Burmese Mermaid

Burmese Mermaid
Burmese Pearl by Gerald Kelly

Monday, November 7, 2022

Billie's Blues

 

Billie Holiday
7 April 1915 - 17 July 1959

The Burmese Mermaid aspires to bravery. I'm not always able to act bravely though, so I look for inspiration in the world of human affairs.

Billie Holiday or Lady Day (the name given to her by the great tenor saxophonist Lester "Prez" Young) bravely dared to perform and record "Strange Fruit", a song about lynching. I imagine she was afraid of repercussions but still she persisted. 

The song was blacklisted, banned on the airwaves, and Lady Day was pressured not to perform it. When she refused, she was often met with hecklers, racist taunts, harassment. The U.S. government targeted her. Read more here: 

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/the-story-behind-billie-holidays-strange-fruit/17738/

"Strange Fruit" was written in 1937 by Abel Meeropol (under the pseudonym Lewis Allan), a Jewish-American songwriter, and recorded by Lady Day on April 20, 1939. 

"Strange Fruit" is recognized by many as the earliest protest song contemporaneous with the start of the civil rights movement.

Lady Day. Forever in our hearts and deeply missed. Beloved and brave beyond measure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit


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