My Top Twenty: "Strange Fruit" - Billie Holiday

Song: "Strange Fruit"
Artist: Billie Holiday (also sung by Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley and many others)
Year: 1939
Label: Commodore
Players: Billie Holiday - singer; Abel Meeropol - songwriter, (as Lewis Allan)

It was this photograph [warning, do NOT click if easily nauseated, NSFW] that prompted Jewish highschool teacher Abel Meeropol to write a the poem that would become my favorite protest song. In the picture, two African-American men are hanging from a tree, while white men and women mill around below, some pointing, none terrible shocked or offended. These men were lynched, not tried and condemed. they were murdered, because of the color of there skin.

Billie Holiday is a master of the American songbook, her voice infused with emotion both elating and depressing. But on "Strange Fruit" she is not downcast over her man's wandering eye, but by the injustice commited against her people, by her fellow man. It is one song that, to this very day, fills my heart with anger, fills my eyes with tears and makes my fists to clench. How can we have done this? How can people be so violent, so evil? I know it was a different time and place, but that can't even begin to make it right.

It's not just the subject matter that cuts into my heart, but the way it is presented with the evoctive lyrics: "Scent of magnolia, so clean and fresh/then the sudden smell of burning flesh" Just hearing that, it takes you there. To a place, so real, so horrible. It sickens you. Or at the very least, it should. "Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck/for the rain to gather/for the wind to pluck/for the sun to rot/for the trees to drop/here is a strange and bitter crop"

The song inspired Bob Dylan, was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame and named Time's Song Of The Century.

Five Songs On Shuffle, Vol. 4

It's late, I know, but here is the fourth installment of my weekly blog entry series "5 Songs On Shuffle." I’ll put my iTunes on shuffle and blog about the first five songs that play.

"New Shoes" - Paulo Nutini These Streets
A minor hit for the Scottish pop-rocker. I loved it, not just because of my natural affinity for footwear, but because it's catchy as hell. And so true! "Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly every thing's right" is the way I always feel. There is no better feeling then putting on some hot new Chucks in a funky design, or a pair of sweet black sport fusion casuals with a contrasting white stripe. Well, maybe there is, but it still ranks pretty high.

"Like A Prayer" - Madonna The Immaculate Collection
The original album mix is far superior to this one from Madonna's greatest hits collection. The choir has a weird breakdown at about the 4:23 mark, the guitars are not as strong. However, it still remains one of my favorite songs of all time.

"Strange Fruit (Tricky Remix)" - Billie Holiday Necessary Beats: The Mix Tape
"Strange Fruit" makes me angry. It boils my blood to know the inconceivable evil man can visit on his fellow man. (I also have the original version as well as a version by Nina Simone on my iPod.) This remix is bizarre, spare and haunting with harp-like guitar plucking and a strange horn and random electric guitar for the beat, it doesn't have the same emotional impact, but it's not a club banger either. But when I do my updated Top Twenty Songs Of All Time, this song will be on it. No other song stirs such emotions: bitter sadness, vengeful anger, a hopeful optimism that one day we will just all get along. Racism is the ugliest thing, we must never forget just how ugly it can get.

"Stay (I Missed You)" - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories Stay (I Missed You) [CD Single]
I love this song, I think it my also end up in my top twenty. The simplicity of the arrangement, the emotional vocal, the heartbreaking lyrics, all combine to make a perfect indie-pop single. Heartbreak is a painful thing, but also a inspiration.

"Laura" - Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters
I must love the Scissor Sisters, this is the second time one of their songs have popped up on my five songs on shuffle series. This isn't one of my favorites of their songs (that would be "Tits On The Radio" and "Take Your Mama Out") but I do love the kiss off line "This'll be the last time I ever do your hair" Oh, snap!