit that was green, slimy and seeded (like a cucumber) on the inside, but I can't remember what it's called. Anyone know? It's starting to bug me now...
EDIT: It's the Kiwano melon. And it's delicious, imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48cTUnUtzx4

Here is "Gloomy Sunday" by Billie Holiday.

Number 1 comment: "thumbs up if you're here because of QI"

I'm a fan of Billy Holiday, so I'll say I would have also enjoyed the title "Strange Fruit"

I've had an exotic fruit that was green, slimy and seeded (like a cucumber) on the inside, but I can't remember what it's called. Anyone know? It's starting to bug me now...

EDIT: It's the Kiwano melon. And it's delicious, imo.

>> ^swampgirl:
big H is Heroin, Quboid. Unfortunately, Billie Holiday was an addict for years. It along with alcohol ruined her health and she died in her 40s I believe.
Now she looks older here maybe this was performed in the early 50s. Since we don't know the date of the broadcast, I added to your tags 30s for when the song was release. Hope that's ok

Yeah it'd be pretty hard to tell the date of broadcast. She often closed with this song in her performances.

"Barney Josephson recognized the impact of the song and insisted that Holiday close all her shows with it. Just as the song was about to begin, waiters would stop serving, the lights in club would be turned off, and a single pin spotlight would illuminate Holiday on stage. During the musical introduction, Holiday would stand with her eyes closed, as if she were evoking a prayer."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit

Turns out it was originally written by a Jewish high school teacher!

*dupeof=http://www.videosift.com/video/Billie-Holidays-Race-Protest-Strange-Fruit

http://lyrics.wikia.com/lyrics/Tilly_And_The_Wall:Fell_Down_The_Stairs

You fell down the stairs into my arms
And swiftly ran the other way
And I heard the steady swell of applause
The two drunk kids, trying to figure out which way was home
they got lost as they were taking off each other's clothes
They realized there was a hole in the boat
And with no lifesaver you try your best to float

And eventually the sky did return
And I was there outside in green
And I watched the world being reborn, 'til one a.m.
So I thought I'd let you know
It was beautiful, slow dancing to tunes of Billie Holiday
The city looked wonderful that way

And love, just like blood, will always stain

And if I could reverse it, I don't think that it'd be worth it because I know in my heart I would never let you tumble to the ground.
No, I'd never let you fall

I'm not very often plagued with the "Do I really want to downvote this video question, but in this case, it didn't take too long to think about it. I know you took a few minutes to submit this video, but let me explain why I did so, in the hopes that you'll never hunt me down and kill me because of it.

1. It's one of those videos that we can count on to be well copyrighted for the next few weeks, so any version you find on Youtube won't be the actual clip, in full, or last.
2. Your clip is dead.
3. Though a lot of videos I upvote aren't always "quality", I try to at least think they'll contribute something to a person's day after watching. I didn't find much of that sort of "quality" in this clip, most because---
4. It's Lady GaGa.
5. It's MTV (I know, I shouldn't downvote an MTV performance because I hate MTV for rarely showing anything involving music these days, but I'm a bitter old man).
6. I'm always down for pelvic thrusting, but you shouldn't have to rely on it to draw in an extra demographic (she'd already hooked the 5% of her fan base that was in it for the music). All I'm saying is: Billie Holiday never had to throw her hips around to turn heads.

Again, nothing wrong with you, man... but this video is six different kinds of evil to me.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Billie-Holiday-My-Man-1950s You'd like this.

This is an amazing song. My favorite off her album. Really hitting that neo-Billy Holiday vibe for me.

I am same position as djsunkid:

Tatchedogbe - Angelique Kidjo
Cyberia - afro celts
bull in the heather - breeders
the day after - flash
if you want my love - depeche mode
9:45 - PM dawn
Solitude - Billie Holiday
Western Eyes - Portishead
his wife refused - talking heads
the poison mouth - skinny puppy
all star - smash mouth
doin the shout - john lee hooker
its only love - Nick cave, scott walker
let go - frou frou
sweet dreams - eurythmics
Jackie's strength (remix #1) - tori amos
cop - swans
21 things - alanis morrisette
antenna kraftwerk
kalimba - EWF
stand back up - sugarland

Tags for this video have been changed from 'duke, billie holiday, jazz, class' to 'duke, billie holiday, jazz, class, 30s' - edited by Deano

also nice comment from farhad here in the original posting of this.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Billie-Holiday-Strange-Fruit

big H is Heroin, Quboid. Unfortunately, Billie Holiday was an addict for years. It along with alcohol ruined her health and she died in her 40s I believe.

Now she looks older here maybe this was performed in the early 50s. Since we don't know the date of the broadcast, I added to your tags 30s for when the song was release. Hope that's ok