Strange Fruit
(Billie Holiday)

“Strange Fruit is there [on the Cornflake Girl Limited Edition CD] because that is the South, where I was born and raised, and here I directly experienced that kind of racism myself. As a white woman in the South I experienced many forms of racial hatred, deeply, and my grandfather did, because of his Cherokee background. I understand the energy of those racial tensions so well and that’s what I tapped into for Strange Fruit which I recorded at 5:30AM, having been called out of bed by forces, to do so.”

“Billie sings and any part of me that I've kept numb melts and I can breathe again. Or maybe I stop breathing when I hear her sing and I can hear beyond the sound of the music, beyond any sound at all.” [Cornflake Girl CD insert]