The song “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday is a jazz ballad that can also be attributed to the blues style. Before Billie Holiday released the song, it was a poem written by American teacher Abel Merropol. This poem was a response to the lynching happening in the South due to racism and Jim Crow laws. During this period numerous African American citizens were lynched. This is also the meaning of “Strange Fruits” hanging from the trees. Billie Holiday herself was an African American woman, struggling for money before her career in jazz. Because of all the racism in the South and the ongoing political division, Billie Holiday had trouble recording the song with her original Columbia label. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay As a result, they refused to record this song. It was only thanks to her friend Milt Gabler who granted her wish to record this song on his Commodore record label. After recording, this song became a timeless masterpiece of the civil rights movement and gained much popularity. Strange Fruit features 4 different types of instruments: the piano, a trumpet, a double bass and a sax. In my opinion the piano is the most popular instrument. However, this song places more emphasis on Billy Holiday's vocals, while the instruments only help to make the song darker. Musically, this song can be characterized as a jazz ballad with a blues twist. Due to the very sad and dark nature of the song, the interplay between Billie Holiday's voice and the dark feel of the instruments creates the perfect atmosphere for this sad topic. Therefore, the tempo of this song is very slow. The key of the piano is a B flat and much lower than Billy Holiday's voice, giving the listener a nice and subtle contrast between high and low tones. Since this song was originally a poem, it is quite short. The original poem was divided into 3 stanzas and 12 lines. Because of this, the song features a lot of room for "breaks" where only the saxophone/trumpet and piano can be heard. Personally, I believe the reason behind this layout is to allow the listener to reflect on what they just heard and process the brutal events that Billie Holiday is singing about. The meter of this song can be characterized as quadruple. Holiday makes an effort to sing the entire song in the same tone with emphasis on particular words. For example, the last word of the song “cry” is very long. This gives listeners goosebumps thinking about all the pain that African American families have had to endure and is, in my opinion, the perfect way to end this song. It's like the last cry for help before the music ends. Unfortunately I couldn't find any more information about the artists who play the instrument and “Strange Fruit” is also a single, no other related album information. Personally I was very amazed by this song. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The first time I listened to her I wasn't aware of what Billie Holiday was singing about. However, even without this prior knowledge, I felt the sad and dark nature of this song. I subsequently delved into the topic of lynching in the South. I was surprised that no history lesson had talked about this so far and after listening to this song again with this knowledge, it literally made me.