Since 1934 when the FCC was created, countless recordings have been banned or censored for a variety of reasons, including “provocative or sexually suggestive lyrics, inciting violence or promoting hate and political or religious beliefs and/or associations”.
Come with me as I reveal the most powerful number to close out the month. Let’s see which one I saved for last and who made it (in)famous.
Welcome now to the final week of “I’m With the Banned”. I gave much thought to whether I wanted to post this song or not. Surely I could find another song, any song, but this one. But then I realized to exclude this song would be a travesty, another kick in the gut to all those who struggled, fought and died in one of the most disgusting and ignoble ways because all they wanted was to escape slavery, be free and be treated as a human being. This song and the story behind it is compelling and I will not sweep it under the rug or hide it away like so much of our history. It deserves to stand alone which is why it’s the only song I posted today. I beg you to please read the entire post before jumping ahead to the video; what you read may be shocking but the insight I hope you gain will be immeasurable and unforgettable. Thank you.
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Strange Fruit – Billie Holiday
In March 1939, a 23-year-old Billie Holiday walked up to the mic at West 4th’s Cafe Society in New York City to sing her final song of the night. Per her request, the waiters stopped serving and the room went completely black, save for a spotlight on her face. And then she sang softly in her raw and emotional voice: “Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees…”
When Billie finished, the spotlight turned off. When the lights came back on, the stage was empty. She was gone. And per her request, there was no encore. This was how Billie Holiday performed “Strange Fruit,” which she would determinedly sing for the next 20 years.
“Strange Fruit” was written and composed by Abel Meeropol, a white Jewish communist, teacher and civil rights activist from The Bronx, New York who wrote it first as a poem, then later as a song.
His inspiration? Meeropol came across a 1930 photo that captured the lynching of two black men in Indiana. The visceral image haunted him for days and prompted him to put pen to paper. After he published “Strange Fruit” in a teachers union publication, Meeropol composed it into a song and passed it on to a nightclub owner, who then introduced it to Billie Holiday. She recorded it and it became her signature piece.
Abel Meeropol chose the words “Strange Fruit” to compare the hanging bodies to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the southern US at the turn of the 20th century and the vast majority of victims were black. The song has been referred to as “a declaration” and “the beginning of the civil rights movement”.
While civil rights activists and black America embraced “Strange Fruit,” the nightclub scene, which was primarily composed of white patrons, had mixed reactions. At witnessing Billie Holiday’s performance, audience members would applaud wildly, while those less sympathetic would bitterly walk out.
One individual who was determined to silence Billie Holiday was Federal Bureau of Narcotics commissioner Harry Anslinger. A known racist, Anslinger believed that drugs caused black people to overstep their boundaries in American society and that marijuana-smoking black jazz singers created the devil’s music.
When Anslinger forbid Billie to perform “Strange Fruit,” she refused, causing him to devise a plan to destroy her. Knowing that she was a drug user, he had some of his men frame her by selling her heroin. When Billie was caught using the drug, she was thrown into prison for the next year and a half. Upon her release in 1948, federal authorities refused to reissue her cabaret performer’s license. Billie Holiday’s nightclub days, which she loved so much, were over.
Before we go any further, let me make something very clear: While it’s true Billie Holiday was a drug addict and an alcoholic, she was in every sense of the word a victim who really didn’t stand much of a chance. Born to unwed teenage parents who didn’t want to be bothered with her, Billie was shuffled around from one “aunt” to another. Her life was predestined for grief, loneliness and hardships from day one and all the fame she realized couldn’t save her from her demons …. or the law. Let’s continue.
In 1959, Billie checked herself into the hospital suffering from heart and lung problems and cirrhosis of the liver due to heavy drinking. She had been a drug addict for a long time and was now in a very bad way. Still Harry Anslinger was ruthlessly relentless. Bent on ruining her, he had his men go to the hospital and handcuff Billie to her bed. The coldhearted Anslinger forbid doctors to offer her further treatment. She died within days. Harry Anslinger accomplished what he set out to do and he killed Billie Holiday in the process.
Despite her tragic demise, Billie Holiday has a lasting legacy in the world of jazz and pop music. She garnered 23 Grammys posthumously and was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. Among the many songs that Billie Holiday is celebrated for, “Strange Fruit” will always be one of her defining works. It allowed her to take what was originally an expression of political protest and transform it into a work of art for millions to hear. In 1999 Time magazine designated “Strange Fruit” the “song of the century.”
This is the one and only Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit”.
As I often do, I’d like to add a personal note: my parent’s ashes are interred at St. Raymond’s Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. The last time I was there doing some ‘spring cleaning‘, I went in search of my long lost uncle’s gravesite. Reading the names on the headstones, I stopped short and gave a little gasp. There, not more than 15 feet from my parent’s gravesite was Billie Holiday’s grave. I was overcome with such emotion, I cannot put it into words. Just thinking what this woman went through made me feel so incredibly sad. I was standing at the feet of a legend, someone I greatly admired for many years. Billie’s headstone was covered with trinkets, cards, letters and mementos from fans and admirers who come from near and far every day to pay their respects. A cemetery worker told me so many people stop by to leave remembrances, he has to clear off the headstone every other day. The items I saw on her headstone had been dropped off that morning alone. There are bins stacked in a storage room at the cemetery containing all the trinkets left on Billie Holiday’s headstone. What a powerful message that sends to the world.
I took this photo last year while at St. Raymond’s Cemetery. What an incredible morning that was for me. Before leaving, I placed a flower on Billie Holiday’s grave.
This is the final installment of I’m With The Banned. Thank you for reading about these historic songs and artists and for listening to their pivotal messages.
I’ll be back here again Thursday with birthday wishes.
Take good care, my friends.
See you on the flip side.
I’m The Sicilian Storyteller
NAR © 2023
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