billie-holiday

Annie Lennox Whitewashes Explanation of "Strange Fruit"

Rich Juzwiak · 10/24/14 11:08AM

Annie Lennox, who recently boiled down what Beyoncé does to "twerking" to dismiss Bey's feminism, was less specific though still not quite...right when when Tavis Smiley asked her about covering "Strange Fruit" on her new album Nostalgia. Popularized by Billie Holiday in 1939, "Strange Fruit" is a song about racism that vividly describes a scene after a lynching (the strange fruit is the black man hanging from it). Annie Lennox did not mention lynching in her description of the song to Smiley:

To-Do List

Gawker · 01/20/03 11:45AM

1. Catch Joel Katz's documentary on Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" at the 92nd Street Y.
2. View the Charles Henri Ford exhibit at the Algus Gallery.
3. Try the wild boar lasagna at Peasant. (Update: a recent patron reports having to wait 90 minutes for a table. With reservations. Just so you know.)