British pop singer Rebecca Ferguson offers ‘Strange Fruit’ for Trump inauguration
Rebecca Ferguson, the runner-up on The X Factor in 2010, joins the growing list of entertainers invited to perform at US President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration. And unlike many of those asked (including Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli), she’ll do it. But on one condition.
On Monday, the “I Hope” singer explained on Twitter that she would perform at the January 20 inauguration if she could sing “Strange Fruit,” the civil-rights anthem first made famous by Billie Holiday.
“I’ve been asked and this is my answer,” Ferguson said in a TwitLonger post.
“If you allow me to sing ‘Strange Fruit,’ a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the United States for being too controversial. A song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the United States. A song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then I will graciously accept your invitation and see you in Washington.”
The song’s history dates back to 1930, when two African American men were lynched in Marion, Indiana. An iconic black-and-white photograph showing those men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, hanging from a tree inspired Jewish teacher, poet and activist Abel Meeropol to write about the injustices of racism. His poem, Strange Fruit, uses vivid metaphors to describe that 1930 lynching: “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.”
After Meeropol set the poem to music he played it for a nightclub owner, who then gave the song to Holiday, who first recorded it in 1939.
Since Holiday’s version, the song has been covered numerous times (including by Nina Simone) and was recently sampled in Kanye West’s “Blood on the Leaves.” Time magazine named “Strange Fruit” song of the century in 1999.
Ferguson first appeared on the seventh season of The X Factor, the UK reality competition show. She auditioned with another civil rights song, “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke.
While Ferguson’s response is not an outright no to the invitation, it would be strange indeed if Trump’s team accepted her bold stipulation.
Ferguson has not indicated if the Trump inauguration team has responded to her request.
President Barack Obama’s inauguration featured a special performance from Aretha Franklin, but Trump’s team have been forced to cast a wide net to find celebrities willing to take the stage alongside the new Republican president. So far, the only performers on the line-up for the inauguration are former America’s Got Talent contestant Jackie Evancho, the Radio City Rockettes and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. – LA Times/TNS