Here's a video of Billie Holiday singing Strange Fruits. The lyrics to this song were originally a poem written by Abel Meeropol, who was a schoolteacher from the Bronx. After hearing about it from a friend, Mrs. Holiday first performed it in a Greenwich Village club in 1939. This makes it one of the first song about racism. For a black woman to sing about lynching & racism in the late 30's, it takes a set of balls the size of America and I think it speaks volume on how tough a person she was. She later talked about how the lyrics reminded her of her father's death, which is one of the reasons why she wanted to record it. Considering that Mr. Obama is now the 44th President of the USA, I think this is a fitting jam this morning.
They really don't make artists like this anymore. I'll trade all your Kanyes, Britneys, Pussycat Dolls and other overproduced, overhyped, robot crap for something with soul like this. Music should come from the heart, not the control board.
While I'm at it, check out Nina Simone if you don't already know her.
2 comments:
Go check out Melody Gardot... she may be the closest thing to a young modern day Nina. I love her. I saw her live twice this summer and she amazes me. She's 22 and she started writing as therapy after she had memory loss after getting hit by a car at the age of 19. That's when she suddenly discovered she could sing and write apparently. She still has to walk with a cane and wear shades as a result of the accident.
check it out! You can stream the record on her website...
http://melodygardot.com/
Amen brother. 100% agree. Hey, I think you'd really like this track by Esther Phillips (it's a cover of a Gil Scott Heron song about the junky life)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvdnMzQGbEQ
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