Robert Meeropol is the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and the adoptive son of "Strange Fruit” composer Abel Meeropol. Columbia gave Holiday a one-session release from her contract so she could record it; Frankie Newton's eight-piece Café Society Band was used for the session. Through this daisy chain of personal ties, the Meeropols were ultimately able to adopt Robert and Michael. One version of events claims that Barney Josephson, the founder of Café Society in Greenwich Village, New York's first integrated nightclub, heard the song and introduced it to Billie Holiday. Does it really help people in developing countries? I was new to the left, having joined DSA after volunteering for Bernie Sanders in 2016. Its author recognized “Strange Fruit” as a necessary statement then–and it remains so now. As lefty public school teachers, the Meeropols were both heavily involved in the New York City Teachers Union. “Strange Fruit” This anti-lynching poem was written by Abel Meeropol, a teacher, songwriter, and member of the American Communist Party. It protests the lynching of Black Americans, with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. His show, The West Wing, is admittedly very bad art. [23] Rene Marie's rendition was coupled with Confederate anthem "Dixie", making for an "uncomfortable juxtaposition", according to Pellegrinelli. I think that misses the truth. It was through the union that they came to know teacher and Party member, Alice Citron. Leftist solidarity was a theme that ran throughout Abel’s songwriting career and political life. Tel: 212-691-2555. [22], Notable cover versions of this song include Nina Simone (whose version was sampled in Kanye West's "Blood on the Leaves"[23]), René Marie,[23] Jeff Buckley,[23] Siouxsie and the Banshees,[24] Dee Dee Bridgewater,[24] Josh White,[25] UB40,[24] Bettye LaVette[26] and Edward W. VivreMusicale 1,277 views There she first sang his song “Strange Fruit” to hushed and astonished audiences. Robert Meeropol believes that this is exactly how Abel intended the song to be used. “Between Capitalism and Community” by Michael A. Lebowitz, Counterfire reviews “The Dawning of the Apocalypse” by Gerald Horne, Marx & Philosophy on Gerald Horne’s “Jazz and Justice”, Left Voice reviews Rob Wallace’s “Dead Epidemiologists” + This Is Hell interviews Rob Wallace, Time Talks–so does Gerald Horne: about “The Dawning of the Apocalypse”, Upper Ocean Temperatures Set a New High Record in 2020, Record number of billion-dollar disasters struck U.S. in 2020. Subscribe to the Monthly Review e-newsletter (max of 1-3 per month). [20] Holiday's 1939 version of the song was included in the National Recording Registry on January 27, 2003. “A lot of what he wrote was biting satire and had a nasty edge to it. [14] Because of the power of the song, Josephson drew up some rules: Holiday would close with it; the waiters would stop all service in advance; the room would be in darkness except for a spotlight on Holiday's face; and there would be no encore. (15 Tracks That Changed The World) CD", "100 Songs of the South | accessAtlanta.com", "Strange Fruit: A protest song with enduring relevance", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Strange_Fruit&oldid=997228600, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 December 2020, at 15:36. [16] Holiday sang "Strange Fruit" for him a cappella, and moved him to tears. I know who the workers are, I know who the owners are, I know who our allies are, I know who our enemies are, that’s good enough for me! We dropped from public sight and within a couple of years our names were changed to Meeropol.”. Robert Meeropol suspects that Abel and Anne only quit the Party in order to adopt him and his brother. The photograph helped inspire the poem and song "Strange Fruit" written by Abel Meeropol -- and performed around the world by Billie Holiday. Strange Fruit: The most shocking song of all time? It needs to be able to frame those stories for widespread consumption. 50+ videos Play all Mix - Strange Fruit by Abel Meeropol YouTube The Negro Speaks of Rivers poem by Langston Hughes music by Margaret Bonds - Duration: 4:07. “At that point, right-wing groups tried to have us taken from Abel and Anne, and a court custody battle developed,” Robert Meeropol told me. Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1939) “Strange Fruit” was written by Abel Meeropol, a white English teacher from New York City, as a protest against the horrors of lynching. But we also need to do our own storytelling, to make creative narrative works that mythologize our own past. Abel had a spare, imagistic style and could use simple language to devastating emotional effect. Probably written for Spanish Civil War soldiers from the International Brigades, it was sung by Josh White for Franklin Roosevelt and by Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert in memory of Sacco and Vanzetti (two Italian anarchists framed for murder and executed in 1927). ... Jewish schoolteacher and union activist from New York City named Abel Meeropol, who was outraged after seeing a photograph of a horrific lynching in a civil-rights magazine. His type of artistry was ideal for writing politically powerful songs. To acknowledge this fact is to acknowledge the need for ambitious left-wing storytelling that can act as a counternarrative. I felt rejuvenated and included. On the recording, Holiday starts singing after 70 seconds. Meeropol, his wife, and black vocalist Laura Duncan performed it at Madison Square Garden. So, he met them, he liked them, and he said, “OK, you can adopt them!”. It was an attack on the perpetrators of lynching.” It was also in this period that Abel Meeropol wrote the poem, “Beloved Comrade.” The only way the Meeropols’ story would get approved by network executives is if it were pitched by someone like Aaron Sorkin—who would no doubt fill his script with speechifying neoliberals. Meeropol wrote the anti-lynching poem, "Strange Fruit", which was originally published in the Marxist publication The New Massesand was subsequently set to music. Lynching was a practice that involved mob-style execution without trial, most often by hanging, and almost exclusively of … Before Sorkin produces his take on the Rosenbergs, and we have to endure a walk and talk between Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy, I think it’s time to start sharing our own history. For 30 years he has been a progressive activist, author and speaker. Diana Ross recorded the song for her debut film, the Billie Holiday biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and it was included on the chart topping soundtrack album. In the poem, Meeropol expressed his horror at lynchings, inspired by Lawrence Beitler 's photograph of the 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. Considering the vivid images and sustained metaphor of the song “Strange Fruit,” it shouldn’t be surprising that it began as a poem. It is this part of the story, the part about the left showing deep care for their own, that I might seize on for my imaginary prestige TV show. “There was no regular job,” Robert Meeropol recalls. Thankfully though Abel Meeropol, a American songwriter, took the poem and turned it into something very distinguished. [5], "Strange Fruit" originated as a poem written by Jewish-American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol, under his pseudonym Lewis Allan, as a protest against lynchings. ‘Strange Fruit’ by Abel Meeropol is a poem on the genocide of black people in America. In the 1930s, the Communist Party USA swelled to about 80,000 members at the height of its popularity. In her 1956 autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, Holiday suggested that she, together with Meeropol, her accompanist Sonny White, and arranger Danny Mendelsohn, set the poem to music. Emanuel Hirsch Bloch, the Rosenbergs’ lawyer and a renowned left-wing defense attorney who had defended numerous people accused of communist sympathies, acted temporarily as their guardian. The song was recorded and performed by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone among other artists. It is long past time that we claimed our past, and publicly narrated our stories—stories like Abel and Anne Meeropol’s—and won back the (currently Sorkinized) political ground in the popular imagination. [23] LA Times noted that Siouxsie and the Banshees's version contained "a solemn string section behind the vocals" and "a bridge of New Orleans funeral-march jazz" which enhanced the singer's "evocative interpretation". The tragic effect gets embodiment in the poem by the use of Meeropol’s bitter irony. Strange FruitWritten by Abel Meeropol as a poem.Famously performed by Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Bloch was informed of the Meeropols’ request to adopt the boys through Shirley Graham Du Bois, wife of W.E.B. The song was highly regarded; the 1939 recording eventually sold a million copies,[7] in time becoming Holiday's biggest-selling recording. The main themes of the poem “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol are racism and violence. The point of ‘Strange Fruit’ was that it was an attack song. Meeropol is the adopted son of a Jewish schoolteacher, Abel Meeropol, who saw one of these postcards in the 1930s and was prompted to write the song Strange Fruit - … Other reports say that Robert Gordon, who was directing Billie Holiday's show at Café Society, heard the song at Madison Square Garden and introduced it to her. In 1940 Meeropol, a socialist, was called to testify before a committee investigating communism and asked whether the US Communist Party had paid him to write Strange Fruit. Perhaps you already know what the Du Bois’, the Meeropols, and the Rosenbergs all had in common. In an article written by BBC Meeropol is quoted saying, “I wrote Strange Fruit because I hate lynching, and I hate injustice, and I hate the people who perpetuate it.” Hardy. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The Meeropol boys today are in their 70s. [7], Meeropol published the poem under the title "Bitter Fruit" in January 1937 in The New York Teacher, a union magazine of the Teachers Union. I think that misses the truth. I would instead focus my story on the left-wing community in New York City who rallied around the Rosenberg family. For the rest of us, the saga of the songwriter and the sons of the murdered “spies” seems like a secret history, a potshard buried beneath the sand that speaks of a whole fallen civilization. Abel Meeropol writing rhythm and rhyme Injustice inflicted on fellow men Jewish poet formed by events of his time Razor-sharp lines flowing out of his pen His thoughts wandering to the news of the south Whites lynching blacks on barren southern trees Strange fruit harvest as related mouth to mouth Democracy swings on a killing breeze 134 W 29TH ST STE 706 "Strange Fruit" is a song recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939, written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937. [9][10] Though Meeropol had asked others (notably Earl Robinson) to set his poems to music, he set "Strange Fruit" to music himself. DSA understands that. When put to music by composer Fred Katz, “Beloved Comrade” became an anthem sung at socialist funerals. However, its delusionally “pragmatic” messaging had a real effect on liberal political discourse and practice. Vivian. She was one of the trustees of the fund that was raised for Robert and Michael’s upbringing. According to Robert Meeropol, Abel had a visceral “anger over injustice and a willingness to act upon that.” Alongside these deep feelings also appears to have been a uniquely attuned moral clarity. Under constant threat of persecution, the New York City left was necessarily close knit. Perhaps you’ve already guessed the secret behind this odd convergence of people. After being blacklisted in the 1940s and fired from her teaching job, Citron went on to work as Shirley Graham Du Bois’ personal secretary. Over the centuries, humans have survived tragedy through the incredible stoicism of not moving, of standing one’s ground, of resisting, of engaging in tremendous creativity. The Bernie Sanders campaigns understood that. It was written by Abel Meeropol (1903-1986), a teacher, poet and songwriter, who published under the name Lewis Allan. It’s easier to think of the story as a Coen Brothers film (I’m seeing John Turturro and Frances McDormand cast as the Meeropols) than as history. Meeropol, a member of the American Communist Party, using the pseudonym, Lewis Allan, published the poem in the New York Teacher and … The point of ‘Strange Fruit’ was that it was an attack song. Michael and Robert Rosenberg went to live with the Meeropols in January of 1954. Abel and Anne Meeropol deciding to adopt the sons of the Rosenbergs, and their being in a position to actually do so, was one of those convergences so poetic it doesn’t seem real. Abel changed the title to “Strange Fruit” and set the poem to music in November of 1938. It covers a range of contemporary themes: children separated from parents, the political persecution of dissidents, and social justice warriors doing battle against a racist, xenophobic, increasingly fascistic America. [30][31], Billie Holiday's performances and recordings, Last edited on 30 December 2020, at 15:36, Review: Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Café Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights, "Strange Fruit is still a song for today", "The Strange Story of the Man Behind 'Strange Fruit, "Strange Fruit: Anniversary Of A Lynching". They remained friendly with Party members throughout his childhood. "Strange Fruit" originated as a poem written by Jewish-American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol, under his pseudonym Lewis Allan, as a protest against lynchings. At that point we had been shuttled around so much… we said OK. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were the first U.S. civilians to be executed for espionage during peacetime. My story would begin with the Christmas party at the Du Bois’ and end with Robert and Michael being reunited with the Meeropols, after they had won their legal battle. In October 1939, Samuel Grafton of the New York Post said of "Strange Fruit", "If the anger of the exploited ever mounts high enough in the South, it now has its Marseillaise. “There was this, that, and the other thing. In 1953, when he was six years old, the United States government executed his parents for "conspiring to steal the secret of the atomic bomb." Eventually, it would also lead him to return to the community he’d left behind, blacklists be damned. Strange Fruit. Recently, Sing in Solidarity, a choir composed of members of Democratic Socialists of America (of which I am a member), sang it for the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. He wrote "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by Billie Holiday. [3], Meeropol set his lyrics to music with his wife and singer Laura Duncan and performed it as a protest song in New York City venues in the late 1930s, including Madison Square Garden. The poem specifically focuses on the horrific lynchings that took place primarily across the American South, in which black individuals were brutally tortured and murdered—and often strung up from trees to be gawked at—by white supremacists. While Abel Meeropol was a communist, “Beloved Comrade” belongs to no faction and has been sung in solidarity by many left-wing movements. Blood on … I think that misses the truth. [9] Holiday first performed the song at Café Society in 1939. However, before the adoption had been formalized, Bloch suffered a heart attack and died. This piece’s history is compelling. Billie Holiday was so well known for her rendition of "Strange Fruit" that "she crafted a relationship to the song that would make them inseparable". Robert and Michael were raised in a loving, quirky, left-wing home. Pollution Makes It Worse. They are waiting patiently for the orphaned sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg to arrive. [17] Gabler worked out a special arrangement with Vocalion Records to record and distribute the song.[18]. ‘Strange Fruit’ has often been described as a dirge-like ballad. In 1937, after seeing a photo depicting the lynching of a black man in the south, Bronx-born high school teacher Abel Meeropol wrote a poem entitled "Strange Fruit" that begins with the words: "Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root." The sons of accused spies, taken under the wings of famous civil rights icons, wind up in the care of radical artists and activists. The point of ‘Strange Fruit’ was that it was an attack song. Later, his song was popularized by Billie Holiday and became well-known for confronting racism in America head-on. I guess it was a pretty exciting and rich environment for a young kid growing up.” His parents were forever running off to rehearsals and performances of left-wing concerts. ‘Strange Fruit’ has often been described as a dirge-like ballad. If you didn’t know their back story, they would appear much like the other “red diaper babies” of their generation—that coterie of diehards who protested Vietnam, kept the faith through the dire neoliberal period, and even sent their kids to socialist summer camp. At the party, perhaps standing off to the side of the partygoers, is the poet-songwriter Abel Meeropol (also known by his pen name, Lewis Allan), the author of famous anti-lynching song, “Strange Fruit.” He stands beside his wife, Anne Meeropol, a public school teacher and union organizer. [9] It was recorded on April 20, 1939. It also made me think about how small and secretive the left was for so many decades, and in some ways continues to be. It was most famously performed by Billy Holiday, who first sang “Strange Fruit” in 1939. He wrote "Strange Fruit" (1937), which was recorded by Billie Holiday. It’s even been fictionalized by E.L. Doctorow in The Book of Daniel (a beautiful example of navel-gazing Sorkinesque white guy writing if there ever was one). Courtesy of Robert and Michael Meeropol One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. The symbolic tree has blood on the leaves and in its root. [29] The group's rendition was selected by the Mojo magazine staff to be included on the compilation Music Is Love: 15 Tracks That Changed The World . 3 The photograph so haunted Meeropol that he wrote a poem about it entitled "Bitter Fruit," published in 1937 in The New York Teacher, the journal of the teachers union. It was an attack on the perpetrators of lynching.”. He published it in a union publication in 1937 and then set it to music. The new movement needs its own works of art, and the means to make those works are within reach. 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