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Abel Meeropol

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Abel Meeropol was born in 1903 in the Bronx, in New York, the son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. He took a bachelor's degree at City College and a master's at Harvard and taught English at a secondary school for seventeen years, where James Baldwin was one of his pupils. He published his poems and songs under the pseudonym Lewis Allan, in memory of his two stillborn children.

Music and breakthrough

In 1937 he wrote the poem Strange Fruit, an indictment of lynchings, which first appeared as Bitter Fruit in a trade union magazine for teachers. Later he set it to music himself. The song was recorded by Billie Holiday and later sung by Nina Simone. Holiday wrote in her book that she had helped make the music, but biographers dispute that. Meeropol wrote much more, including The House I Live In, a hit for Frank Sinatra and Josh White, and Apples, Peaches and Cherries, a hit for Peggy Lee. He also wrote the libretto of the opera The Good Soldier Schweik by Robert Kurka.

Influence

Meeropol was a member of the American Communist Party from 1932 to 1947. He and his wife Anne adopted the two sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after their parents had been executed. Strange Fruit is regarded as one of the first protest songs in the history of pop, full of suppressed anger and harrowing images.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Strange Fruit in the recording by Billie Holiday and notice how slowly and restrainedly she sings. Notice how little accompaniment there is beneath her voice and what effect that has on the words.

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists