More Strange Fruit

After seeing Billie Holiday perform at the club, Café Society, in New York, Meeropol showed her the poem. Holiday liked it and after working on it with Sonny White turned the poem into the song, Strange Fruit. The record made it to No. 16 on the charts in July 1939. However, the song was denounced by Time Magazine as "a prime piece of musical propaganda" for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

I would recommend having a listen to anything labelled "a prime piece of musical propaganda" if you can get hold of it, and I would also recommend listening to just about anything by Billie Holiday. But combining the two I would have to say that if you haven't heard it your life is not complete, so go out and find the track and have a listen.

If you are feeling particularly generous you can buy me Strange Fruit: 1937-1939.