Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday
Shakara Short & Charles Collins
Lyrics:
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
Analysis
"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"- After a victim was lynched, his body would be left hanging for some time.
"Blood on the leaves and blood at the root"- This references the generations of African Americans being lynched which the root is the older generations and the leaves is the younger. This shows that both recent and older generations of African Americans have experienced the same sort of violent persecution.