200 SONGS WITH THE BEST LYRICS. This post: #1: STRANGE FRUIT.  
The countdown concludes with this post.

CAFFE` LATTE` PRESENTS

200 SONGS

WITH THE

BEST LYRICS

of all-time.

#1

STRANGE FRUIT

 “Southern trees

bear a strange fruit,

blood on the leaves,

& blood at the root.

Black bodies swinging

in the Southern breeze…”

No song can move a listener more than the image conjured up by the lyrics penned by Abel Meeropol for "Strange Fruit". It is not hard to imagine how shocking the grisly verses would have been when it was first performed in the late 1930s.

Meeropol, a Jewish communist teacher, was inspired to write the seeds of the song as a poem after seeing a photograph of a double lynching in Indiana in 1930. 

He presented his composition to influential jazz singer Billie Holiday. She recorded it on April 20, 1939. It was soon hailed as the first protest song of any significance. "Strange Fruit" has been covered by many singers, including Nina Simone, Diana Ross and India.Arie.

As new songs are covered on this blog, a definitive version will be added to a spotify playlist. Find it and the other Caffé Latté playlists at:

spotify:user:alanrosscaffelatte:playlist:7FJhffENQ1Siz0aLBE9ilv

https://open.spotify.com/user/alanrosscaffelatte/playlist/7FJhffENQ1Siz0aLBE9ilv

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