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    © All Rights Reserved
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    143 views9 pages

    RRP - Davis - Strange Fruit

    Uploaded by

    Angel Caméléon

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 9
    130 Blues Legacies and Black Feminiem literal signification of the lyrics. She was able to set in profound motion deeply disturbing disjunctions between overt statements and their aes. thetic meanings. The listener is made to feel that the instrumentals rep- resent the relatively easy existence a man can enjoy within a love relationship—the instruments were all played by men—while her voice establishes its fernale persona as an equal participant, all the white raising questions about such unquestioned inequality. ‘The conclusion of “When 2 Woman Loves a Man” reinforces the criti cal dimension of the song: repeating the phrase “and that’s how it goes ‘when a woman loves a man,” her voice ascends at the end, sounding a question. If that is how it goes, must it always be this way? This aesthetic challenging of the finality of the lyrics, moving them from afficmative statements toward open-ended interrogations, creates the space for a libe erating—though not liberated —female subjectivity. Iti stil possible to lean this kind of meaning from Holiday's axt, many decades aftr it was performed and recorded, because Lady Day's art expressed and embodied 2 critical stance, in an aesthetic context, toward social relations that at the time were not popularly experienced as capable of historical transforma tion. We remain moved by her songs because we experience in them the anticipated, inchoate presence of a vantage point later produced and sy tematically elaborated by social mavernents that would insist upon histori cal transformations of gender, race, and class relations. Aven Dans Beurs Lecnoes tw Back Heptgen, (1998 “STRANGE FRUIT” Music ano Sociat Consciousness Southem trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves, blood atthe 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 Rlesk Here is fruit forthe crows to pluck For the rain to gather, forthe wind to suck For the sun toro, forthe tee to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop a"Sraaxce Faure"! This song, which Billie Holiday called her “personal protest”? against racism, radically transformed her status in American popular culture. She previously had been acknowledged by her contemporaries on the jazz ant and innovative musician, but her performance of firmly established her asa pivotal figure in a new tendency in black musical culture that directly addressed issues of racial injustice. ‘Though she was only twenty-four years old when she recorded this song in 1939 and integrated it into her repertoire, she had already been striving for some time to reach a mass audience and thus to achieve recognition beyond the circles of musicians and jazz cognoscenti who so unanimously praised her work? She would not—or pethaps could not—perform the ‘Tin Pan Alley material that made up her repertoire in the commercial vein that might have won her the popular success she desired, John Chitton Biues Legacies and Black Feminism recounts a conversation between Holiday and Dave Dexter, then associate ‘editor of Down Beat magazine, in which she said that she would quitthe singing game ifshe failed to gain national prom rnence—"with the public as well 5 musicians and jazz fans,” by the time she was 26. She admitted that she was aware of the great respect that musicians had for he, bt said that she was discouraged “after nine yeas of hard work” and felt “ata Tos as towhy the public at large had failed to respond” to her. Holiday's own autobiographical reflections about that moment in her life, interestingly, draw a distinction between the mass recognition she had already achieved and the financial success she desired i Jef two years later as a stat. Topened Café Society as an unknown; 1 ys But you couldn't tell the difference from what U had in my sock. | ‘was still making that same cold seventy-five dollars a week. I had made more than that in Hatlem. I needed the prestige and publicity allright, but you can’t pay rent with it Tewas at Café Society the newly opened interracial nightclub in Green- wich Village that she premiered the song that, at first, seemed almost anti- thetical to hee quest for financial succes, Holiday never had a bestselling recording—neither during her lifetime nor after her death.* But what fame and commercial fortune she did enjoy would become inextricably, if ambiguously, tied to “Strange Fruit” Prior to her decision to sing “Strange Fruit” her work consisted almost exclusively of original and often sub- versive renderings of the conventional and formulate popular love songs offered her by her record producers. In “Strange Fruit” she had a song with urgent and far-reaching social implications—a song about the hats, indignities, and eruptions of violence that threatened black people in the United States, a song that was able to awaken from their apolitical stamber vast numbers of people fom diverse racial backgrounds, Atthe same tine itwas nota song that could be counted upon for popular suecess. In fact, seemed ready-made to damage her career and to further diminish er st" "Strange Fruit” tes {us as a popular singer. Nonetheless, once she decided to sing “Strange Fruit” she became obsessed with it. “I worked like the devil on it,” she wrote, “because I was never sure I could put it across or that [ could get across to a plush nightclub audience the things that it meant to me.”” As long as Holiday's work appeared to be without manifest social con- tent, she was praised lavishly by crties, Their insistence on the nonracial- ized “universality” of art prohibited serious consideration of her work’s relation to the collective struggles of black people, Since “Strange Fruit” was designed unambiguously to prick the consciences of those who were content to remain oblivious to racism, it was inevitable that many critics ‘would dismiss it as propaganda.® But Holiday realized, to the contrary that “Strange Fruit” would afford her a mode of expression that merged her own individual sensibility, including her hatred of racstinspired brutality, with the rage of a potential community of resistance, Art never achieves gxeatness through transcendence of sociohistorical reality. On the con- trary, even as it transcends specific circumstances and conventions, itis deeply rooted in social realities, As Herbert Marcuse has pointed out, it is __at its best when it fashions new perspectives on the human condition, pro- vokes critical attitudes and encourages loyalty “to the vision of a better world, a vision which remains rue even in defeat” In the transforming mimesis, the image of liberation is fractured by reality, [Fart were to promise that at the end good would triumph ‘over evil, such a promise would be refuted by the historical truth. In reality itis evil which triumphs, and there are only islands of good where one can find refuge for a brief time. Authentic works of art are aware of this: they reject the promise made too easily; they refuse the unburdened happy end, They must reject it, for the realm of freedom lies beyond mimesis® “Strange Fruit” evoked the horrors of lynching at atime when black People were still passionately calling for allies in the campaign to eradi- Cale this murderous and terrorstic manifestation of racism. While she Dever sang "Strange Fruit” exacly the same way twice, each time Holiday Performed it she implicitly asked her audiences to imagine a dreadfal 184 ives Legacies and Black feminism Iynching scene, and to endorse and sdemtify with the song's antilynching sentiments, Yet her performance of this M6 gid much more, It almost singlehandedly changed the polities ‘of American popular culture and pute elements of protest and resistance ‘back atthe center of eontempo- Tary black smsical cute. The fel impact of Holiday's performance of Strange Fruit” sas pwerfl today ait Wa in the 1940s. By placing this song atthe center of her repertie, Holiday firmly established the place of protest in the black pepulat vrasial tradition, Her use of his work in het tarees helped dismantle the oppositions firmly entrenched until her sing, igo this song, between fame and commercial success on the one Rand 178 cial consciousnessin music on the oles “The most common ports of Billie Holiday highlight drug addiction, alcoholism, ferninine weakness, depressions Tack of formal education, and a ther difficulties uncelated ther contabutions 9% artist. In other words, the image she has acquired in US. popular culture relies on biographical information about Holidays personal life at the expense of acknowledging her vole as. cultural producer, whichis, after al the reason for her end ing importance. Thisis the approach taken by the Motown film based on re aatbiography, Lady Sings the Blues This mae ‘of Lady Day, who is played by Diana Ros, tends to jmp that her music is no more then a vrneonseious and passive product of the ontingencies of het life.” If one evepts this construction of Holiday, “Seangs Fruit” appears to be at ‘anomaly. In fact, John Chilton explains her encounter swith Lewis Allen," ‘who composed the lyics, in angusge hat emphasizes Allen'sactive role— although Allen never did this Tineelf—and that ofthe white men who vrmed and operated Café Society, while ‘utterly downplaying Holiday pat in decidingto sing the 59" Poet Lewis Allen, then working asa schoolteacher, approached Bar- ney Josephson {the owner of Café Society} and Robert Gordon {who helped organize the floor-hows) with a set of lyrics that Re Thad adapted from his own poetry they recommended that Allen Could meet Bile and offer the song to her At fist, Lady was slow Strange Prat” 18s to understand the song’ - g's imagery, but her bewilderment a sti emphasised the cadences, and thi — 1a few reading, Billie was “into” the oe we Hi | ‘nto” the song, but was uncon- heed ete ioctl as eat he He “bly vie d interpretations of yes had enanced many iit og ly nced many songs, but these sony 7 fl the varying skills of their composers Sas “had only 7 i he problems oflove, untequited or otherwise, skies ree 8. Here, Billie was being asked to provide a musical commentary on an issue raw en ae raw enough to be unmentionable in urban In Barney Josephson’ k ons own description of Holiday's intial i ‘Strange Fruit,” he takes all the credit for her econ to: et wn Ayoung man came in one eveni ara esa cae cening with a song and showed itto me. Not eating msc could read, so I read the Iytis. I read the: eta oo floored by them. I said, “What do you want to Wo an He said, "Td like to have Billie sing this song” So he sng ioemogt her. She looked at me and said, after he finished it siiceeteant Tod with that mand” And Tsai," would ‘wonderfl if you'd sing it—if you eare to You don't have to “You wants me to sin And she sang it. And that sony vant ig it T sings it she sang it git A 6 Chilton deseribes Holida 7 1es Holiday as being “bewildered” Ge jered” by the o Pesettonsofanthing other than women in love or spurned ty tee seo ng i neki not ony offered her the yi «how to sing them. But bat Pky mm n rete Sr yee rete ose enduring meaning stemmed from th Snel render ita E : 1m the way she chose to render it as ee. ae ' oat is nothing short of eee a : ye as he may have been in openi ‘ 7 - ng New York’ firs truly int pin ahs people of color were set ead a ighab—nbr pepe ne in the audience as stage —Josephson’s depiction of Billie Holiday is problematic at Biues Legacies and Black Feminism 186 ‘est he paints her as anilterate, ignorant, and passive woman willing to sing ‘Stange Fruit” simply because he asked her to do His attempt to recaptute her speech —"You wants me to sing it sings it" —is reminiscent dfthe worst kind of minstel caricatures of black “dialect” Steart Nicholson published a biography in 1995 entitled Bille Holi. day Wis to his reat that he omits these stories that foreground white ren as he responsible parties in Holiday's decision to sing "Stange Fruit” However, Donald Clarke, Holiday's most recent biographer, futher de ‘elope this narrative, emphasizing her alleged illiteracy “Lady was non: politica; when she first looked at ‘Strange Fruit she didn't know what to re ike of it She never read anything bat comic books—promoter Emie vtndetson once brought her bundles of them-—and she was used 9 learn ing songs, nat reading poetiy"? To bolster this interpretation he quotes, Josephson, who said in an intersiee, “At Est felt Billie didn’t know what the hel the sng meant’ Clarke also quotes Arthur Herzog, whose mem ves of Holiday's initial encounter with “Strange Fruit” represent her as not understanding the song's meaning, whie comprehension were en believe she knew what he was doing or that the impact hit ollection is that the song didn't irmpactof thither, and she pat herself nt the song” ‘Compare Clarke's, Chilton’, and Josephsons accounts of the mec between Holiday and Allen with her own (as ransribed by William Dufty in Lady Sings the Blues}: Twas dung my stint at Café Society that a song was born which Tocame my personal protest—"Strange Fruit” ‘The germ of the song was ina poet written by Lewis Allen I ist met him at Café Society. When he showed me that poem, 1 dugit right of Wscemed to spell out al the things that had killed Pop. len too, ha heard how Pop ded and of course was interested in my singing, Fle suggested that Sony White, who had been my ecompanist and [turit into music So the three of us got ogeter ‘and did the job in about three weeks.” Jy later “hit” her—as if her tiely external toher own allegedly backward men- tal processes: “When she fist started singing this song, 1 really don't ther... My ee: rave much punch at fist, and suddenly the | ‘Strange Fruit” 187 Her father, azz gui jana guitarist Clarence Holiday, Bethe Joliday, had inhaled poisonous ga ring bt in Wd Wa He developed chron Tung problems and in Mac of 1957, wie on our in Tas wh Don Reda’ aoe contacted acho cold fr vtch he rected no reatent omueaheg teed hpi ht ate y the inet band ech Dilla where ale sek meant, his oon adr sed fo breumos nde did of emerge ithe fm Cow reefthe Ve et Hantal

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