Strange and Bitter Crop

[wysingm]

A new survey by http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/04/barbour-bryant-lead-in-mississippi.html">Public Policy Polling finds that 46% of Mississippi Republicans think interracial marriage should be illegal. This, on the birthday of Billie Holiday, who battled racism even as she indulged in what one writer called her "http://www.legacy.com/ns/news-story.aspx?t=billie-holiday--the-tragic-life-of-lady-day&id=295">luminous self-destruction." Holiday's "Strange Fruit" - written by a son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - is a harshly bittersweet treasure.

Happy Birthday Billie.

.

[msongs]

1. all she needed was her voice, and maybe a microphone. compare that to today's "talent" nt

[Warren DeMontague]

10. She was truly amazing, no doubt. But why the need to take a potshot to make that point?

There's a lot of great music out there, even a lot of women with amazing singing voices- no digital assistance needed.


I just don't know why we can't admire Billie Holiday without pulling out the "damn kids get off my lawn" sign.

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Welcome to DU my friend...

And a BIG Thank You, for reminding me of Lady Day's birthday.

Any admirer of Billie Holiday, is someone I would be proud to call my friend.

:pals:

[wysingm]

8. Thanks Friends

Lady Day has friends at DU...

[NOLALady]

3. Well,

I guess that 46% of Mississippians should not marry outside their race.

[MrMickeysMom]

9. Hell, these people don't marry outside their family!

[Wilms]

4. YouTube: Billie Holiday -Strange Fruit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXdnD39GYVU

[wysingm]

14. Strange Fruit (1939)

Southern trees bear a 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.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

[leftstreet]

5. K&R for Billie. And fuck racists n/t

[Newest Reality]

6. We could start to put our feet down.

We could say that we are no longer interested in the insane and misplaced desire to legislate morality. That, actually, should be job number one for progressives and liberals, no matter how we are berated and demonized.

While we watch the laughable approach to ethics concerning Wall Street and regulations for corporations, we see a corresponding waste of time and effort by the players of wedge issues and divisiveness in their attempts to reverse our gains and decide what is correct for people to think and do, (when it harms nobody else, empirically). The negative impact on using religious dogma to politically control, divide, confuse and impose on a clearly pluralistic world is obvious to many of us now.

At least it is clear what are up against and how far they have come towards imposing their internal projections and lack of personal integrity and clarity upon the people. Let's be thankful we can see this for what it is and let us dedicate ourselves to fighting and opposing those who want to criminalize our nature and uniqueness and being when they obviously pose no physical or necessarily harmful threat to our fellows. This is a line in the sand and we might want to consider doing everything we can to stop what is, simply stated, a road to tyranny with no other, definable or demonstrable basis, but tyranny and power of a few over the many.

[tularetom]

7. i posted somewhere else, I'm amazed it's only 46%

[Raster]

11. Welcome to DU and Happy Birthday, Lady Day.

:kick:

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Truly an American Treasure.

Timeless as well as way ahead of her time.

[MrMickeysMom]

13. Welcome to DU, Happy Birthday, Billie...

I understand the first time she performed this live in front of a white audience, the pregnant pause was followed by a building applause.

[wysingm]

16. Strange Fruit

Billie Holiday singing this song for the first time publicly, in 1939 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Society">Cafe Society, Greenwich Village, New York City. The club also prided itself on treating black and white customers equally, unlike many venues, such as the Cotton Club, that featured black performers but barred black customers.

In December, 1999, Time magazine labelled it the http://clorechronicles.com/2009/03/30/strange-fruit/">song of the century.

[handmade34]

15. so many thanks...

love, love, love, Billie Holiday!

[starroute]

17. Only it was not written by the Rosenbergs' son

The writer was Abel Meeropol, who adopted the Rosenbergs' sons after their parents were executed. The boys, Michael and Robert, were not even born until after the song was written.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Meeropol