what made america great is an independent, vigorous press. if a jerk burns a flag, america is not threatened. political speech is the heart of the first amendment. they re expressing their religious beliefs. now is the time to make justice a reality for all of god s children. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center welcome to speaking freely, a weekly conversation about the first amendment, the arts, and american culture. i m ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center. today, we ll discuss one of the most powerful and provocative songs of the past century. the song is strange fruit, and it s the subject of a new book by our guest, david margolick. welcome. thank you, ken. are there other books out there about a single song? i m familiar with dave marsh s take on louie louie, but this has to be an unusual premise for a new book. i don t think there are very many. i think there s a book about amazing grace, and i m told there s a book
what made america great is an independent, vigorous press. if a jerk burns a flag, america is not threatened. political speech is the heart of the first amendment. they re expressing their religious beliefs. now is the time to make justice a reality for all of god s children. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center welcome to speaking freely, a weekly conversation about the first amendment, the arts, and american culture. i m ken paulson, executive director of the first amendment center. today, we ll discuss one of the most powerful and provocative songs of the past century. the song is strange fruit, and it s the subject of a new book by our guest, david margolick. welcome. thank you, ken. are there other books out there about a single song? i m familiar with dave marsh s take on louie louie, but this has to be an unusual premise for a new book. i don t think there are very many. i think there s a book about amazing grace, and i m told there s a book
so the song had an enormous impact. let s take a moment and give our viewers a chance to hear this extraordinary song. (holiday) southern trees bear a strange fruit: blood on the leaves and blood at the root, black bodies swingin in the southern breeze. strange fruit hangin from the poplar trees. the voice of billie holiday. in your book, you quote the late jazz writer leonard feather as saying that strange fruit is the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism. in your view, does it live up to that billing? i think it really does. i mean, you know, it s always hard my days in the newspapers remind me that it s always hard to say that anything is the first or the only because you always get a letter from somebody correcting you. there were other songs before. i mean, in a way, negro spirituals were cries against racism too, and there was a song by irving berlin, suppertime, which talked about lynching. so techni