This clip was live TV...she is sooooooo ravaged by the Big H in this one.....too bad there's not more young and vibrant Holiday on film.....

Big H?

Tags for this video have been changed from 'racist, protest, song, lynch, hanging, classic, emotion' to 'racist, protest, song, lynch, hanging, classic, emotion, 30s' - edited by 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

Great sift - thanks!
I got curious and looked up the lyrics - vivid, powerful stuff:

Southern trees bear a 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 crop.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Coal-Black-Context

another version. That thread got pretty heated.

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

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

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>> ^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!

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