Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit (1939)

She died on July 17, 1959, 50 years ago.

"Strange Fruit" is a song performed by Billie Holiday. It condemned American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans that had occurred chiefly in the South but also in all regions of the United States.





Southern trees bear strange fruit, (Los árboles del sur tienen un fruto extraño)
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, (Sangre en las hojas y sangre en la raíz,)
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, (Cuerpos negros balanceándose en la brisa del sur,)
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. (Extraño fruto que cuelga de los álamos.)

Pastoral scene of the gallant south, (Escena pastoral del galante sur,)
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, (Los ojos abultados, la boca torcida,)
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, (El aroma de las magnolias, dulce y fresco,)
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. (Y de pronto el olor de la carne quemada.)

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, (Aquí está el fruto que arrancarán los cuervos,)
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, (Para que reciba la lluvia, para que chupe el viento,)
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, (Para que el sol la madure, para que los árboles la suelten,)
Here is a strange and bitter crop. (Aquí está una extraña y amarga cosecha.)