Strange Fruit

With auditions just a few days away, we're beginning to pull together the images, music, and themes that will guide the Sugar Creek Players' production of To Kill A Mockingbird.

People have asked us frequently about music: Will there be pre-show music? Will it be period music? What about Gospel? Shouldn't there be a banjo?

A good friend suggested we start with Billie Holliday's Strange Fruit, which she recorded at various times throughout her career. The lyrics come directly from Abe Meeropol's vivid poem of the same name, penned in 1939. We're told that Meeropol, born in a Jewish family and living in New York, saw a photo of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, which Meeropol said "haunted him." The poem he wrote is equally haunting.

After he saw Billie Holliday perform, Meeropol showed her the poem, which she recorded in 1939. The song rose to number 16 on the charts — which is both fantastic and sad, given the subject matter. When we watched the You Tube video, we were blown away.

People born after the 1970s often wonder "what life was really like way back then." To get a sense of what life was like for Scout and Jem Finch in Maycomb, Alabama in 1935, one need look no farther than Strange Fruit by Billie Holliday.

While we don't know exactly how this music will be used in our production of Mockingbird, it will be used and it will be discussed to help all of us understand where we were and how far we've come.

Strange Fruit (Abe Meeropol, 1939)

Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.