Musical culture is one of the factors in the formation of public protest. Musical compositions of this genre serve as a protest against the existing situation, politicians, social and global injustice, the way of life, and in general everything that enslaves people, makes them slaves, and perishes a personality out of them. Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit is one of the many examples of songs that defy certain social tendencies.
This piece of music was written as a protest against the lynching courts. This event represents a method of reprisals against the black population in the United States by white people, mainly representatives of the Nazi organization “Ku Klux Klan,” which was formed during the civil war between the North and South of the United States. Lynching targeted both blacks who committed crimes against whites and strikers, farmers, and other blacks who threatened the economic interests of the white majority.
Strange Fruit is about the lynching of blacks in Mississippi and describes the case when black people hung on trees instead of apples and oranges. Amoako (2019) notes that initially, this composition was refused not only from the release, but even from the recording. Billie Holiday had to do it underground, in an independent studio. However, in the end, the song became popular, got into the top twenty in the United States, and served as the beginning of a movement against the persecution of blacks. Strange Fruit has had a considerable impact on public opinion. Under pressure from society, Democratic presidents, particularly H. Truman, began to fight the lynching courts.
Furthermore, John Lennon paid considerable attention to socio-political issues. In Working Class Hero, Lennon addressed the subject of the system’s control over a person and criticized the class division of society. In turn, in the Woman Is the Nigger of the World D. Lennon and J. Ono declared about the problem of the powerlessness of women. The composition The Luck of the Irish highlighted the complex centuries-old relationship between Great Britain and Ireland.
Reference
Amoako, A. (2019). Strange Fruit: The most shocking song of all time? BBC.