Episode 40 · Jazz
Strange Fruit
Billie Holiday
1939. A song that wasn't supposed to exist. We look at what it took to make it and why it still hurts.
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Strange FruitBillie Holiday · Before we press play
Show notes
This is the quietest and heaviest episode of the season. We take our time with the history of the poem, the way it was first performed, and the silence that followed it in a room.
Marcus Reyes leads with the context, Layla Brooks reads the lyric aloud, and the whole team agrees to talk less than usual.