Strange Fruit

LETRA

Strange Fruit

Southern trees, bare us strange fruit
Blood on the leaves, blood at the roots
Black bodies swingin', in the southern breeze
All that strange fruit hangin', hangin' from the trees

Check it out, here's a story that's true (aight)
They had me locked up, for this crime I didn't do
This white girl identified me, as a rapist
Had me wishin' I was Harry Houdini, the great escapist
But wait it's, more check it out the plot thickens (aight)
Cause shorty started tellin' more tales than Charles Dickens
She said I kidnapped her, trapped her, slapped her
Then after, I tapped her, I fled through the pasture
Nah, not me 'cause, knew I'd get acquitted
But seemed every white face in town knew I did it
Or done it, shit about a hundred, approachin' white figures
Bearin' triggers screaming, \"kill that nigger!\"
I'm gettin nervous just a little concerned
'Cause in the south where I'm from niggaz will get burned
'Cause them whitey's on some next shit, some hang you by your neck shit
Oh well, I'm in jail man, I figure I'm protected (right)

Southern trees, bare us strange fruit
Blood on the leaves, blood at the roots
Black bodies swingin', in the southern breeze
All that strange fruit hangin', hangin' from the trees

Yeah, should have expected not to trust the police
Them cops ain't even yell \"freeze!\", they just gave the mob the keys (uh)
They beat me like I stole somethin', pistol-whipped me like a stickup
Tied my hands behind my back, tied my feet to the bumper
Of a pickup, truck, now I'm gettin shucked like corn
Bein' drug through the town, face down
To the gravel, my clothes and skin unravel
I guess I'm guilty, the lynch mob dropped the gavel
They took me to a tree, hung me naked by my wrists
When I beg and I plead I can't take it like this
They shoved a pole in my mouth (what?) cause you see down south
Lynchin' was a show, everybody came out
See the mothers brought they daughters, to come and check the slaughters
And fathers brought their sons, to see how it was done, they brought
Everyone, from the old to the young
Cause it really was nothin' to see a nigga get hung, word

Southern trees, bare us strange fruit
Blood on the leaves, blood at the roots
Black bodies swingin', in the southern breeze
All that strange fruit hangin', hangin' from the trees

Yeah, I hung bloody, down by the muddy
Water of the Mississippi for my slaughter
The order in this court was plantation mutilation
I felt the cool sensation of a knife point
Slicin' through the joint of each toe, each finger
Each thumb and, face it that's for touchin' on a white woman
My screams and tears brought more celebration and cheers
Than twelve o'clock on new year's
A girl couldn't see, someone raised her higher
So she could watch them breakin' out my teeth with the wire pliers
My one desire was to meet my messiah but they wouldn't let me die-ah
Sayin', \"nigger we gon' fry ya in the fire\"
I prayed that death was movin' near; that's when
They castrated me and kept my nuts as souvenirs (uh)
Gasoline cleaned my wounds like liquor
Saw the match flicker, begged 'em do it quicker
Ah yes, the smell of burning flesh
A hundred angry bullets, penetrate my chest
Sweet death long awaited, I hang as a monument
A warning simply stated for a people that they hated
But nowadays, the table's turned like a wrench (aight)
'Cause white folks no longer have a reason to lynch (why?)
'Cause when it comes down to it (uh huh) there's no need to pursue it
When you got a million niggaz round the country that'll do it, think!