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My good friend Moby pointed this clip out to me, I'll let him summarise:
in 1939 billie holiday was a huge pop star and she wanted to record 'strange fruit', a song about racism and lynching, and her label wouldn't let her.
so she recorded it for a tiny indie label and it went on to become her biggest selling record.
it's regarded as the first recorded protest song, and this performance of it is one of the best things i've ever seen.
- moby
in 1939 billie holiday was a huge pop star and she wanted to record 'strange fruit', a song about racism and lynching, and her label wouldn't let her.
so she recorded it for a tiny indie label and it went on to become her biggest selling record.
it's regarded as the first recorded protest song, and this performance of it is one of the best things i've ever seen.
- moby
Now she looks older here maybe this was performed in the early 50s. Since we don't know the date of the broadcast, I added to your tags 30s for when the song was release. Hope that's ok
I got curious and looked up the lyrics - vivid, powerful stuff:
Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
another version. That thread got pretty heated.
http://www.videosift.com/video/Billie-Holiday-Strange-Fruit