The 45 Greatest Songs of All Time That Sparked A Cultural Reset
Strange Fruit, Billie Holiday, 1939, Blues
Jazz and swing music singer Billie Holiday was known for her vocal delivery, improvisational skills, and influence on jazz and pop styles. She sang one of the first protest songs in history, which also turned out as the most profoundly disturbing, the “Strange Fruit.” The song entailed the tragic life of Black Americans back then.
It was originally written as a poem by a Jewish communist teacher and civil rights activist in the Bronx. It was further developed as a song, and as soon as Holiday heard the lyrics, she was compelled to sing its message. Time named “Strange Fruit” the song of the century in 1999.
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