Southern trees bear a strange fruit/
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root.

“Strange Fruit” was written in 1939 and first performed by Billie Holiday. That version is fantastic too, but I prefer Nina Simone’s version. Simone’s arrangement is much rawer. The instrumental is minimal allowing you to concentrate on the lyrics. And the lyrics are heart-breaking and powerful. The author sees black men and women hanging from trees in the South and likens them to Strange Fruit—to rot, and for the crows to pick at. The song is eighty years old and it still feels so powerful.

Many things are special about Simone’s version, but notice that she plays the song almost in free time. She allows breaks in between the lyrics in order to emphasize certain phrases and also breaks in between the piano notes for emphasis.

She is amazing at piano—perhaps the best in rock/soul, but she doesn’t go crazy with a ton of frills and complicated piano playing. Likewise, she has a voice that is just as powerful and beautiful as all the divas, but she uses restraint and simplicity when she emotes. She is probably the best at covering songs that there is.

Strange Fruit Lyrics

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 magnolia, sweet and fresh,
Then 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 the tree to drop.
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Songwriters: Abel Meeropol