![]() ![]() Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees Though it was banned from radio when first released, the song eventually became part of the protest song canon and was called “a declaration of war…the beginning of the Civil Rights movement” by record producer and co-founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun.īlood on the leaves and blood at the rootīlack bodies swinging in the southern breeze ![]() The song’s metaphor of a tree loaded with fruit to evoke the image of lynched Black bodies is both deeply affecting and more artful than many of the socially conscious songs that came before it. ![]() The 1939 song “Strange Fruit,” written by Abel Meeropol performed most famously by Billie Holiday, was one of the first popular songs to address a social issue without using a call and response structure, or the traditional military cadence of a call to arms. Songs that address racial inequity and police brutality have a particularly rich tradition, one that Hype Man embraces and exemplifies when Verb and Peep One release their track, “Justice for Jerrod.” Below, explore a few of Company One’s favorite songs with potent messages of social justice: American protest songs are most closely associated with the anti-war cause, reaching peak popularity during the folk revival of the Vietnam War era, but other social movements have also used music to great effect to spread awareness and bring people together for a purpose. From revolutionary soldiers singing rallying cries against the British government, to Civil War abolitionists repurposing hymns to decry the horrors of slavery, moments of great historical change are fertile ground for musical expression. Songs have been used as a form of social and political protest since the country’s founding. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2022
Categories |